Come on, admit it, you love a bargain just as much as I do. Why spend £££ when you can pay ££ for the same item – maybe in a sale, or maybe online? Bargains are amazing – to a point. But do alarm bells ever ring when you spot a top-end product at an all-time low price? For clothes, you might wonder if the cheaper item is a fake. But what about things like electricals?
With Christmas just two weeks away, perhaps you are tempted to treat yourself and replace/upgrade some kitchen appliances, or maybe get those hair straighteners you’ve been wanting all year. Would you rush to buy them if you saw them for sale online at a fraction of the cost of them new on the High Street? What about a bargain price for a ‘nearly new’ or ‘used only once’ product listed on FB Marketplace or eBay? Have you ever wondered just how safe that item will be once plugged in? Does it have a guarantee? If it is out of a sealed box, you really have no clue as to its provenance. And this could be very dangerous.
New toaster
Let me tell you about a time we regretted buying a bargain. We had recently redecorated our kitchen with a new colour scheme, and I spotted on FB Marketplace someone local selling a ‘never used’ top-branded toaster … the exact colour I was looking for. New, that item was over £100, but they wanted just £40 stating it was an unwanted gift. When we collected it, the box was rather battered, but they said it was like that when they bought it and regretted not complaining at the time. I paid and brought the toaster home.
Burnt toast
At first it was fabulous – looked amazing and performed just as required. However, on the second week, while making some toast, the timer unit failed. This meant that the filaments stayed on and kept heating the toast. No thermal cut out or any other safety devices came into play. Noone was in the kitchen at the time, but within a few minutes the toast caught fire, which in turn set the toaster on fire. Fortunately our smoke alarm went off before it got too out of hand. As it was there was molten plastic dripping down the sides of the toaster where the casing was melting. We managed to turn the toaster off at the mains and extinguish the fire.
But wow, was that lucky. The undersides of the kitchen cupboards were scorched and smoke damaged, and the worktop was ruined. So, in the end, our bargain turned out to be a very expensive mistake.
What did I do wrong?
There are certain things you can buy at bargain prices, but when it comes to anything electrical it is important to know that the product is safe. There’s no better way of ensuring this than by buying the item new from a reputable high street store. If the product is currently out of your price range, wait for the sales. Don’t risk your home, and your life, buying electricals in online marketplaces.
What can you do to avoid issues?
Well, to start with you could watch this Electrical Safety First video …
Ultimately, the best solution is for the sale of electrical goods to be banned on online marketplaces. There is currently a petition for this – please do sign it –https://www.electricalsafetyfirst.org.uk/stop-the-sale-of-dangerous-electrical-goods-on-online-marketplaces/
Be safe this Christmas. #DontBeElectricked
