If you want an untimely death, buy an AmazonBasics product

While it is wallet-friendly, buying cheap tech can often be a false economy. Yes, that pack of third-party USB-C cables you bought might have been cheap, but they might also set you on fire. At least, that is the latest alarming trend to emerge regarding the AmazonBasics brand, anyway.

CNN reported last week that a bunch of Amazon customers are quite rightly up in arms. This is because their AmazonBasics product isn’t up to scratch safety-wise. In fact, some are so unsafe that they really should be recalled altogether. So what exactly is the issue?

Um, I think it is broken

Imagine. You’re at your desk merrily typing away as you work. You notice the battery on your phone is running low. Your charger is downstairs. Damn, pain in the ass. No, wait, you bought a pack of three charging cables from AmazonBasics last week and they’re in your desk drawer. You throw one in your laptop’s USB port and continue working.

The next thing you know you’re lugging your flame-laden office chair out onto the front lawn while your legs are firmly ablaze. The cables you bought were actually unsafe and AmazonBasics has a lot to answer for. According to CNN, this is exactly what happened to Austin Parra…and many other poor souls like him.

It isn’t just dodgy charging cables that are causing problems. Microwaves have been sparking in the faces of 8-year-old children. In-car adapters have been smoldering away in people’s vehicles. Paper shredders have been spontaneously combusting into piles of molten plastic. The list goes on.

Nice one, Jeff

Image: Ste Knight / KnowTechie

So what does Amazon plan to do about it? Well, fuck all by the look of it as the company has a flagrant disregard for the safety of its consumers. In fact, despite numerous complaints, Amazon is still running with the narrative that its products are safe. Yeah, I’m sure they are if you don’t mind third-degree burns and a house that resembles a recently deceased Phoenix. Mind you, why would Jeff Bezos care about you peasants when he’s got enough money to buy you all?

OK, so perhaps I’m ragging on Amazon a bit, here. However, rather than respond like a brand that cares, replacing the faulty parts in this equipment, Amazon declined to confirm whether or not the faulty elements had been swapped out in newly manufactured models. Instead, it has just stated that it is confident that all their products conform to safety standards and that there is no cause for alarm. Try saying that when your legs resemble pan-fried bacon because of an AmazonBasics charging port, Jeff…

A “case by case” basis

Apparently, Amazon deals with these complaints on a case-by-case basis. Austin Parra ended up with a payout of around $1,400 from the e-commerce giant. However, he’s lucky to have escaped with his life given that the office chair he was sat on went up in flames immediately. The fire marshal who investigated the fire puts the blame solely on the AmazonBasics USB cable. Frightening stuff.

This, kids, is why we don’t leave our charging phones on the bed next to our faces when we go asleep. I mean, you don’t, right? If you do, we urge you to stop doing that immediately and charge your phone in a place where it won’t do any damage if it bursts into flames because you bought shitty AmazonBasics cables.

What do you think? Do you use any AmazonBasics products? Are you worried about them? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

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Ste Knight

Super hot for tech-nostalgia. Loves retro-futuristic artwork and music. Tech-wise enjoys gaming, audio and, for some unexplained reason really enjoys cleaning tech.