Ashens taking the time to explain how a CD player works for people who genuinely have never seen one before made me feel as if death by old age is soon upon me.
Ashens: "I'm not sure I actually needed any of these items" Also Ashens: *gets repeated use out of a dollar store sound effect toy* I'm sure you'll figure something out.
I buy new stuff and swap with the old broken ones I cant find receipt for, then do a return saying its broken same item sometimes a different colour lol.
That part with the webcam gave me mixed feelings. One: I'm surprisingly nostalgic for the shitty quality webcam look. I spent a lot of time in the late 00s early 10s doing online D&D and other role playing games via webcams like that. Surprised some artsy folk haven't shot something entirely with bad cameras like that, yet. Two: I saw entirely too much of Stewart's couch. Seeing that arm and wall felt like accidentally seeing a friend half naked. It felt wrong. I feel guilty and ashamed.
Ashens, I want you to know, I've been using a wireless mouse as a wired mouse for the longest time because I was genuinely convinced the receiver was not properly included. Lo and behold, you taught me where the fuck it was hidden and it was there the entire time.
Isn't that the most logical way of placing an item that can be easily lost since you'll be accessing that compartment anyway (and quite often as well, since the cheap mice tend to have horrid battery life)? Every wireless mouse I've used had it there (except an old one that has a big USB drive-sized one) Glad ya found it tho hahah
I run a hat shop and we get “club rentals” people buy hats to match their outfit on Friday, wear it all weekend, then return it on Monday 😂 if they take good care of it and it’s not all sweaty or dirty we usually don’t care tho.
That aerial was in use for ages before it stopped working. Once that happened, they purchased a new one and swapped the working with the faulty and returned it. Classic swap.
That would require a lot of criminal energy.. because a normal person couldn't possibly be asked to repackage the broken one snd lie to the asda cashier
I'd pay money for the return of Quincy, the caterpillar who sings obscure Beatle songs (this is one for the olllld school Ashens fans, lol!) ..not a lot, but still money!
Just a point Ashens, we don't test them because we don't have time, we don't test them because we're not allowed to due to health and safety rules. Although if we feel that someone's really taking the piss, we may call a manager to make a final decision. There's actually a term for people that buy tools and return them after they've done the job the wanted it for: they're called "Weekend Warriors."
This is why "library of things" need to become more common. I've seen a few, and it's great- tools and power washers etc, that you need once in a while but don't want to pay for outright, you borrow them like a normal book library. Saves all this ridiculous wastage through returns to retail that inevitably will lead to perfectly good items being dumped at landfill.
@@Accountforstuff I'd love something like this, it'd help with my habit of buying all the stuff to get into a hobby and then forgetting about it after a week 😂
@@Accountforstuff Interesting idea, like a community tool shed. Borrow the thing for a number of days, if you don't return it you get charged, if you lost a part, the entire thing, or it broke and it's obvious that you did something stupid with it, you gotta pay for that, you're required to clean it if you get it all filthy.
@@0neDoomedSpaceMarine I feel like that should be a thing for pretty much anything. Community toolshed, community electronics shop, community food supply. Basically if you need something, it's there and accessible.
Honestly you're absolutely right, so many returns you get from customers are just "I don't want it anymore" and most companies will just say to accept it.
@@tncorgi92 every single returned trunk mounted bike rack I guarantee was used one to bring a new bike home and then immediately returned… don’t ask how my parents brought home our new bikes as kids 👀
When I worked for John Lewis, we processed a lot of returns where the person had bought it, used it, and was returning it now they were "done with it". there's an unwritten list of items that are sus and we'd lose too much money on if we accepted them all, a lot of these were seasonal: Christmas trees juuust after Christmas lol was the best. "oh yeah nah the tree just didn't fit in the room" ....right bruv that's why you're returning it in the first spare moment you had since boxing day :D
@@AdamOwenBrowning I work in a furniture store, and used to get a lot of table purchases before thanksgiving, and a lot of table returns afterwards. -_-
5:37 Canuck chiming in. ONN and BlackWeb products are sold by Walmart on this side of the pond. So it seems as though there's still a business relationship between Asda and Walmart. 19:28 Whoa! We're been teleported back to Ashens' channel circa 2006! 25:07 Dee sells sea shells by the sea shore! 28:17 The customer might have plugged the headphones in their desktop computer and the microphone didn't work. While laptops and phones tend to have a microphone connection built into in the headphone jack, desktop PCs tend to use a separate socket for the microphone, so you would need to use a splitter.
You're right. According to Wikipedia: "In February 2021, Mohsin Issa, Zuber Issa and TDR Capital acquired Asda. Walmart retains "an equity investment" in Asda, a seat on the board and "an ongoing commercial relationship".[11]"
When I worked in Debenhams, a family tried to return a quite expensive RC car which was faulty, kid was devastated, I had a look, and screwed the antennae into the car itself and saved the day for little Timmy. T'was a good day, that day my friends.
Hi I’m a high flying Hollywood executive producer,and I’m really keen to snap up the film rights to this. I’m pretty sure we could get Warwick Davies and Louis Spence on board. Thinking of Steven Seagall as the shop assistant (you). Name your price.
When i started in retail MANY years ago, we had 1,8m D-Sub printer cables for 19.95 DM (deutsche mark, abt 10 €/$ in todays), which was a STEAL at the time and flew out the shelfs as those usually cost at least twice everywhere else. We bought them for 0.67DM (abt 0.33 €/$) which is a 5945% (yes, 6 THOUSAND) markup. We sold PALLETS per month.
I work in a furniture warehouse, and an example of customer returns would be a customer returning a natural wood chair because one of the legs is slightly darker than the rest.
Fun fact Ashens said Walmart sold Asda, However that is not true TDR Capital acquired Asda and Walmart retaining "an equity investment" in Asda, a seat on the board and "an ongoing commercial relationship".
@@lokelaufeyson9931 depends, really. When I say natural wood, I mean wood without a coat of varnish/lacquer. Those chairs can have different colored legs, either because of the grain or it's a different wood. Even still, if you coat it in lacquer, the final product might be off in a few spots.
@@SamLemont its ok, it was only a quick joke :) I know that wood can be slightly different and if it is identical colour on all parts its usually plastic..
I thought so. I'm almost positive I bought one of those neckband earbuds things about 3 years ago from my Walmart here in Kentucky that was this exact brand. If I know what I did with them, I'd check. But one side stopped working after about a year and I have no idea where they are now lol. Should have thrown them out but knowing my cheap self the way I do, they're most likely still around the house somewhere. 🤷♀️🤦♀️
"Walmart will retain an equity investment in Asda after agreeing terms for a £6.8 billion sale of a controlling stake in the retailer to a consortium led by Lancashire-based brothers Mohsin and Zuber Issa."
@@larrylaffer3246 Asda do seem to be abandoning the Blackweb and Onn brands in favour of "Asda Tech" though. I picked up a mouse a couple of months ago with the latter brand and all the Blackweb ones (exact same model) were hidden behind it.
As someone who used to work in an electronics store, I can confirm that so many people returned so many perfectly working items. Mainly the person didn't know how to use it properly, or the thing they were trying to use with it (say a bluray player, and they are buying a new HDMI cable) was broken, but they thought it was whatever they just bought.
