We’ve been using the things for about 7 years now, and I can’t really think of one thing to complain about. The savings we see are certainly not a hoax. By the way you can get the bulds at Costco for about half what they are most places.
My wife recently recommended them to a large family with a 5 bedroom house. Their electric bill was eating them up. After replacing all their bulbs their bill was cut almost in half.
Funny, the things seem to work OK in my garage, but then I live in the banana belt of NW Montana.
However, I have never left lights on all over the house when I’m out of the room. I’ve trained my family to turn them off, too.
If someone’s lighting bills are eating them up, perhaps they ought to consider turning lights off where they don’t need them.
Use CFL’s in the kitchen (if you get one that you can stand the color) and in the living room (if you decide it is fine to turn on another light or two) and in the study where you read for a couple hours at a time. However, where you’re only going to be for five or ten minutes, use incandescents and turn them off when you’re done!