Counterfeit and Illegal Plugs and Leads

[Mark_Burgess]

Amazon continue to sell these dangerous cables, they clearly believe themselves to be above the law!

Since last posting I have ordered and received a further three of the "KING CORO" models described earlier, and have now also received, from an Amazon seller in Hong Kong, another type with a counterfeit fuse.

You can see a photograph of the plug on the website www.bs1363.org.uk – (the picture is on the homepage and is the one shown against a blue background). The sample just received was of an even lower quality than the previous sample evaluated, it has very bad plating on the pins (looking somewhat like lumpy solder tinning) and the moulded material had been allowed to flow over all four sides of the red plastic fuse carrier, thus it was impossible to remove the carrier until that excess material had been cut away! Other features of this lead are:

• Counterfeit fuse ( a crude imitation, impossible to remove due to having been sealed into the fuse chamber by excess moulding material)
• The fuse was cosmetic and not connected to anything, the line wire is connected directly to the line pin
• Partially sleeved earth pin (resulting in intermittent or no connection to socket earth)
• All pins are the wrong size
• The C5 connector is wrongly labelled "10A", the C5 standard rating is 2.5A
• The plug is branded: “guida”, with a counterfeit ASTA approval mark.

What is your next step?

Can you get any help from a governing body to help you stop companies like amazon to stop selling these?
They must be some way of getting these stopped from being sold?

 

[FatallyFlawed]

What is your next step?

Can you get any help from a governing body to help you stop companies like amazon to stop selling these?
They must be some way of getting these stopped from being sold?

We are working with BSI, BEAMA, BASEC, Trading Standards and local MPs. Anyone who feels as we do do about these could contact their own MP, write to Amazon direct, or any of the other bodies. Your help would be most welcome!

 

[Des 56]

He beggars belief that import controls do not get on top of the these shoddy practices and examples

If we cant change the manufacturing standards of such imports,we ought to be able to prosecute the retailers themselves,Amazon maybe first as an example

 

[Cyberprog]

I've come across some 13A > Clover leads in some AC adapters for laptops this week from eBuyer. Looks like they've been shipping them for nearly 6 months.
Faults:
1) Sleeved Earth Pin
2) 13A Fuse, 0.75mm2 Cable
3) Iffy looking non ASTA approved Fuse!

Some photos:

www.cyberprog.net - /eBuyerCounterfeit/

 

[sparkydude]

Thats if the cable actually is 0.75mm2 cable. As others have said they scrimp on the copper content in the leads aswell so maybe a lot smaller. Doesnt matter anyway as the chances of that fuse being a valid protective device be it 13a or 5a are very very slim indeed. I cannot believe that these things are still being sold and there must be thousands of them in use in peoples homes who are not aware of the very real dangers of them. Sureley the fire service and government must be able to do something about it. Maybe a public service announcement on the news and an advert may be i good idea to inform the un-informed about the risks and what to look for.

Nick