I was actually surprised when I had to return a SanDisk Ultra Flair USB drive recently that was straight DOA (didn't work even across multiple devices - I mention the brand so you know what to avoid) when the guy in Currys didn't actually test it in any way, just gave me a refund after checking they had no replacements in stock. I expected some sort of basic test because, y'know, people are frequently idiots.
@@sanityormadnessBusiness min-maxing probably; i.e. just refund, move on; costs less time, i.e. less money, since personnel is the real costly expense.
Maplin's answer to this was to accept returns without question, then tape the box shut and put it back on the shelf. I learned to make sure I got an unmolested box when buying stuff from them if I wanted the thing to have all the bits and actually work. Sure, you could just take it back but I once wasted quite a bit of time and frustration with a PC motherboard which had been opened, whoever returned it had knackered it. Obviously no longer a problem with Maplin but I'm sure they aren't the last to come up with the idea.
One of may favorite things to do while I was living in England was to visit Cash Converters and buy their "sold as seen" stuff and fix it. Most of the time everything was completely repairable and you'd end up with Kindles and HD projectors and all kinds of gadgets for a fiver or less. I miss buying cheap but expensive when new electronics and fixing them. It made for excellent weekend projects.
Sounds cool! I used to do this but with eBay which meant items were more expensive to buy. I might pop in to cash converters and see if they still offer this
@@JayFunningham Batteries, Screens, liquid damage, changing USB ports, some of them had firmware issues ( especially other ereaders such as the Kobo develop boot problems ). I've always had electronics as a hobby and I've worked as a certified repair technician, so I already had all the tools that I could ever need. Still, most of the time, these were simple repairs that you could do with a swiss army knife and maybe a soldering iron, sometimes not even that.
My guess for the wired headphones is that their phone case physically prevented it from being plugged in. Turns out there's a whole weird grey market for headphone adapters just for that specific occurrence.
Or maybe their phone doesn't have a headphone jack in the first place? More common than you'd think, especially if their phone came with pack in earbuds with a lightning/type c connector, and they think all headphones are just like that now.
I had an MP3 player where the aux port died. Bought new headphones twice before realizing those wheren't the problem. That might be a reason too. That probably also why some of the charging cables got returned.
@@saalkz.a.9715 I believe you mean to trim back the plastic part of the PLUG, not the jack. Indeed, this often can solve this sort of issue, although most people will use a extension with a plug that WILL fit through the hole in the phone case to sort this out.
I used to work in a factory that sold secondhand phones, and once a customer did send back a phone that they'd clearly gotten wet and sent back. I mentioned this to the girl in Customer Services and when she asked the customer if there was any chance the phone had gotten wet once she bought it they apparently bawled her out so aggressively that the new company policy was "we give a full refund no matter what they did to it". Thankfully she forgave me!
The problem with Aerials usually, is that the person buys it, and their house is in an area where an indoor aerial is no use, and in the shop I worked at we would return them as faulty because nobody would buy an aerial in a clearly opened box. In this case it's faulty, but I imagine there are a hell of a lot of returned ones that work perfectly.
@@22kaybee22 On the other hand, they were 'trying' to give someone else a chance to get it (as misguided as that attempt was) by returning it instead of just throwing it away (of course not thinking that the store would just throw away the device anyway).
Just to add to what Stuart said about Walmart and ASDA, is that he might be right about them not owning it, but they still have an investment in the company.
I think Walmart didn't like the fact that there's allot of anti-monopoly laws in the UK. They kept getting rejected by the government to expand the business. They was going to sell to Sainsbury's but that got rejected as it would reduce competition. Plus Asda would've had to close down so many stores that was close to Sainsbury's stores.
I bought a wart remover kit at Walmart, it burned my skin no where on packaging did it say I couldn’t remove anal warts with it! I complained to manager they did nothing!!
When I worked for ASDA they used to offer these things to staff first. I got the Elvis comeback special box set on DVD which was returned because it was missing a disc. The disc was in the drawer and someone had just forgotten to put it in the box. Winner!
Ashens' respect towards the suffering of retail staff pleases me. I am not retail staff but (I suspect like Ashens) I was and I remember it too well...
@@Drawyahhope it was car or house insurance, imagine a British guy working in health or life insurance. Would make needing health or life insurance really sting even harder
You were right, I immediately knew what the customer thought was missing of the wireless keyboard and mouse when you mentioned 'missing parts'. X'D I knew that because I've been using a wireless mouse for a while and just recently had to get a new one in which I had to remind myself where to find the usb fob. I do think it's clever they tuck it away in the battery compartment, that's a lot safer than just having it loose in the package.
I'm going to guess with the webcam, they likely had a laptop with a built in webcam and they didn't know how to switch the camera in whatever program they were using. (At least some things will default to calling an external webcam the "back camera" or something, so likely was someone who didn't think to even check that.)
I’ve had a few cables that are too poor quality to charge my iPad, basically they don’t transfer enough power to charge it if it’s on, it just runs down slower. I was amazed at how variable cables can be when checked with a usb multimeter.
Yes. I found quality varied greatly. And as power requirements and fast charging became more prevalent, the lower quality cables started making a poor showing. And by poorer quality, sometimes it was name brand.
@@zarrg5611 telephone interchangers, basically those old telephone machines with an operator that manually connects the phone to the destination or route to it switching cables that appear in movies.
@@zarrg5611 no, it was invented for the telephone switchboards, i recommended you the switchboard Wikipedia article. Actually the design is genius as the phone lines are polarized and the 6.35mm plug is a polarized plug that you don't need to be cautious to put it in a specific position for it to work.
I found a fully functional staple gun in our returns pile once, the customer had attempted to load the staples by removing the base that held the spring in place and inserting the staples behind the plate attached to the spring designed to push staples up. A Co worker had accepted it as a return either out of avoiding confrontation with the customer or they did not know how a staple gun worked either
Since a couple years ago Asda has been owned by someone else, but still remain in partnership with Walmart and they still have some form of equity. Onn is actually Walmarts own brand I believe.
I bought a quadcopter (drone) that was returned as 'needing new transmitter' for a pittance; it turned out that you have to put the supplied batteries in the transmitter in order for it to work.
I had less hope in people than you did Ashens. When you asked what was missing from the keyboard/mouse set, I assumed the customer couldn't find the cables to their wireless devices...
weirdly enough, onn is also the brand walmart still uses for their electronics. dunno what the quality is like in the UK, but we've been pleasantly surprised with the onn things we've gotten (tv mount, bluetooth speaker, usb hub, charging cable).
I work at a computer/electronics store, and we have a huuuuge aisle dedicated to just keyboards and mice. We have dozens of different wireless keyboard/mouse combos just like the one in the video, and folks angrily try to return them all the time thinking theirs is missing the dongle. They tend to simmer down when we just show them where it is, and they take their stuff and leave. On some models, Logitech has gotten into the nasty habit of taping them to the inner flaps in the box, making them really easy to just throw away.
If a device doesn't charge check if the plug is wobbly, because often either the port has come unsoldered or the pins in the port have gotten mangled. That is how a lot of cheap electronics break.
