The message
from "Man at B&Q" contains these words:


I have dissected some recently. The Philips 11W ones were completely
dead, but the tubes themselves showed no discolouration at the ends,
so I took a look at the ballasts
The reservoir capacitors have gone high ESR, and are bulging
at the top.http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/infoweb/philips_cfl.jpg

Were they in enclosed fittings, or installed hangind down? Both are
killers for these sorts of lamps.

Let's get into the real world. Most lamps are installed "hanging down"
-- i.e. cap up -- and a great many are installed in enclosed fittings.
If lamps are not developed sufficiently to be reliable in such
orientations and environments, they'd not developed sufficiently to
replace incandescent lamps.