EE Power Bar recall: Over one million customers told to return battery packs in case they blow up

The phone network had previously issued a recall for a specific batch of the chargers, after they were found to have overheated

Andrew Griffin
Thursday 17 December 2015 05:03 EST
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EE is recalling all of its Power Bar phone chargers for fear that they might blow up.

The little blue cylinders were released earlier this year as a way of allowing people to keep the charge up on their phones. But they are all now being recalled because of a safety risk.

“If you have a Power Bar, you should stop using it straight away and hand it in to one of our stores,” EE advised customers.

It said that it had taken the action because of “a very small number of incidents where Power Bars have overheated in circumstances that could cause a fire safety risk”.

The company advised customers to unplug any Power Bars from any phones and from the mains and take them to a store.

When customers return the Power Bars to stores, they will be given a £20 voucher in return for it. The voucher can be used at EE’s accessories store, which sells new third-party phone chargers among other things.

The company didn’t say whether or not it would be issuing replacements for the charger, saying that it is “fully focused on the recall” and that it “will make further announcements soon”.

EE launched the Power Bar in April, with the promise that if users ran out of charge they could take them into shops to get them charged up again. Initial interest was so strong that EE stores ran out of stock.

But soon after reports emerged that some of the chargers blowing up and causing damage to houses. The company recalled one specific model but then took the decision ask for them all back.

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