When I used to work for Argos, I often had to explain the returns policy to the customers and very much of the time, it had been a case of 'never checked' if it was the right thing before they got the item out of the box, which is why they started the system of putting a coloured piece of sticky tape on it and send it down the belt and so it could be viewed before any money changed hands, during my time there, most of the bits and bobs did work, people just didn't want it anymore, but Argos wouldn't take it back if it would do what it was meant to.
In my darker moment's I suspect the world will end with the whimper of being engulfed by the slightly valuable electronics we know we won't ever use but can't bring ourselves to throw away. Good fun, thanks as ever.
That's a running joke of the techie...a true techie will have a drawer full of cables, adapters, and power bricks/wall-warts for devices that have long since died and been thrown away, but will be afraid to go through and throw out the old ones, because they know in their hearts that the moment they do, they'll turn around and acquire a gadget that needs one of the old connectors they just threw out. :-)
Haven't watched Ashens for a year or more it's always nice coming back to his channel and watching all his new videos and some of his old ones. I don't know why but His content makes me feel happy. Thanks for always being there. been watching seance 2010 or so.
i know people who still use neckband style wireless head phones for working, easier to pop out and have hang to talk to someone rather then putting them in a dirty pocket or risk dropping them on the floor and loosing them in stuff.
From my experience in retail security - A lot of returned electrical items tend to be fine and are returned as part of basically a scam. Customer will buy the item from store A, keep the receipt and head to store B. Take the same item off the shelf and then bring it to the till with the receipt and get a refund. people will go around shops doing this over and over. Headphones, power banks, cables.. things that are easy to pocket
@@Vykk_Draygo Explain. If you do not need a receipt then you can just nick the stuff and take it straight to customer services, or if you do need one then you are not going to be able to use it in another store as you have used it for the first time and it is not in your possession anymore.
@@Vile_Entity_3545 You buy the product from one store and keep that item. You take the receipt from that store and go to another store of the same brand. You pocket the same type of item you just bought, and then take it to the front and "return" it to get your money back. Now you have the item and your money. You don't reuse the receipt.
You buy it and have one receipt. Go to a different store of the same chain. Pick up and pocket identical item. Go to customer service and exchange the one you pocketed with the receipt of the one you bought. Two items, one receipt. Also why large box items like TVs require the serial number to be scanned at purchase.
I honestly can’t believe I’m 28 now still watching ashen’s 🤣 like faithfully. I’ve been watching this channel since I was like a middle schooler I think. Remember being a kid just watching this on my PSP I think on Crackle at the time. I am almost 30 and nothing has changed.
I expect that with a lot of the working ones, the customer probably changed their mind and thought they wouldn't be able to return them without a valid excuse, so they were just like 'It's borken, innit'
Speaking from the retailer point of view (not Asda but similar), I can tell you: 1) Customers that have changed their mind and are wanting a refund will often pretend the item is faulty so as to ensure we don't insist on exchange or refuse. 2) Company policy forbid us from testing electrical items.
The radio near the end, from what you described it sounds like the manufacturer installed the wrong internals and it had a 120V rated circuit so running it on the UKs 240V blew it up.
0:50 'you do end up taking back quite a lot of items that might actually work, because you don't have time to test them.' Except if you're CeX, and then it's the opposite: you have the time to test them to a fault (or rather, until you FIND a fault) in order to NOT take them off people's hands.
that band is super useful, the stupid wireless ones get lost or fall out and break so easily, I went through like 5 of those over the years, own 2 pairs of the band ones for work and home and they are both intact, functional and not lost lol
funny cause I've had the opposite experience, band ones have always broken and I've had AirPods for years now without issues.... with the exception of I washed them once and has to replace one
Agree, I've lost or broken so many wireless earbuds. But my OnePlus pair with a band has gone through a couple years of heavy usage (and a wash) and still work.
Just depends on how they fit. Got a super cheap pair of bluetooth earbuds, decent quality but the big thing is they have all different size earbuds, and also different sized bits that make them fit to the inside of your ear perfectly so they never fall out or become loose. Game changer for me, working 11 hour shifts and before I was constantly readjusting them these just fit perfectly for the full time.
I'm not a fan of most wireless stuff to be honest. Never had a wireless keyboard I liked, even if it was mechanical. Wireless mice are ok, but some mice really drain the batteries.
Dear Ashens! Ive been watching your channel for like 10 years now and i must say it's the best channel on UA-cam! Really like your food and your item videos. Ive seen some like 50 times or more! Please do not stop making videos! Your channel is really great! /Love from Sweden!
Back in the day I custom firmwared a PSP because I was on a low version so could do it. My friend who recently at the time bought one too was amazed at what I had done. But he had updated the firmware. So what he did was to run a game and then eject the UMD. This created an error on the screen. He then took it to Woolworths where he had bought it from. The girls at the electronics desk had no idea so they took his word and he got a new one with the low firmware version. Perfectly working PSP sent back lol.
I think you got lucky Ashens :D The thing with "returned" items that are being sold on Ebay it is absolutely certain the Ebay seller tested them and they aren't working or are otherwise worthless, otherwise they would be selling them as working on Ebay. Things like used headphones don't sell because who wants to put earphones that have been inside someone else's ear and covered in their earwax in their ears. Also in testing things like cables and chargers you risk damaging your valuable devices
I can understand how people have "connection" issues with the 3.5 mm audio jack. My son went through this. He kept buying cheap earbuds, then complaining that the earbuds stopped working on his iPod. After the 4th or 5th set, I tested with my headphones (that worked) and yes, there was no sound from my headphones when connected to his iPod. What?? But, my headphones do work, how can this be. Did some more investigation. My son, like most teens at that time, would stuff his iPod in his pants pockets. So, grabbed a flashlight and started looking at the audio jack port on the iPod. Took a toothpick, stuck in in the port, gave it a twirl and guess what... A bunch of lint came out with the toothpick. Repeated a couple of times until no lint. Plugged in my headphones and blasted my ears as the volume was at max! Cursed and swore a lot, then when back to some of those cheap earbuds he had purchased previously and they all worked fine. Lesson learned, pocket lint will prevent headphones from working with audio jacks.
Use to work in a department store (America), With electronics and small appliances we ALWAYYS had to put "Defective" if it was opened, even if they opened the package but never took out the item, it had to be defective, it was explained to me that the store gets there money back from the manufacturer that way. most of the time we could easily repackage with tape, but were not allowed too.
I went back to a shop due to the USB reciever missing once, BUT in my defence, the box had a cutout for batteries(which were in the box, in the cutout) and a cutout for the USB reciever(which, as you all ready guessed, was inside the device) so I think in this case the assumption that it was missing wasn't all that off xD
I love ashens cause no matter what he uploads, his videos are just a massive nostalgia trip to the past. Even if their new it still reminds me of his Poundland videos, or his food videos.
Used to work in retail, a lot of the time customers can't return stuff like headphones because they opened the packaging. Most common for reason for wanting to return because they didn't fit but we would put them through as "not working" so they could get their refund. I suspect people realised they didn't need or want half this stuff not long after buying them and the staff at the store were cutting them a break.
My 14 y/o dog passed away tonight and listening to you talk about random returned electronics has been incredibly soothing. Thanks for doing what you do, Ashens.
