Phone chargers breaking

[pfifes]

My post to link about reviews to this brand appears to have been removed but the cost is around £20 for charger with wall plug and £10-15 for a cable.  Sold in many well known high street chains. Not pound shops.

[SheffieldForum]

3 minutes ago, pfifes said:

My post to link about reviews to this brand appears to have been removed but the cost is around £20 for charger with wall plug and £10-15 for a cable.  Sold in many well known high street chains. Not pound shops.

This post? It isn't removed. 👍

1 hour ago, pfifes said:

I’ve just found this which relates to the brand of chargers I’ve been using and it seems it’s not just me being unlucky.   I do take these reviews with a pinch of salt as they attract those with an axe to grind but ratio of bad to good reviews speaks volumes in this case I think!
 

https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/juice.co.uk

Yeah, they are pretty damning reviews.

 

I'm not the biggest fan of Trustpilot personally. Either it is weighted all negative (because that's the only reason to post a review, really) or the company themselves have been shilling for reviews (which is disingenuous).

[Pyrotequila]

24 minutes ago, SheffieldForum said:

I'm not the biggest fan of Trustpilot personally. Either it is weighted all negative (because that's the only reason to post a review, really) or the company themselves have been shilling for reviews (which is disingenuous).

Online reviews are sometimes a bit... iffy.

 

If you buy something and you're happy, you don't tend to write a review unless you have time.

But if you buy something and it sucks, you're more likely to make time to have a rant online.

[pfifes]

4 hours ago, Pyrotequila said:

Online reviews are sometimes a bit... iffy.

 

If you buy something and you're happy, you don't tend to write a review unless you have time.

But if you buy something and it sucks, you're more likely to make time to have a rant online.

True.   But if the product or service is good there are usually a reasonable number of good reviews and you can get a sense for the truth.  It’s usually safe to say that anything with a one star overall rating is rubbish 

[spilldig]

I have noticed a trend for built in obsolescence in the last decade or so.  One of the things is to make charging leads which come out of the tops of chargers rather than come out directly underneath with the result that the wires are under mechanical stress and break  some time after the warranty runs out.

[pfifes]

6 minutes ago, spilldig said:

I have noticed a trend for built in obsolescence in the last decade or so.  One of the things is to make charging leads which come out of the tops of chargers rather than come out directly underneath with the result that the wires are under mechanical stress and break  some time after the warranty runs out.

Good point.  Electric kettles certainly seem to have this!  I’ve had kettles lasting on average about a year recently.  More expensive ones were as bad, or sometimes worse, than cheaper ones.  Funnily enough, this run of short lived kettles started after deciding that an old kettle I had was looking grotty inside and the elements had started to rust.  It must have been around 20 years though!! 

[Delbow]

14 hours ago, spilldig said:

I have noticed a trend for built in obsolescence in the last decade or so.  One of the things is to make charging leads which come out of the tops of chargers rather than come out directly underneath with the result that the wires are under mechanical stress and break  some time after the warranty runs out.

 

I don't get the ones with integrated cables, I get (Anker) chargers with USB ports that you can then use any USB lead with. Then if the cable stops working, just use a different cable. 

[peak4]

Unfortunately I have no idea what phone you're using,
I have a few of these, though from a different supplier. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/364795937404

Seem to work well enough, and fold flat for transport. The charger and a USB-C lead fit nicely into a spare Specsavers glasses case; they do feel a bit delicate around the sliding earth pin though, so use a bit of care.
I use them for charging by Google Pixel 3 phone, a decent sized camera (Olympus E-M1x), electric screwdriver, car tyre pump etc. Basically, anything USB-C.
So far they have worked fine, but as as with any charger, don't leave it on unattended.

 

OK this is staged, but an old phone battery I had in stock, which had started swelling;

 

 

[spilldig]

12 hours ago, Delbow said:

 

I don't get the ones with integrated cables, I get (Anker) chargers with USB ports that you can then use any USB lead with. Then if the cable stops working, just use a different cable. 

As phifes says, it's not just phones though. I had this on a few specific power supply units. At the moment I have a Roberts radio where the wires came out the top, and they are flimsy wires, and broke after about 18 months.  Most of these PSUs have either moulded cases so you can't repair them unless you very carefully hacksaw round the case then repair it and glue it back together or they have screws which need a special tool to undue. These would have to be drilled out.