Serious Advice Needed!!!!!!

$lim$hady

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SERIOUS ADVICE NEEDED!!!!!!


Guys,

I am SHOCKED!!!!! Today I bought a Remote control Helicopter and I had to charge the battery (no indication of time) on the instructions but said the LED on the charger will change to red to green.

Anyway I have left it in the back room for just over an hour and a half and too my SUPRICE the battery had BLOWN to bits, leaving a big burning mark on my carpet and contents of the battery splatter everywhere on the wall with the room filled with smoke.

WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED????

What can I do about it?

The only problem is that in the instruction it does say not to charge the battery on the carpet but on a metal piece….. I did it on the carpet, but still it shouldn’t blow right?

What options do I have when I speak to them tomorrow and can I approach this?

Please please help…..

SS
 
SERIOUS ADVICE NEEDED!!!!!!


Guys,

I am SHOCKED!!!!! Today I bought a Remote control Helicopter and I had to charge the battery (no indication of time) on the instructions but said the LED on the charger will change to red to green.

Anyway I have left it in the back room for just over an hour and a half and too my SUPRICE the battery had BLOWN to bits, leaving a big burning mark on my carpet and contents of the battery splatter everywhere on the wall with the room filled with smoke.

WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED????

What can I do about it?

The only problem is that in the instruction it does say not to charge the battery on the carpet but on a metal piece….. I did it on the carpet, but still it shouldn’t blow right?

What options do I have when I speak to them tomorrow and can I approach this?

Please please help…..

SS

At least you know why they advise not to charge on carpets now :rotfl:
 
Sweet me jeeessssus.

I would say no battery was meant to explode ever. And would've thought that the advice for charging it on metal and not carpet was precautionary in case the carpet singed. However, if the carpet did over heat, which then set fire to the battery, I'm sure that would cause an explosion. Can you not say you charged it on a metal plate and it exploded anyway? What battery was it?
 
Makes you wonder how the company learnt not to charge up the battery on a carpet or similar soft furnishing.
At least you admitted your mistake :D.

TBH sounds like a manufacturing fault in charging/battery systems. You should have no problems in getting a replacement, but you will have to lie. . .:D
 
It was a Lithium Polymer Battery,

Wow I am Shocked!! The room is a mess,

I am going to speak to the retailer, but reading in depth the instruction manual is going on and on (small prints) about not being liable about blown batteries, sounds like this is common.....
:eek:

Dame, what i D%$#!! What have i done?
 
No way should that happen on a product legally sold in the UK.

Forget the carpet, what about kids? or pets? Imagine what could have happened. Hell, I'd be furious!

I think you have a duty to 'inform' them of the problem at the very least.
 
Have a read through this mate, it gives you a full descriptive of what you can expect with that type of battery.
 
serious advice-

1) speak to citizens advice buro
2) speak to trading standards
3) if instructions say "don't put it on the carpet", then don't put it on the carpet

i doubt you will get very far as you blatently ignored a clearly specified instruction, but the battery still shouldn't have blown up. those two trade bodies should know the rules here
 
Been doing alot of research and it was a Lithium Polymer battery........

That says it all (google it)

Purely my fault..IDIOT!.. Very lucky the house didnt burn down!
 
I am sure this is not just your fault here. You were sold batteries and a charge unit that you presumed was safe to use.

In the instructions, other than the carpet, does it say anything else about the charge period and what precautions you need to take ?

Small print doesn't excuse them from safety regulations etc. You can't put "may explode in your face if you charge the rechargeable battery with the charger we gave you" and have it absolve them of any claims.

Or did you charge this with something you wern't supposed to ?!


.
 
I am sure this is not just your fault here. You were sold batteries and a charge unit that you presumed was safe to use.

In the instructions, other than the carpet, does it say anything else about the charge period and what precautions you need to take ?

Small print doesn't excuse them from safety regulations etc. You can't put "may explode in your face if you charge the rechargeable battery with the charger we gave you" and have it absolve them of any claims.

Or did you charge this with something you wern't supposed to ?!


.


No I used the correct charger ect....
It did not state how long to charge for apart from the LED will change from red to green... I'm about to speak to the retailer.
 
