The need for cheaper manufacturing costs is a given. With or without any economic need, it is a natural thing for any business to study how they can cut on operating and manufacturing costs. With electronic devices, particularly mobile phones, there are just so many parts that a phone manufacturer cannot feasibly produce everything.
This is why some casings, keypads, headsets and chargers are being outsourced to other companies. Nokia recently acquisitioned BYD to produce chargers for their mobile phones; while we have no doubts that the test chargers performed amazingly well, the final production output does not. It has been recently announced that Nokia will be replacing defective chargers for free. Not really their fault, but it is still good of Nokia to do something about this.
The problem with the BYD manufactured chargers is that the plastic cover on the outlet tends to get loose and may fall off. This is a serious fire and electric hazard and while there have been no accidents, it would be best it this threat was avoided altogether. The bad news is that the chargers seem to have been distributed widely. Nokia has yet to announce where they have shipped the chargers, but the replacement program covers all of UK.
The replacement program Nokia has is simple; simply check their website to see if your charger matches any of the two types of chargers manufactured by BYD. If it does, simply fill out the downloadable forms. For reference, the BYD chargers that are eligible for replacement at BYD chargers AC-4U, AC-3U and AC-3E, all of which have been manufactured between June to October of this year.
While this problem is not really Nokia’s fault, it certainly does not help their reputation. The free replacement program will certainly help fix the problem; but it does not remove their stain on their already oddball reputation.
Tags: defect chargers, Nokia, Nokia chargers, recall chargers