My guess for the last headset is that they tried to use the TRRS plug on it in a TRS output, and got confused by things being all weird. Those TRS and kin connectors have been around since the 19th century, the 6.3 mm mono plugs were originally designed for telephone exchanges. The TRRS format is a bit dumb, though, as there are two different pinouts, which means that you may need to use a TRRS to TRRS adapter sometimes to map between those pinouts, which is not completely confusing at all.
Most likely, although the manufacturer states they are compatible with both apple and Android devices. I read a while ago that apple "won" this war, do if that's true, on newer android phones they would sound fine and on older ones they'd sound as if you are underwater.
Man I haven’t watched Ashens in over 2 years and since then my life has gone down hill to the lowest point it’ll ever be but at least I still have Ashens to bring me back to better times
@@jonnystrange3617 I went from sleeping on a bed during this comment to sleeping on a couch for 5 nights outside without food and a single cup of water a day (by my own doing I could’ve been inside) and to now sleeping on a couch inside since then and have done nothing to change it whatsoever so it’ll continue to go downhill till I decide to change it or given up on and die from it because I am just a jobless leach with no aspirations :^)
My first year working retail cheap little solar powered garden lamps had gotten popular. We got hundreds returned as defective because the customer had not removed the little slip of paper protecting the rechargeable battery.
Unfortunately, I too, own one of those crappy webcams... I do have to disagree with Ashens though, the ring light does turn off with capacitive touch control. The switch point should have a marked indicator on the case, I just can't remember exactly where and I'm not nearby the camera to check lol
"A busy, understaffed supermarket where you just need to get the queue down before the manager complains, even though he knows full well that Sarah is off sick and he just made John go over and work on the checkouts even though there are supposed to be three people in this department at all times and my god they only pay you for doing one job and frankly that's not enough to cover the rent and electricity bills these days. And I mean come on how the heck are you supposed to test a TV aerial anyway, they won't let you set a TV up as it has to come out of existing stock and they won't write it off?" I used to work at Asda, and this is spot on!
as everyone that has ever worked a customer service desk knows.... Yes, customers can absolutely get plugging in headphones wrong, and they'll probably loudly insist it's your fault somehow and swear at you.
As someone has worked in retail I can give a little bit more insight. You have to ask the customer for the reason they are returning it to make sure its safe for resale. Some customers worry that if they just said "I don't like it" the refund would be refused. You then normally have a company policy to throw away anything "faulty" because you don't have time to test it and are risking being sued if you resold the goods. I remember when wireless headphones first came out and I had to become tech support for so many customers helping them connecting it to their devices
I worked for Macy's in the 70s. The crap that was returned was amazing. I agree most people don't want to admit they didn't want it. They don't even try to pack it properly. I had lots of customers return shopping carts because they put the wheels on backwards. They never even bothered with the instructions that had pictures. I, of course was assigned to fix it. I got quite good at it after a while. It took me less than 5 minutes to take it apart and put it back together correctly.
Seeing those slips from Asda just gave me haunting flashbacks. I worked in a warehouse in Bedfordshire that took returned vacuum cleaners and refurbished them to be sold again. Worst job I ever had. Many did work. Many had motors 5 mins from failing so our quick on/off test was pointless anyhow. Many were returned because they were clogged or full. We were expected to have every cleaner looking like new inside and out then repackaged ready to go in 20 minutes.
@@SpudgunStreams - A friend of mine used to work for a small engineering firm. Every Christmas the elderly millionaire that owned the company would turn up in a chauffeur-driven Rolls-Royce, tell the staff ‘You’ve all done very well’ and give them their Christmas bonus: One boiled sweet each.
As someone who used to have to sort through returned items for an electronics company, the condition people would return stuff was chilling. I had a portable DVD player that have been vomited on stuffed back into its case 😣
I often see the wireless keyboard-mice combos at thrift stores usually just the keyboard, no mouse, no wifi dongle that is absolutely required to use the thing.
This sort of video absolutely makes me want to go buy a pallet of returns, sort and fix, sell stuff on. But I know in my heart I'll just end up with mostly junk, and I'll never actually get around to looking at any of it, never mind doing the work to sell the good bits..
One common return "trick" peopl;e use is when something breaks they go and buy the same item, take it home put the old one in the box and treturn it. That might explain the aerial.The 5v 1A adapter your left is handily fine for usb charging so you could use it to power a usb hub and you have a multicharger or use it to replace the batteries in most 4xAA appliances.
@@BaguetteBeardBass The black sheep of my family took it a step further. Hed buy a big screen tv, take it home, return with receipt, browse store, pick up big screen tv and take it to customer service to return. As he didnt exit store no alarms. Once we found out i did think it was clever but ofc he got greedy (hence us finding out when he was arrested). Still he got away with some 50'000 worth. Ironically i worked in retail systems at the time so was designing the systems to stop such shit lol. Hed not have made it past one of my systems.
@@flashpone7910 If you break you microwave outside of warranty, you get a replacementt. Essentially you trade in old and damaged for brand new at no cost.
I still can't believe Ashens has been on UA-cam since 2006 and other than the camera quality, nothing has changed, content wise.
Other than his head.
Even the couch still looks the same. Ashens is the only constant in this ever changing world.
I see the sofa in my dreams......if I could dream
Audio quality has certainly got alot better too. Blissful gubbins to my ears, ought to 3 joyful onions
And I still watch him till this day
Ashens taking the time to explain how a CD player works for people who genuinely have never seen one before made me feel as if death by old age is soon upon me.
I recently saw a kid try and figure out how to use a mouse... 😓
> how a cd player works
that's the neat part, they dont, if you move that is
Give a teenager a tape/player, see what they make of it
@@jamespalmer5960 They'd have seen it enough in media to figure it out.
I was only born 2004 and know how to use one?
Ashens: "I'm not sure I actually needed any of these items"
Also Ashens: *gets repeated use out of a dollar store sound effect toy*
I'm sure you'll figure something out.
The Sound Machine is awesome. And also mine was not from a dollarstore. Just ebay, iirc.
It's really useful at the office.
(Pound store)
(Autism)
(Papa John's)
I buy new stuff and swap with the old broken ones I cant find receipt for, then do a return saying its broken same item sometimes a different colour lol.
That part with the webcam gave me mixed feelings. One: I'm surprisingly nostalgic for the shitty quality webcam look. I spent a lot of time in the late 00s early 10s doing online D&D and other role playing games via webcams like that. Surprised some artsy folk haven't shot something entirely with bad cameras like that, yet.
Two: I saw entirely too much of Stewart's couch. Seeing that arm and wall felt like accidentally seeing a friend half naked. It felt wrong. I feel guilty and ashamed.
Have you heard of trash Humpers? It's a film shot like that
fun fact a artist does do that he did one with a gameboy camera of all things i think his name was Jean-Jacques Calbayrac who still to this day
They're digital so there's no way those artsy types who love crap cameras would use them. If they were hand cranked, maybe.
hahahahaha i thought the same with the sofa
When you start eating food that was returned at a restaurant, that's when you question your life choices.
Specifically items returned at a restaurant from the 30's
Honestly, it might look better than some of the things Stuart has eaten
@@MetanoiaMan The 30's is the future now.
Hold on, just had a brilliant business idea...
How do you get returned resturant food? I'm poor and not picky.
Ashens, I want you to know, I've been using a wireless mouse as a wired mouse for the longest time because I was genuinely convinced the receiver was not properly included. Lo and behold, you taught me where the fuck it was hidden and it was there the entire time.
