National Tree Company Pre-Lit 7.5ft Tree

Well, this tree almost wrecked Christmas. We purchased it in 2012 via Amazon and thought it decent but over-priced the first year. That was our first year with our new daughter so we wanted the "perfect" Christmas. By the second year some of the branches were becoming unhinged if you looked at them wrong despite very careful storage. We might as well of had a real tree with how many needles dropped on the floor. But when the branches held, it still looked pretty decent. On the third year, two light strands no longer functioned despite changing fuses. We looped over additional lights and no, we didn't daisy chain in a different brand into the tree's lights. We had two separate cords to the wall. Well, this year, my Father-in-law celebrated Thanksgiving with us and as he lives far away and is ill, we decided to throw the tree up quickly and celebrate with him before he left town.We plugged in just the tree's original lights and every strand blew, and every bulb blew. Black tips at the end of every single bulb. While trying to make sure the problem was with the tree and not our wiring, the top third of the tree fell completely off. The stake that secures the top portion of the tree has glue around it. Well that glue apparently didn't want to stick around. We had to dismantle the remainder of the tree quickly and rush to the store for an unplanned tree purchase. We decided no more pre-lit trees and far prefer the replacement we scored for $60 to this nightmare tree. We are just thankful it didn't catch on fire.