Why the Right to Repair is big news
And why you should care.
And why you should care.
It feels like repairing stuff has gone mainstream. And it’s about time. Our current system sees far too many resources used for products that become landfill far too quickly. It’s us, as consumers, who pay the price while manufacturers and retailers reap the profits.
The Right to Repair has been everywhere in the news: US president Joe Biden has signed an executive order requiring it in the US; Steve Wozniak (the nerdier Apple founder) thinks it’s important; Australian legislators say car companies must share repair resources with independent garages; appliance manufacturers in the UK now have to supply spare parts; and David Parker (our Minister for the Environment) has a broken fridge and wants a Waste Minimisation Act review to include a right to repair.
You own the products you buy, so it’s up to you what you do with them. You can paint them purple and tie them to a flagpole if you like. So, if something breaks, it’s your right to choose to repair it, whether you attempt it yourself or call in an expert. You’re more likely to get a product repaired if it’s cheap and easy to do so.
Manufacturers of tech devices, appliances and cars have been working to stop this for decades: sometimes intentionally, sometimes because it costs them more to make repair easy. It’s also lucrative controlling who does the repair – an Australian Competition and Consumer Commission market study found Australian car companies make more than 60 percent profit on servicing and repair, compared to less than 10 percent from selling cars.
Manufacturers deploy tactics to steer us towards buying new things: spare parts are scarce, expensive, or “out of stock”; there’s no repair advice; and products are tough to crack open as they’ve been glued or have odd-shaped fasteners that your screwdrivers don’t fit. All the time, they market new models as so much better than your old, faulty one. The message is that repair isn’t worth it.
They aren’t going to change without legislation and pressure from customers.
International developments have centred around legislation to make spare parts and repair information available. That’s a start, but we’re still a long way from having big tech or big whiteware designing products that are easily to repair.
What happens overseas directly affects us here. We import nearly all our electronic or electrical products. Those appliances and devices are global products, so legislation in the US or Europe that forces Apple, Electrolux and Ford to make repair easier will also affect products we get here. However, we need our own legislation to keep our importers and retailers in check and ensure we don’t end up a dumping ground for products that can’t be sold elsewhere.
It’s often easier and cheaper for our importers, who don’t have manufacturing expertise, to replace faulty products or refund our money, instead of operating a repair service. Our otherwise excellent Consumer Guarantees Act (CGA) allows them to do this, as its requirement to provide spare parts and repair for a reasonable period can be ignored if the consumer is told before the goods are supplied. Scratch the surface and you’ll find this is all too common: Ryobi states on its website: “We do not have any repair facilities and cannot repair any Products.”
As I found when I returned a blender with an easily repairable broken blade to Kmart, Consumers are “sold” replacement and refund as a good thing. This means we junk far too many products with faults that should be easy and cheap to fix.
Minister Parker’s desire to review the Waste Minimisation Act is welcome, though governmental processes take forever so our own right to repair legislation is likely to be some way off.
Along with new Right To Repair legislation, we think the 1993 CGA should be brought up to date. The loophole in Section 42 allowing manufacturers to opt out of offering repairs needs to be removed. Furthermore, the amendment should clearly state that the guarantees described in the act do not require the use of a manufacturers’ authorised repairer or parts.
Join us on our mission to reduce the mountain of broken appliances in New Zealand.
I have worked as an independent 3rd party repairer of Macbooks & iMacs for the last 10 years. I am a self taught technician.
I had 2x iPhone 12 phones. They were both in a non functional state. To save them both from going to the trash I was able to make 1 functionally working device from these 2 phones.
Apple have decided that parts such as the battery, screen, camera, lidar sensor should have serial numbers. If these numbers are not paired to the logic board of the phone then the phone will give you an error saying there is a non genuine part with in the phone.
Despite the phone being in a fully operational state the FaceID no longer works & AR does not work.
I took the iPhone into Service Plus in Christchurch and asked them to run the apple authorised configuration app to re-pair the serial numbers of the parts to the logicboard. They explained to me they are not able to access this app unless I order the parts through them and they install them.
Why is it I need to order and pay for the same genuine apple parts that I already have working in my phone with other apple parts that will not have the serials of the original parts either just to run this configuration app? furthermore they were not actually sure if that will fix the issue and only a full phone replacement would fix it. $1080!?
Ringing and speaking to 3 different people at Apple was a waste of time. Once they hear you did a repair on your own they don't want to know. It's extortion lol
To make things even more annoying is that Apple themselves have released a new iOS beta update that corrects this issue through a firmware update that is only for the iPhone 13. Apple have said they want tone more recycle but they are putting serials on parts that don't even need them!
I will take my WORKING iPhone back and live without the Face ID. I joined consumer because I believe in the right to repair!
Thanks, Karl
Recently my Breville coffee grinder that I have owned for over 5 years decided to stop working due to the wearing an a small plastic cog. After some research I discovered that Breville do not provide any parts for repair. Had I known this I would not have purchased it. However I Have found another brand, Baratza that provide spare parts and directions to encourage customers to repair their own machines. So guess what I'm going to replace my coffee grinder with? Maybe when Consumer make recommendations on products they might like to have a repairable rating in their review.