That's why these devices still comes with instructions booklets, by the way. ;)
@@kip258 because people are thick?
Isn't that the most logical way of placing an item that can be easily lost since you'll be accessing that compartment anyway (and quite often as well, since the cheap mice tend to have horrid battery life)? Every wireless mouse I've used had it there (except an old one that has a big USB drive-sized one)
Glad ya found it tho hahah
@@syclone Yes, I’m just stupid and had never used a wireless mouse before.
@@glyph1869 we at least the 2nd part of that sentence is no longer true. ;)
I was absolutely expecting someone to have bought the same keyboard they owned, stole the keycap they needed/lost, and returned the new one.
Same!
I thought a leg was missing.
Family member works at Walmart, you wouldn't believe some of the "returns".
I run a hat shop and we get “club rentals” people buy hats to match their outfit on Friday, wear it all weekend, then return it on Monday 😂 if they take good care of it and it’s not all sweaty or dirty we usually don’t care tho.
@@CosyMatt im betting though a lot are dirty and sweaty ! 😳
That aerial was in use for ages before it stopped working. Once that happened, they purchased a new one and swapped the working with the faulty and returned it. Classic swap.
but really why should an ariel stop working ? its still not fit for purpose
cos they spilt a drink on it and it fried. sticky residue on top is giveaway. Id have done a sniff test before accepting it as a return.
This guys worked in retail alright!
That would require a lot of criminal energy.. because a normal person couldn't possibly be asked to repackage the broken one snd lie to the asda cashier
Don't you normally need a receipt for proof of purchase? Wouldn't the receipt have a date on it, indicating that it was years old?
I think my favorite part is that he STILL uses that sound box
I actually have that exact sound box myself! I bought it from a Marshall's/Winners about 5 or 6 years ago.
Now all we need is CHEWBACCAS CLACKERS
@@thunderbirds9001 oh fuck dont mention those
When did he get it?
I'd pay money for the return of Quincy, the caterpillar who sings obscure Beatle songs
(this is one for the olllld school Ashens fans, lol!)
..not a lot, but still money!
Just a point Ashens, we don't test them because we don't have time, we don't test them because we're not allowed to due to health and safety rules. Although if we feel that someone's really taking the piss, we may call a manager to make a final decision. There's actually a term for people that buy tools and return them after they've done the job the wanted it for: they're called "Weekend Warriors."
This is why "library of things" need to become more common. I've seen a few, and it's great- tools and power washers etc, that you need once in a while but don't want to pay for outright, you borrow them like a normal book library. Saves all this ridiculous wastage through returns to retail that inevitably will lead to perfectly good items being dumped at landfill.
@@Accountforstuff I'd love something like this, it'd help with my habit of buying all the stuff to get into a hobby and then forgetting about it after a week 😂
@@Accountforstuff Interesting idea, like a community tool shed.
Borrow the thing for a number of days, if you don't return it you get charged, if you lost a part, the entire thing, or it broke and it's obvious that you did something stupid with it, you gotta pay for that, you're required to clean it if you get it all filthy.
@@0neDoomedSpaceMarine I feel like that should be a thing for pretty much anything. Community toolshed, community electronics shop, community food supply. Basically if you need something, it's there and accessible.
@@Accountforstuff would only work in a high trust society
Honestly you're absolutely right, so many returns you get from customers are just "I don't want it anymore" and most companies will just say to accept it.
I will confess to purchasing a portable DVD player for the child to use on a long trip, then after the trip turning it in for credit or refund.
@@tncorgi92 every single returned trunk mounted bike rack I guarantee was used one to bring a new bike home and then immediately returned… don’t ask how my parents brought home our new bikes as kids 👀
When I worked for John Lewis, we processed a lot of returns where the person had bought it, used it, and was returning it now they were "done with it". there's an unwritten list of items that are sus and we'd lose too much money on if we accepted them all, a lot of these were seasonal: Christmas trees juuust after Christmas lol was the best.
"oh yeah nah the tree just didn't fit in the room"
....right bruv that's why you're returning it in the first spare moment you had since boxing day :D
@@AdamOwenBrowning should change the 26th to "Reboxing Day".
@@AdamOwenBrowning I work in a furniture store, and used to get a lot of table purchases before thanksgiving, and a lot of table returns afterwards. -_-
5:37 Canuck chiming in. ONN and BlackWeb products are sold by Walmart on this side of the pond. So it seems as though there's still a business relationship between Asda and Walmart.
19:28 Whoa! We're been teleported back to Ashens' channel circa 2006!
25:07 Dee sells sea shells by the sea shore!
28:17 The customer might have plugged the headphones in their desktop computer and the microphone didn't work. While laptops and phones tend to have a microphone connection built into in the headphone jack, desktop PCs tend to use a separate socket for the microphone, so you would need to use a splitter.
You're right. According to Wikipedia: "In February 2021, Mohsin Issa, Zuber Issa and TDR Capital acquired Asda. Walmart retains "an equity investment" in Asda, a seat on the board and "an ongoing commercial relationship".[11]"
I was gonna comment as well on the fact that we get ONN products in the U.S. I've used them a few times and they're not bad
@@prylosecorsomething3194 i was confused seeing onn at walmart then seeing this video with onn over across the pond
When I worked in Debenhams, a family tried to return a quite expensive RC car which was faulty, kid was devastated, I had a look, and screwed the antennae into the car itself and saved the day for little Timmy.
T'was a good day, that day my friends.
So you foiled the parents' evil plot to fix buyer's remorse? 😂
@@bufordmaddogtannen Nah, they had a gift reciept for it, they didn't buy it.
Bravo, mate. There’s nothing like making someone’s day, especially a kid.
@@5roundsrapid263 Exactly!
Hi I’m a high flying Hollywood executive producer,and I’m really keen to snap up the film rights to this. I’m pretty sure we could get Warwick Davies and Louis Spence on board. Thinking of Steven Seagall as the shop assistant (you).
Name your price.
It would be cool if Big Clive took apart all the broken devices to determine where the failure occured.
Some of his best friends now are other youtubers who are happy to take his stuff and do there own videos on it.
When i started in retail MANY years ago, we had 1,8m D-Sub printer cables for 19.95 DM (deutsche mark, abt 10 €/$ in todays), which was a STEAL at the time and flew out the shelfs as those usually cost at least twice everywhere else. We bought them for 0.67DM (abt 0.33 €/$) which is a 5945% (yes, 6 THOUSAND) markup. We sold PALLETS per month.
I work in a furniture warehouse, and an example of customer returns would be a customer returning a natural wood chair because one of the legs is slightly darker than the rest.
Fun fact Ashens said Walmart sold Asda, However that is not true TDR Capital acquired Asda and Walmart retaining "an equity investment" in Asda, a seat on the board and "an ongoing commercial relationship".
wood is supposed to be evenly coloured right?
@@lokelaufeyson9931 depends, really. When I say natural wood, I mean wood without a coat of varnish/lacquer. Those chairs can have different colored legs, either because of the grain or it's a different wood. Even still, if you coat it in lacquer, the final product might be off in a few spots.
@@SamLemont its ok, it was only a quick joke :)
I know that wood can be slightly different and if it is identical colour on all parts its usually plastic..
