Electric toothbrush life span :(

simonp

I bought an Oral-B professional range electric toothbrush a few years ago (maybe three?) costing around £150 IIRC.

The battery has been wearing down for quite some time now and needs constantly recharging (2/3 times a week).

I got in touch with Oral-B to try and source a new battery (which I was happy to pay for) but was told that the toothbrush is a sealed unit and the batteries cannot be replaced. They openly admit that the life span of these electric toothbrushes is 3-5 years.

I'm quite disappointed by this. We're constantly being told to avoid discarding technology and to repair but I guess I'm kind of stuck here.

Do I have any recourse here? Sale of Goods Act?

Sadly I don't have a receipt and can't even remember where I bought it from (although probably Boots).

visidigi

Used twice a day, every day for 3-5 years...not sure how long you expect it to last - I have one, its 6 years old, still going strong, although I need to charge it 4 times a week - no biggie. Does the job it needs to do still and I've certainly got value for money imo.

Even if you had a receipt and could remember where you bought it from you would be on questionable grounds - SOGA is UP to 6 years, it depends on the item.

neilmcl

I'd say that's fairly typical for an electric toothbrush to start losing charge after that period of time. Is it really an issue that you have to leave it on charge a few times a week? Also, did you really pay that for the toothbrush or was it bought with one of the many oral-b half price offers?

Bantex_2

neilmcl wrote: »

I'd say that's fairly typical for an electric toothbrush to start losing charge after that period of time. Is it really an issue that you have to leave it on charge a few times a week? Also, did you really pay that for the toothbrush or was it bought with one of the many oral-b half price offers?

Has anybody ever paid full price for an Oral B electric toothbrush?

Vomityspice

I have just had my battery replaced by this person

http://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/akkutauschen_de

on this auction

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/271403248527?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649#ht_2397wt_1192

Cost about £18

This includes an uprated battery so more time between charges.

simonp

Thanks for the info Vomityspice - did they fit it for you?

Vomityspice

Yes - sent it off and 7 days later returned back to me. If you run his web page through Google translate it is quite clear (if your German isn't very good!)

Seems much more reasonable than shelling out another £150 to Braun!

carly

I bought a replacement battery from Ebay and fitted it myself, total cost around £11. Videos of how to do it are on Youtube. You need a soldering iron and a steady hand but it's not really difficult

zax47

carly wrote: »

I bought a replacement battery from Ebay and fitted it myself, total cost around £11. Videos of how to do it are on Youtube. You need a soldering iron and a steady hand but it's not really difficult

Ditto, there's a YouTube video of an 8-year old doing this, it isn't hard, took me about 40 minutes.