Memory foam is great BUT
IT doesn't know when to stop remembering. The center of my mattress is at least 5cm lower than the ends. 3 years old. You should check mattresses?
I have two Apple MacBook Pro laptops from 2010 and 2012. They can be opened and upgraded. I've removed the obsolete optical drives and installed SSD drives and overclocked the RAM to 16GB, which was possible on these models. These two laptops are quicker and more stable than my new 2019 MacBook Pro laptop. The keyboards are better, the new model is prone to giving me RSI while the old one is much more ergonomic. The only problem is that Apple no longer supports older models for OS upgrades, regardless of whether they have the computing power needed...
This definitely seems to be designed obsolescence via the choice to refuse to support the product any more. Is this not like a product manufacturer refusing to stock parts for repair for the life of the product?
Hi Tobias,
I also upgraded my 2010 Macbook Pro with more RAM and an SSD. I had to look it up, but it was 2017 and I wrote about it here: https://www.consumer.org.nz/articles/laptop-upgrade-and-repair-our-staff-s-experiences.
That Macbook is still going. It's had no MacOS updates for a while now and it feels like it is slowing down, especially running Apple Music and Photos (anything that needs more processing power and/or accesses cloud storage). But it's hanging in there.
Paul
Consumer NZ
Added RAM and 512GB SSD, works great for daily task. The only problem is that it gets hot under look. My guess is that the heat pipes are dirty... good luck finding a replacement for those.
I recently built a PC tower for heavy media workloads because I couldn't justify paying twice as much for an iMac Pro that's less powerful/repairable/upgradable.
Not sure what I'd do if I had to replace the laptop. Seems like nothing currently available even comes close to the build quality of the old unibody MacBook Pros.
dosdude1 has a USB installer patcher available for installing macOS onto your old MacBook, MacBook pro or iMac.
open core is available on GitHub for making a macOS Monterey USB installer for 2010 or newer iMacs and MacBooks.,
I have macOS Monterey running flawlessly on my 2011 27" iMac with a replaced dell gtx 2gb GPU and also on my 2012 27" iMac.
I put most MacBooks 2008 or newer onto Catalina using dos dude 1 and they work fine!
The other thing that needs to be looked more closely at is how parts are packaged.. I have a dometic 3way fridge, in which a small plastic part had broken.. it was already a flimsy design anyway.. and its surprising that part had lasted as long as it had.. but the annoying thing was that the only way you could get that broken part, was to buy a complete latch replacement.. but the rest of the latch was metal and would have lasted a hundred years.. so absolutely no need to replace that art EVER.. And it was also not a latch that would have any use other than in that particular fridge..
Just a money grab.. and for a poorly designed part in the first place..
These things should also be regulated.
Stephen
Hi Stephen,
I think this is a result of cost saving in the design and a decision to prioritise that over repair. It's often cheaper to glue and weld parts in place than make them replaceable. You see examples like your fridge door latch on most appliances.
Recently, a few European consumer organisations assessed washing machine construction and found all but one had a sealed drum assembly - which meant drum bearings were impossible to replace and a failure of a cheap bearing needed a very expensive repair. We're have a similar project underway now.
Removing fasteners and using glue is the default assembly technique of tech device manufacture. It's rare to see a phone, for example, with a screen and battery (the most common parts to break or fail) that are easy to replace.
I agree that it's not just having parts available, we need the parts that most commonly fail to be easy to replace and available for a reasonable price. Otherwise it'll be too easy to claim repairability when it's not practical or economic to make the repair.
Paul
Consumer NZ
Several years ago I bought a Ryobi Router from a local retailer. It had an 8mm chuck… an unusual size, but it had a tiny adapter collet (sleeve) to take the much more common ¼ inch (6.35mm) bits. I lost the collet in long grass when changing bits. Searched for ages. No luck. The local supplier said they couldn't help as Bunnings were now the sole NZ agent. Bunnings said it was a discontinued item so parts were no longer available. Tried many sources (in NZ and online) for a collet but no luck so had to trash a perfectly good router. [Note I have a big set of ¼ inch bits that cost almost as much as a new router… this influenced my decision. Needless to say I did not get a Ryobi!]
Part of the problem with Ryobi is the sole retailer situation. Bunnings have no competition when it comes to after sales service. I had two events with Ryobi. First a battery charger stopped working after a couple of years. Out of warranty I was told. I quoted CGA. Finally after verbal arguments with several Bunnings staff, I was put in touch with Ryobi rep. He claimed charger was too old even under CGA. I told him how come batteries outlast the charger! I finally won when I told him I had another make of drill and charger which had lasted over 20 years of regular use; was Ryobi not as good? Secondly I wanted a replacement blade for a lawn edger. Bunnings had replacement blades on the shelf but for a later model. I was told my model blade was discontinued. (only 2 years old) I spotted an edger the same model as mine still on shelf! I said if model blade discontinued why is the machine still being sold? I asked them to sell me the blade from the stock machine because they had no right to be selling a machine that they knew replaceable wearable parts no longer available. They refused but told me Ryobi rep would be in touch. Never heard from him. But next time I was in city (no Bunnings where I live) I noticed they had replacement blades for my machine in stock. So I bought a couple.
