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If I wanted this product to break, I’d have done it myself!
When consumer products break down too soon it’s frustrating, it’s wasteful and it’s costly – our new video shows what would happen if consumers took matters into their own hands…
When consumer products break down too soon it’s frustrating, it’s wasteful and it’s costly.
Our research found that in 26,000 cases, products broke down way before their time was up.
And it’s not only the cheap things that break. Expensive purchases like smartphones, printers, washing machines, TVs and dishwashers make up the top 5 of short-lived products. Appliances and electronics we need and rightfully expect to last and last.
Euroconsumers thinks that if consumers wanted their products to break so soon after buying them – they would take matters into their own hands:
Instead of consumers doing this – we want manufacturers to do what they should have done all along.
- We want manufacturers to sell the most durable and repairable appliances and electronics possible. We want them to make ecodesign and long life the starting point of all product designs. We want them to tell us how long their products will last so they can make informed decisions about what and what not to buy!
- We want them to take responsibility and stop pushing the price of short lived products onto consumers and the environment.
- We want more from policy makers too. If we don’t give consumers the rights to repair and the easy routes to get a fix this broken market will stay that way.
But if we empower consumers with new rights, cheaper repair options and clear information on product lifespans and extended legal guarantees they’ll be well equipped to push the market towards one where durability and repair are second nature.
Read more about the PROMPT project and the findings of our research.
The consumer research was carried out by the PROMPT project which included Euroconsumers members Test Achats / Test Aankoop and OCU. PROMPT is a multistakeholder consortium seeking solutions to the unnecessarily short life spans of consumer products. The research team brought together consumer groups, researchers and repair specialists to understand why it was happening and how to change it.
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