Question:
I have just been reading that stacks of consumer electronics products (eg, computers and satellite TV boxes) are failing because of dodgy capacitors. And I wanted to leave this message in the hope that anyone who suffers from this realises that they can probably insist on the retailer paying for a repair, refund or replacement.
The problem is generally referred to as Bulging Capacitors. Apparently, a number of Far East manufacturers of capacitors tried to rip off a competitor's technique for making them, but did not know the full details, so ended up making capacitors that overheat, bulge, ooze electrolyte and even blow up.
This is an issue where UK consumer law may come to the rescue. As Martin explained in an article a few years back (,), you might be entitled to a repair, refund or replacement on goods up to 6 years old. You would need to show that the Capacitor failure was due to an inherent defect when you bought the goods, but given the acknowledged problem with bulging capacitors I would have thought this would be relatively easy to do if you have a bulging capacitor.
You might also have to argue that the goods were not beyond their "reasonable life", but I would have thought most electronics boxes could be expected to last at least 6 years. (Is any company really going to argue that their goods can be expected to peg out in less than 6 years?)
So, exercise your rights!
Answers:
Grundig Sky boxes suffer with this. Satcure do a repair/upgrade kit, but maybe not suitable for a complete novice, although they do have other, less diy alternatives. Usually konks out just outside the guarantee period.....
Answers:
3 year old IBM desktops sometimes start failing because of motherboards with bulging capacitors, often with white stuff oozing from them.