Show CartDo you realize that a typical North American cellular phone provider with about 12 million subscribers receives roughly 70,000 warranty returns per month? Wow. Out of these returned handsets, 50% have mechanical failures; 30% are performance related issues; 15% have battery or charger related problems, and 5% have miscellaneous faults.
Cell phones that use lithium-ion batteries fail less during the warranty period than those cell phones that use the nickel-based chemistries. There are many reasons for the battery failures. The battery may not have been properly charged before use. Perhaps the battery packs remained on the shelf too long or the charger is not functioning correctly. Lack of battery understanding may also be to blame.
To satisfy the customer and honor warranty obligations, stores usually provide a replacement battery, no questions asked. Competition makes it tough to do otherwise. The faulty batteries are then returned to the manufacturer for replacement. Phone manufacturers are aware that 80-90% of the returned batteries have either no problem or can easily be restored with a battery analyzer. The remaining 10-20% can often be revived by reactivating the safety circuit with a boot program and by applying charge/discharge cycles. Only a small percentage of batteries returned under warranty exhibit non-correctable faults.
To reduce the flow of warranty goods, some manufacturers began charging $35.00 for no-fault battery returns. With the added cost, the dealers had no other option than to continue accepting and replacing returns from fickle customers. Warehouses started to fill with dead merchandise; and in 1997 a critical mass was reached. The cost of exchange, lost time by retail staff, shipping, warehousing and paying a subsidy for a replacement phone became a multi-million dollar problem.
A service manager of a leading cell-phone manufacturer hinted that coffee submersion is a common cause of battery failure. The acid in the coffee manages to corrode the electrical conductors in the handset and the battery.
For additional information, visit www.batterygiant.com