Thank you for taking the time to leave a review, we are sorry to hear the item is not suitable. This is one of our best selling solar powered items, the description does state that it will only work in direct sunlight producing a really good flow of water. We do sell a similar pump with a battery back up but costs much more than what you paif for this solar pump. Once again I am sorry that you are not satisfied with the purchase and hope that you do manage to get some use from it. Kind Regards Siobhan, UK Water Features.