Breakage Roll

Things I have broken recently

This oddly titled page, Breakage Roll, is written after considering the incredibly short lifespan of many of the new items which I have recently purchased.  I’m going to keep a record here of how long things lasted, and what, if any, the resolution was.

So here are some recent examples:
Apple MacBook Pro
- original cost: £999
- purchased: 01 Feb 2010
- went wrong in: 21 Feb 2010

Whats gone wrong? - Power supply melted. Now then, for a thousand quid I would have expected this to be a bit more resilient. Last night the power supply, admittedly running on an inverter, started making a loud buzzing noise. When I reached out to see what was wrong, it was red hot, and in fact oozing a brown liquid so quickly unplugged it before something worse happened. And now my lovely MacBook Pro is discharged and unusable. No warning about using on an inverter and it has worked before, so I am very unhappy about this.

Resolution: to be confirmed!

Alde 2920 Comfort Central Heating Boiler
- original cost: ???
- supplied fitted on boat, so possibly 1990
- went wrong in: Feb 2010

Whats gone wrong? - Water started leaking, not from the pipework but from the boiler itself.

Resolution: Crikey this is going to be an expensive one!!!!!!!! Think it can wait till next winter now. Its not done bad if its 20 years old.

24in double skinned chimney
- original cost: £49
- purchased: spring 2008
- went wrong in: Feb 2010

Whats gone wrong? - rotted away, dangerously dropping the inner lining down the flue and blocking it.
Resolution: New chimney again. Why do these only last 2 or three years?

Aer Lingus Munich to London
- original cost: £30.00
- supplied: Nov 2009
- went wrong in: Feb 2010

Whats gone wrong? - Booked a flight from Munich to London for 19th March which was cancelled without any word from Aer Lingus, only coming to light because my credit card showed a refund last week. Not strictly something I have broken, but I have included this as something is clearly well broken with a carrier who behaves like this.

Resolution: Replacement flight found with Easyjet for a few quid less. Give me Easyjet and Ryanair any time – you know what to expect and get great value for money. What the hell is Aer Lingus playing at cancelling without informing us? I will tell you if I ever find out!

Brabantia 50Ltr stainless steel bin
with lifetime guarantee
- original cost £99
- purchased in 1998
- went wrong Dec 2009

Whats gone wrong? – the lid has been disintegrating over the last two years and finally fell apart completely.

Resolution? Brabantia Customer Service are nothing short of fantastic. Genuine person took the details and sent a mailing label to return the whole lid assembly. Promise of complimentary replacement to be delivered by courier within 3 days of receipt. Which they did!!

Braun Electric Toothbrush
- original cost £25
- purchased in Jan 2010
- went wrong Jan 2010

Whats gone wrong? - charger lasted for 15 minutes only.  I suspect some of these power supplies are not compatible on an inverter.

Resolution? Back to Boots for a refund.  Which they did in full, no questions asked.  I commend Boots for this policy.

Ecofan
- original cost £75
- purchased in 2005
- went wrong Dec 2009

Whats gone wrong? – the fan has slowed right down.

Resolution? Replacement motor obtained by mail order and the fault is cured.  Total cost of repair £14.95

HP Pavilion DV2000 Laptop
- original cost £599
- purchased in 2007
- went wrong Dec 2009

Whats gone wrong? - dead to the world.  Diagnosed as video card failure requiring motherboard replacement.

Resolution? Will sell it for spare parts on eBay when I can be bothered.

Bosch Larder Fridge
- original cost £300?
- purchased in 2007?
- went wrong Sept 2009

Whats gone wrong? - Something has burnt out in the electric circuitry (literally).  The manual says not suitable for use on an inverter.  Ooops! What a shame though as this was a superb fridge, with huge capacity and low power consumption.

Resolution? Needs to be removed from the boat.  The problem is that it is too wide for the doors.  I am open to suggestions! Help!!!

PALOMA 5PF INSTANT WATER HEATER
- original cost £????
- purchased in 1973?
- went wrong Jan 2009

Whats gone wrong? - frost damage distorted the inlet valve causing it to leak.

Resolution? Found a replacement valve on EBay.  Total cost of repair £20.00.  Must remember to drain the Paloma whenever frost is possible – we may not be so lucky next time!

BOSE IPOD SOUND DOCK
- original cost £249.00
- purchased in June 2008
- went wrong Aug 2008

Whats gone wrong? – the remote control stopped working several weeks ago.  I just replaced the battery at a cost of £2.99 and this hasn’t fixed it.

Resolution? Not yet returned to retailer. Too late now. Not happy with this one, at the price it was.

HEWLETT PACKARD PAVILLION DV2500 LAPTOP
- original cost £699
- purchased in Feb 2007
- went wrong in Oct 2008

What went wrong? Keyboard failed rendering machine unbootable.

Resolution: Had to get a new laptop in a hurry, so that cost £800.  Then managed to diagnose and repair the fault myself with a replacement keyboard from Ebay.  Cost £12.99.  Cost of spare part from HP would have been 5 times this.

HEWLETT PACKARD iPAQ
- original cost £239
- purchased in May 2008
- went wrong in May 2008

What went wrong? Not so much a breakage as being the worst designed and unsuitable for purpose item I have ever owned.  The sound is too quiet to hear.  The touch screen is a joke, like pressing on a plastic bag.  Once unplugged the power switch is far too sensitive and a slight bump will turn it on – in a bag, pocket etc - thus running the battery down, even when in its leather case.  Windows CE6 is absolutely the most unintuitive operating system.  I really don’t get on with this item at all.

Resolution: Selling on eBay.  This item was a total waste of money.

SPINFLO MIDI PRIMA GAS OVEN
- Purchased: Mar 2006
- Original Cost: Approx £400
- Went wrong in: Summer 2008

What went wrong: Oven never reaches temperature.

Resolution: After weeks of cleaning and testing, finally resolved by thoroughly cleaning the gas jet.  Simple when you know how, but could have been very costly.  Spinflo Customer Services advised me that my nearest authorised repair dealer was in Northampton, 90 miles away.  Cost of repair £0.

So after all that what does it prove?  The things I remember to write about turn out to be quite long lived after all, with the exception of computers.  Not all the laptops I have destroyed are listed here.  They last me about 18 months on average.