Onn and Blackweb are still very prominent at Walmart in America and Canada, so they may still be at least partly the same company as Asda.
I thought so. I'm almost positive I bought one of those neckband earbuds things about 3 years ago from my Walmart here in Kentucky that was this exact brand. If I know what I did with them, I'd check. But one side stopped working after about a year and I have no idea where they are now lol. Should have thrown them out but knowing my cheap self the way I do, they're most likely still around the house somewhere. 🤷♀️🤦♀️
ASDA is still part of the Wal-Mart family. It's just part of it distantly. It's owned by subsidiary company which is owned by Wal-Mart.
"Walmart will retain an equity investment in Asda after agreeing terms for a £6.8 billion sale of a controlling stake in the retailer to a consortium led by Lancashire-based brothers Mohsin and Zuber Issa."
They still use the Walmart global supply chain for non food items.
@@larrylaffer3246 Asda do seem to be abandoning the Blackweb and Onn brands in favour of "Asda Tech" though. I picked up a mouse a couple of months ago with the latter brand and all the Blackweb ones (exact same model) were hidden behind it.
As someone who used to work in an electronics store, I can confirm that so many people returned so many perfectly working items. Mainly the person didn't know how to use it properly, or the thing they were trying to use with it (say a bluray player, and they are buying a new HDMI cable) was broken, but they thought it was whatever they just bought.
I was actually surprised when I had to return a SanDisk Ultra Flair USB drive recently that was straight DOA (didn't work even across multiple devices - I mention the brand so you know what to avoid) when the guy in Currys didn't actually test it in any way, just gave me a refund after checking they had no replacements in stock. I expected some sort of basic test because, y'know, people are frequently idiots.
@@sanityormadnessBusiness min-maxing probably; i.e. just refund, move on; costs less time, i.e. less money, since personnel is the real costly expense.
@@sanityormadness it can hit or miss with devices like all my usb are SanDisk and i'm still using SanDisk 8gb from close to 2010 ish
Maplin's answer to this was to accept returns without question, then tape the box shut and put it back on the shelf. I learned to make sure I got an unmolested box when buying stuff from them if I wanted the thing to have all the bits and actually work. Sure, you could just take it back but I once wasted quite a bit of time and frustration with a PC motherboard which had been opened, whoever returned it had knackered it. Obviously no longer a problem with Maplin but I'm sure they aren't the last to come up with the idea.
You should definitely post the faulty stuff to Big Clive for some diagnostics.
I 'shmell' a collab... But only it it's Pink & Deadly!
@@saalkz.a.9715 or Purple
One of may favorite things to do while I was living in England was to visit Cash Converters and buy their "sold as seen" stuff and fix it. Most of the time everything was completely repairable and you'd end up with Kindles and HD projectors and all kinds of gadgets for a fiver or less. I miss buying cheap but expensive when new electronics and fixing them. It made for excellent weekend projects.
Yeah I used to do the same thing , most of the time there is nothing at all wrong with it other than user error
Sounds cool! I used to do this but with eBay which meant items were more expensive to buy. I might pop in to cash converters and see if they still offer this
Wow, how were you fixing kindles?
@@JayFunningham Batteries, Screens, liquid damage, changing USB ports, some of them had firmware issues ( especially other ereaders such as the Kobo develop boot problems ). I've always had electronics as a hobby and I've worked as a certified repair technician, so I already had all the tools that I could ever need.
Still, most of the time, these were simple repairs that you could do with a swiss army knife and maybe a soldering iron, sometimes not even that.
Now you can sing the cashies theme if you do it again!
My guess for the wired headphones is that their phone case physically prevented it from being plugged in. Turns out there's a whole weird grey market for headphone adapters just for that specific occurrence.
I'm using a 2“ "extension" cable with my headphones for this very reason
I had a similar issue. The solution is simply trimming (back) the plastic part of the jack juuusst a little bit, and that's it.
Or maybe their phone doesn't have a headphone jack in the first place? More common than you'd think, especially if their phone came with pack in earbuds with a lightning/type c connector, and they think all headphones are just like that now.
I had an MP3 player where the aux port died. Bought new headphones twice before realizing those wheren't the problem.
That might be a reason too.
That probably also why some of the charging cables got returned.
@@saalkz.a.9715 I believe you mean to trim back the plastic part of the PLUG, not the jack.
Indeed, this often can solve this sort of issue, although most people will use a extension with a plug that WILL fit through the hole in the phone case to sort this out.
I used to work in a factory that sold secondhand phones, and once a customer did send back a phone that they'd clearly gotten wet and sent back. I mentioned this to the girl in Customer Services and when she asked the customer if there was any chance the phone had gotten wet once she bought it they apparently bawled her out so aggressively that the new company policy was "we give a full refund no matter what they did to it". Thankfully she forgave me!
The problem with Aerials usually, is that the person buys it, and their house is in an area where an indoor aerial is no use, and in the shop I worked at we would return them as faulty because nobody would buy an aerial in a clearly opened box. In this case it's faulty, but I imagine there are a hell of a lot of returned ones that work perfectly.
That's such a waste :O
@@22kaybee22 On the other hand, they were 'trying' to give someone else a chance to get it (as misguided as that attempt was) by returning it instead of just throwing it away (of course not thinking that the store would just throw away the device anyway).
@@VulpisFoxfire I'm not sure I like knowing where my returned items go haha, but I would say this isn't the customers' fault
Imagine what kind of birthday or Christmas gifts you’d receive if you were one of Ashens friends.
This comment made me laugh lol. "Merry Christmas! It's a radio that will work for 30 seconds next Christmas then die!"
Merry christmas! Here's a CD player for those 3 discs you inherited from your nan! And it almost works!
@@ryleighs9575 It’s a treat for the whole family to look forward to and enjoy every year!
i would love a dollar store christmas gift from ashens.
Just to add to what Stuart said about Walmart and ASDA, is that he might be right about them not owning it, but they still have an investment in the company.
Can be seen with how the Defective Slips are 100% Wal-Mart proprietary. The inclusion of Wal-Mart exclusive brands like "onn."
@@_Minecraft_ASMR yep, first item I immediately recognized the return label 🤣
Asda was bought out by the Issa brothers who also own euro garages. Its why a lot of garage linked stores are now Asda stores.
I think Walmart didn't like the fact that there's allot of anti-monopoly laws in the UK. They kept getting rejected by the government to expand the business. They was going to sell to Sainsbury's but that got rejected as it would reduce competition. Plus Asda would've had to close down so many stores that was close to Sainsbury's stores.
I bought a wart remover kit at Walmart, it burned my skin no where on packaging did it say I couldn’t remove anal warts with it! I complained to manager they did nothing!!
When I worked for ASDA they used to offer these things to staff first. I got the Elvis comeback special box set on DVD which was returned because it was missing a disc. The disc was in the drawer and someone had just forgotten to put it in the box. Winner!
What drawer?
@@defs8073 The drawer we kept the discs in.
@@StuNewnham what drawer?
@@defs8073 they probably stocked the disc sleeves on the shelves and then put the discs in upon purchase to avoid theft.
Ashens' respect towards the suffering of retail staff pleases me.
I am not retail staff but (I suspect like Ashens) I was and I remember it too well...