Hi Slim,

1 - Firstly, I think you've now learned why you should always :rtfm: ! :D

2 - Bearing that in mind, there should be some legal comeback in your favour, because a battery like that should NOT explode. If it does, then either a) it's faulty, or b) it's a dodgy foreign import one that doesn't abide by EEC and UK regulations.

3 - If it is either of these, then you should be able to get a replacement battery, but your carpet will be something you'll have to deal with on your own, UNLESS you can categorically prove that a retailer sold you an item that did not comply with EEC and UK regulations. If the retailer has sold you such an item, then you need to contact your local Trading Standards Authority people, who will tell you what to do.

4 - Get photos of everything, as proof! Make notes of where and when you bought the model chopper, who sold it to you, who you spoke or saw in the store, etc, etc. You'll need all the evidence you can, in order to claim compensation, if that is a route you choose to go down, with Trading Standards help.

5 - Always, always :rtfm: ! :rotfl:


Pooch
 
slim, I did ask which chopper it was, but you missed/ignored it.
reason is I fly these and have heard of examples of some models doing this.
just do a google on it:smashin:
 
slim, I did ask which chopper it was, but you missed/ignored it.
reason is I fly these and have heard of examples of some models doing this.
just do a google on it:smashin:



Sorry mate,

It is a Apache AH-64


Ap7.4v 850mAh Li-Po Rechargeable RC Battery.

It had all the UK safety logos on the box ect.....
 
I had spoken to the Fair Trading office and said I need to speak to the guys who sold it to me and the fact that I charged it on the carpet when not too, may go against me...

I then spoke to the seller who asked me to post both the battery & charger to them and their will find out what the fault was:

I will first get it confirmed by them in writing weather it was a faulty battery or charger in which case I will take it future.

Lucky the damage is minimum, wall can be painted and carpet is old.... so if I cant do anything about it then it will be ok.....:rolleyes:

If the product is faulty then I will proceed...

Would you advise on whether I should take the replacement parts if offered?
 
aye, I fly rc helis as well and even the cheapest chargers will have an led to keep an eye on - it does sound like the battery was faulty, mine take way longer than that to charge!
 
Hi Slim,

Would you advise on whether I should take the replacement parts if offered?

Firstly, you need to find out, and get in writing, that the product was absolutely faulty, or not. If it is, then you need to find out if this is the first the retailer has heard of such an incident, or if this is a batch problem, with other batteries also overheating and/or exploding.

Until that's sorted out, I wouldn't (personally-speaking) take any offer of replacement parts from the retailer. It's not worth the risk. You should also be asking for a refund, realistically, because the goods were "not fit for purpose", which is the bit in the Sale Of Goods Act, that you can use to get your money back, as long as you have the receipt.

It doesn't matter if you've had the produce more than 14 days, or longer. The instructions may have said don't charge the helicopter's battery on a carpet, but even then, it shouldn't explode! :eek:

Best of luck, and let us know how things go. :thumbsup: Oh, and if the weather gets a bit horrible this bank holiday weekend, you may want to try some painting and decorating. I'm sure you'll find something around the house that needs fixing. :D


Pooch
 
lol....

I am trying to post a picture.. But the smallest i can get it to is 250KB the limit is 100KB. I whish you can see.:eek:

Anyway the latest...

Nitrotek the retailer will give me a refund so I am posting the item back to them, in the mean time i spoke to trading Standards who rang me back saying there are interested in investigation this item......

But even more interesting i found this on the trading standard website.... it not identical to mine but similar...
http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/cgi-bin/newsitem.cgi?file=safe0881.txt&area=safe
 
Take lots of close up pictures of the battery and charger, including all the labels. What you don't want is for the returned units to unexpectedly disappear and no record of what units were in the box.

A few years ago a shower door shattered whilst my daughter was cleaning it. Fortunately no injuries. But the shower manuf sent round one of their bods to investigate and agreed it was faulty and would replace the entire cabinet. What I had not realised and was pointed out to me by the builder who had ripped it out for the shower manuf to take away, was that none of the glass panels had the Kite safety mark for toughened glass. The glass was toughened but apparently no identifying marks were on the glass. A :nono: as far the law is concerned. But as I had no pictures and no cabinet to examine, there was no way any further action against the manuf would have been possible. So take piccys, and plenty of 'em and close ups! Close enough to read serial numbers, voltages, type, approval etc.
 

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