Glad that your article pointed out Ryobi’s statement on their website. I always thought it was a good brand, but won’t be buying if their products can’t be repaired!
Surely a warning has to be expressly brought to the consumer's attention at the time of sale rather than merely sitting on a website?
Hi Ralph,
It's a good point. The legislation requires a consumer to be informed prior to completing the purchase. Technically the website statement is available to all consumers, so it meets the requirement. Though you could argue it's not really the spirit of the law!
We asked Ryobi for a response to our original article and didn't get one. I've asked again for them to confirm they are meeting the legislation requirements.
This looks like a really grey CGA area. We know that many importers of small appliances and tech devices have few spare parts available and limited repair capability. I think they have relied on consumers accepting that replacement or refund is a better option all round. We are seeing that changing and it'll be really interesting to see how they respond. Some will embrace the change for sure, while others won't.
Paul
Consumer NZ
A handy resource for general use and possbily, repairs. https://www.nodevice.com/service-manuals/
Last month the clothes iron got accidentally knocked off the board and wouldn't go. It was quite a mission opening the sealed unit up but once I had done so all that needed fixing was a wire that had come off its connection. Popped it back on again, glued the iron up and all is back to normal. Anyone else would have dropped it into the bin.
A couple of years ago the fuse in the Kenwood Chef mixer blew - popped in a new one and off she goes again. Same with the Kenwood mincer. It's a big help if you are a handy person with a limited electrical ticket. Just wish I could replace the battery in an otherwise perfectly functioning older iPhone.
If you are interested, you can get a replacement battery for most i-Phones. If you are interested give me a ring on 021 587 801.
Replacement battery for an iPhone 6s cost me around $60.
I agree. I've recently replaced batteries on an old iPhone SE and an iPhone 7. The local device repair store did each of them for under $80 in a couple of hours.
Paul
Consumer NZ
A couple of replies mention about getting a local tech to do work on iphones. The trouble with that is Apple insist that if anyone other than their authorised repairer touches an iphone the warranty and any claim under CGA is voided. This threat is unfair especially in the case of broken screens where the local repairer will do the job at half the price!
It's not enough to force manufacturers to make parts available, the prices must be reasonable, or they will simply make them too high.
Case in point: many years ago we had the circuit board in a Panasonic laser printer fail, due to an incorrectly wired power point (in a hospital, ouch!). A new board was available, but cost more than a new printer.
Hi Peter,
Great point. We're seeing calls for right to repair legislation including the requirement for parts to be available at a reasonable price. That's essential to make this more than a box-ticking exercise for manufacturers.
The CGA legislation already requires problems to be fixed (refund, replace or repair) in a reasonable time. When it comes extending it to spare parts, I think ensuring a reasonable price and a reasonable level of availability are important clauses to include.
Paul
Consumer NZ
Nobody out there in our city to do simple repairs meeting electrical compliance. I have an iron with a cord which has frayed down to the wires, nothing wrong with the iron and it's a good brand. I don't want to throw it in the landfill. Maybe I should replace the cord myself?
A couple of years ago my old 1975 Kenwood Chef cake mixer started haemorrhaging oil. I was very distressed about this as the new ones are nowhere near as robust as this solid machine.
My husband took it to Sontag Electric in Dunedin and had to pay about $35 to get it checked and see if it could be repaired. They we able to repair it at a cost of $130 (it only cost $75 when bought new) but I didn’t mind at all. At least I have my quality machine back and nothing (except maybe the broken part) sent to landfill.
I’m all for repairing stuff especially good high quality items we used to get...not sure the parts are available now though 😐
The Philips K9 colour tv receiver of the 1970's was designed so that it could be repaired even though in service it proved to be very reliable. It consisted of a series of plug in modules, (these were also repairable) and an extensive service manual with fault tracing procedure's. These days even opening an item to inspect it interior is a major task with one way plastic clips holding it together. Fast assembly on the production line though.
Peter
It must have occurred to manufacturers that although there was some good to making products that lasted, their profitability suffered as it took too long for a customer to come back to the market to purchase another. More could be made from turning out products that had a mediocre lifespan. There are large companies that have been built on that foundation. It didn't matter if a customer chose a different brand as they would win a buyer from the opposition. The only thing sustainable were the companies themselves. I can see much hand-wringing in boardrooms to come.
Thanks Paul - you summed up the situation neatly (at least my personal cynicism about how we got here). When the business goal is to maximise profits for shareholders, all desire to do good becomes secondary. That is, unless doing good directly maximises those profits!
I also think it's also going to need us (consumers) to accept that most appliances and devices have become too cheap. If we want stuff that lasts, we need to look at ourselves and decide what's important - what's the true cost of those cheap appliances?
Paul
Consumer NZ
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