If I recall, Stuart used to work at a Tech Store in customer service for a couple of years. He also worked at a call center for an insurance company.
@@Drawyahhope it was car or house insurance, imagine a British guy working in health or life insurance. Would make needing health or life insurance really sting even harder
You were right, I immediately knew what the customer thought was missing of the wireless keyboard and mouse when you mentioned 'missing parts'. X'D I knew that because I've been using a wireless mouse for a while and just recently had to get a new one in which I had to remind myself where to find the usb fob. I do think it's clever they tuck it away in the battery compartment, that's a lot safer than just having it loose in the package.
I'm going to guess with the webcam, they likely had a laptop with a built in webcam and they didn't know how to switch the camera in whatever program they were using. (At least some things will default to calling an external webcam the "back camera" or something, so likely was someone who didn't think to even check that.)
I think the picture quality of a potato didn't meet their expectation.
I’ve had a few cables that are too poor quality to charge my iPad, basically they don’t transfer enough power to charge it if it’s on, it just runs down slower. I was amazed at how variable cables can be when checked with a usb multimeter.
Yes. I found quality varied greatly. And as power requirements and fast charging became more prevalent, the lower quality cables started making a poor showing. And by poorer quality, sometimes it was name brand.
size or width usally give a hint, a super thin cable cant transfer 50 amps for example..
The 3.5mm jack is from the 1950s but the 6.35mm jack is from 1877-1878, basically the design is over 140 yeas old.
What would they have done with a 6.35 mm jack back then?
@@zarrg5611 telephone interchangers, basically those old telephone machines with an operator that manually connects the phone to the destination or route to it switching cables that appear in movies.
@@GODAXEN But so early, the phone had only just been invented. Would it be Morse Code or something?
@@zarrg5611 no, it was invented for the telephone switchboards, i recommended you the switchboard Wikipedia article.
Actually the design is genius as the phone lines are polarized and the 6.35mm plug is a polarized plug that you don't need to be cautious to put it in a specific position for it to work.
@@GODAXEN Just looked that up and found a photo of a woman with modern looking headphones dating from, this stuff is wild.
I found a fully functional staple gun in our returns pile once, the customer had attempted to load the staples by removing the base that held the spring in place and inserting the staples behind the plate attached to the spring designed to push staples up.
A Co worker had accepted it as a return either out of avoiding confrontation with the customer or they did not know how a staple gun worked either
i love this guys sarcasm and tone
It made me really happy to hear:
"Rip, tear, rend!" again, for some reason. 👍👍👍
Since a couple years ago Asda has been owned by someone else, but still remain in partnership with Walmart and they still have some form of equity. Onn is actually Walmarts own brand I believe.
Pretty sure you're correct on that one. Almost positive I've seen that brand in my local Walmart in Kentucky
You are correct I used to work at Walmart and Onn is Walmart store brand. They used to also have Blackweb but they disolved that for the Onn brand.
"It is a useless bastard, and it must be slapped by his grandmother until he gets a job". Savage. Priceless.
I bought a quadcopter (drone) that was returned as 'needing new transmitter' for a pittance; it turned out that you have to put the supplied batteries in the transmitter in order for it to work.
I had less hope in people than you did Ashens. When you asked what was missing from the keyboard/mouse set, I assumed the customer couldn't find the cables to their wireless devices...
weirdly enough, onn is also the brand walmart still uses for their electronics. dunno what the quality is like in the UK, but we've been pleasantly surprised with the onn things we've gotten (tv mount, bluetooth speaker, usb hub, charging cable).
Same with blackweb its a walmart brand, typically a step up in quality from onn.
onn is crap in my experience. Bought a USB C to 3.5mm dongle, sound quality was absolute crap.
I work at a computer/electronics store, and we have a huuuuge aisle dedicated to just keyboards and mice. We have dozens of different wireless keyboard/mouse combos just like the one in the video, and folks angrily try to return them all the time thinking theirs is missing the dongle. They tend to simmer down when we just show them where it is, and they take their stuff and leave.
On some models, Logitech has gotten into the nasty habit of taping them to the inner flaps in the box, making them really easy to just throw away.
If a device doesn't charge check if the plug is wobbly, because often either the port has come unsoldered or the pins in the port have gotten mangled. That is how a lot of cheap electronics break.
The light came on so my suspicion is the wire from the battery came loose. Possibly a simple solder job.
Love the "ding!" It makes it official! Great vid as always! Than You! "Ding!"
When I used to work for Argos, I often had to explain the returns policy to the customers and very much of the time, it had been a case of 'never checked' if it was the right thing before they got the item out of the box, which is why they started the system of putting a coloured piece of sticky tape on it and send it down the belt and so it could be viewed before any money changed hands, during my time there, most of the bits and bobs did work, people just didn't want it anymore, but Argos wouldn't take it back if it would do what it was meant to.
In my darker moment's I suspect the world will end with the whimper of being engulfed by the slightly valuable electronics we know we won't ever use but can't bring ourselves to throw away. Good fun, thanks as ever.
That's a running joke of the techie...a true techie will have a drawer full of cables, adapters, and power bricks/wall-warts for devices that have long since died and been thrown away, but will be afraid to go through and throw out the old ones, because they know in their hearts that the moment they do, they'll turn around and acquire a gadget that needs one of the old connectors they just threw out. :-)
He spent at least TEN POUNDS in this video, what a star.
Haven't watched Ashens for a year or more it's always nice coming back to his channel and watching all his new videos and some of his old ones. I don't know why but His content makes me feel happy. Thanks for always being there. been watching seance 2010 or so.
I'm *especially* infatuated with returned electrical items.
I like messing with "broken" stuff but I'm wary of actually using it in my house. One fire was enough.
@@tncorgi92 just one?
@@tncorgi92 what caused the fire?
i know people who still use neckband style wireless head phones for working, easier to pop out and have hang to talk to someone rather then putting them in a dirty pocket or risk dropping them on the floor and loosing them in stuff.
So happy he's still making videos, I took a long break from watching him, but now I get to binge.
I love how it says "cushioned keys" as a feature even though that basically tells me it's a really mushy and awful feeling membrane switch
Solid video! Very interesting, makes me wonder how many electronics go to waste. Would love to see another one of these!
I can confirm. I wrote up a support ticket for a coupon not working. In the description, I wrote “not couponing” and thought that was sufficient.
From my experience in retail security - A lot of returned electrical items tend to be fine and are returned as part of basically a scam. Customer will buy the item from store A, keep the receipt and head to store B. Take the same item off the shelf and then bring it to the till with the receipt and get a refund.
people will go around shops doing this over and over.
Headphones, power banks, cables.. things that are easy to pocket
That means they have to use a receipt twice
@@Vile_Entity_3545 I think you've misunderstood.
@@Vykk_Draygo Explain. If you do not need a receipt then you can just nick the stuff and take it straight to customer services, or if you do need one then you are not going to be able to use it in another store as you have used it for the first time and it is not in your possession anymore.
@@Vile_Entity_3545 You buy the product from one store and keep that item. You take the receipt from that store and go to another store of the same brand. You pocket the same type of item you just bought, and then take it to the front and "return" it to get your money back.
Now you have the item and your money. You don't reuse the receipt.
