If you recently bought an AmazonBasics external battery, you may want to send it back. Amazon has announced that in cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, it’s issuing a voluntary recall of six models of the AmazonBasics Portable Power Banks. The news was first picked up by The Verge.
Included in the recall are the 16,100mAh, 10,000mAh, 5,600mAh, 3,000mAh, 2,000mAh with Micro USB cable, and 3,000mAh with Micro USB cable models. Amazon says it will be sending out emails to all customers that bought affected models, and will recommend to those customers that they immediately stop using the power banks. Customers will also get a link to return the product and get a refund. The devices were sold between December 2014 and July 2017
According to the U.S. CPSC, around 260,000 units are affected by the recall, which isn’t small. Of the 260,000 people that bought, Amazon received 53 reports of overheating, including one instance of chemical burns and four reports of property damage.
While Amazon’s name is on the power banks, they’re not actually built by Amazon — just branded as such. Instead, they’re built in China by a company called Guoguang Electric Company Ltd. According to a report from Gizmodo, it’s possible that Guoguang Electric may also be involved in building products for the likes of Bose and Harman — though that hasn’t really been confirmed.
If you have an AmazonBasics Portable Power Bank and did not receive an email, Amazon is urging you to head to the recall site, where you can get more information about the recall and register for a refund.
Power banks are a great way to ensure that you have enough battery to last you through the day, and they’re getting better and better. They now offer a ton of extra juice, not only for a smartphone, but also for other devices. Some even have an AC power outlet, meaning you can use them to charge devices like a computer.
AmazonBasics products are known for being decent quality, but inexpensive and, as the name suggests, basic. While you won’t get any fancy features, you will get the product at a reasonably price, and usually it will be reliable. Of course, as the recall proves, cheap manufacturing means that reliability can’t be 100 percent guaranteed all the time.
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