Consumers’ experiences with premature obsolescence – Insights from seven EU countries

non-peer-reviewedPremature obsolescence of electrical and electronic equipment is often considered one of the major factors driving the waste generation from this product category. Being the result of a mix of many technical and non-technical elements, this phenomenon is as complex as it is important. However, in order to increase products’ useful lifetime, better insight into the mechanisms of premature obsolescence is indispensable. The EU-funded project PROMPT (Premature Obsolescence Multi-stakeholder Product Testing Program) aims to reduce the information asymmetries between producers and consumers by making premature obsolescence measurable. As part of its activities, consumer organisations in seven European countries (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain and The Netherlands) started collecting comparable data on consumers’ experiences with failed products. A continuously available online platform was launched in five of these countries, allowing consumers to report products of which they expected longer use. In Germany and The Netherlands, comparable data was collected using an online survey. This paper has the main objective to present and discuss the preliminary results from the analysis of the data collected in the different countries. The results show direct consumer feedback on the products that are failing most often and their respective failure modes, as well as consumers’ experiences with and attitudes towards repair