You buy it and have one receipt. Go to a different store of the same chain. Pick up and pocket identical item. Go to customer service and exchange the one you pocketed with the receipt of the one you bought. Two items, one receipt.
Also why large box items like TVs require the serial number to be scanned at purchase.
I honestly can’t believe I’m 28 now still watching ashen’s 🤣 like faithfully. I’ve been watching this channel since I was like a middle schooler I think. Remember being a kid just watching this on my PSP I think on Crackle at the time. I am almost 30 and nothing has changed.
I expect that with a lot of the working ones, the customer probably changed their mind and thought they wouldn't be able to return them without a valid excuse, so they were just like 'It's borken, innit'
sounds like a lot of work for that much reward.. and when you have done that dirty trick a few times the staff know you..
Speaking from the retailer point of view (not Asda but similar), I can tell you:
1) Customers that have changed their mind and are wanting a refund will often pretend the item is faulty so as to ensure we don't insist on exchange or refuse.
2) Company policy forbid us from testing electrical items.
The radio near the end, from what you described it sounds like the manufacturer installed the wrong internals and it had a 120V rated circuit so running it on the UKs 240V blew it up.
I just LOVE your banter!
Only Ashens could make a video about generic E-waste a must watch!
19:26 Stuart’s video quality got sent back to 2006
I absolutely loved this one! Please consider making more videos like this.
0:50 'you do end up taking back quite a lot of items that might actually work, because you don't have time to test them.'
Except if you're CeX, and then it's the opposite: you have the time to test them to a fault (or rather, until you FIND a fault) in order to NOT take them off people's hands.
that band is super useful, the stupid wireless ones get lost or fall out and break so easily, I went through like 5 of those over the years, own 2 pairs of the band ones for work and home and they are both intact, functional and not lost lol
funny cause I've had the opposite experience, band ones have always broken and I've had AirPods for years now without issues.... with the exception of I washed them once and has to replace one
Agree, I've lost or broken so many wireless earbuds. But my OnePlus pair with a band has gone through a couple years of heavy usage (and a wash) and still work.
Just depends on how they fit. Got a super cheap pair of bluetooth earbuds, decent quality but the big thing is they have all different size earbuds, and also different sized bits that make them fit to the inside of your ear perfectly so they never fall out or become loose.
Game changer for me, working 11 hour shifts and before I was constantly readjusting them these just fit perfectly for the full time.
I'm not a fan of most wireless stuff to be honest. Never had a wireless keyboard I liked, even if it was mechanical. Wireless mice are ok, but some mice really drain the batteries.
Yeah don't knock connected earbuds. I love them
Dear Ashens! Ive been watching your channel for like 10 years now and i must say it's the best channel on UA-cam! Really like your food and your item videos. Ive seen some like 50 times or more! Please do not stop making videos! Your channel is really great! /Love from Sweden!
Back in the day I custom firmwared a PSP because I was on a low version so could do it. My friend who recently at the time bought one too was amazed at what I had done. But he had updated the firmware. So what he did was to run a game and then eject the UMD. This created an error on the screen. He then took it to Woolworths where he had bought it from. The girls at the electronics desk had no idea so they took his word and he got a new one with the low firmware version. Perfectly working PSP sent back lol.
Genius
Lmao nice one.
Legit always appreciate an Ashens upload. Thank you Stuart!
I think you got lucky Ashens :D The thing with "returned" items that are being sold on Ebay it is absolutely certain the Ebay seller tested them and they aren't working or are otherwise worthless, otherwise they would be selling them as working on Ebay. Things like used headphones don't sell because who wants to put earphones that have been inside someone else's ear and covered in their earwax in their ears. Also in testing things like cables and chargers you risk damaging your valuable devices
I mean if you're really into this sort of thing, it's pretty easy to check a cable or adapter with a volt meter.
I can understand how people have "connection" issues with the 3.5 mm audio jack. My son went through this. He kept buying cheap earbuds, then complaining that the earbuds stopped working on his iPod. After the 4th or 5th set, I tested with my headphones (that worked) and yes, there was no sound from my headphones when connected to his iPod. What?? But, my headphones do work, how can this be. Did some more investigation. My son, like most teens at that time, would stuff his iPod in his pants pockets. So, grabbed a flashlight and started looking at the audio jack port on the iPod. Took a toothpick, stuck in in the port, gave it a twirl and guess what... A bunch of lint came out with the toothpick. Repeated a couple of times until no lint. Plugged in my headphones and blasted my ears as the volume was at max! Cursed and swore a lot, then when back to some of those cheap earbuds he had purchased previously and they all worked fine.
Lesson learned, pocket lint will prevent headphones from working with audio jacks.
Yeah, pocket lint can get into the headphone jack hole, once that happened, headphone jack didn't go into the phone, just cleaned it and it worked.
Use to work in a department store (America), With electronics and small appliances we ALWAYYS had to put "Defective" if it was opened, even if they opened the package but never took out the item, it had to be defective, it was explained to me that the store gets there money back from the manufacturer that way.
most of the time we could easily repackage with tape, but were not allowed too.
Wow! Your on over a million subs!! Well done! Always enjoyed your videos!!
Nice! Ashens' couch should be saved in a museum somewhere
What's left of it, anyway.
They could put it next to Archie Bunker's chair lol
Put it next to the casting couch
Hey Ash! I just wanted to comment and say we love your content! Please don’t ever stop!
Big Clive collab! Send the stuff that doesn't work to Clive to dissect!
I went back to a shop due to the USB reciever missing once, BUT in my defence, the box had a cutout for batteries(which were in the box, in the cutout) and a cutout for the USB reciever(which, as you all ready guessed, was inside the device) so I think in this case the assumption that it was missing wasn't all that off xD
5:48 Onn is also a brand Walmart uses for their store-brand electronics here in the US.
Edit- they sell blackweb stuff as well IIRC
Walmart sold the company but retains contracts for supply and a seat on the board. Its essentially still part controlled by Walmart.
@@drleroux9876 Walmart also retained a minority ownership stake.
They also still use the Walmart POS systems.
Watching this video on an Onn tablet. Best one I've ever owned. Amazing sound/video quality and I've not managed to fill it up. Whoohoo.
I love ashens cause no matter what he uploads, his videos are just a massive nostalgia trip to the past. Even if their new it still reminds me of his Poundland videos, or his food videos.
Used to work in retail, a lot of the time customers can't return stuff like headphones because they opened the packaging. Most common for reason for wanting to return because they didn't fit but we would put them through as "not working" so they could get their refund. I suspect people realised they didn't need or want half this stuff not long after buying them and the staff at the store were cutting them a break.
My 14 y/o dog passed away tonight and listening to you talk about random returned electronics has been incredibly soothing. Thanks for doing what you do, Ashens.
Sorry for your loss, mate... I'm sure your little friend is in a better place now. Cherish your memories together ❤️
Top tip, Plug the powerbank in itself - Infinite energy. Useful in these times of high energy costs.
I think the laws of thermodynamics might take a bit of issue with you on that one
I do that all the time with power strips as well. Electric companies hate this one simple trick! 😜
And at 19:25 we jumped back to 2006 Ashens 😌 oh, the history!
My guess for the last headset is that they tried to use the TRRS plug on it in a TRS output, and got confused by things being all weird. Those TRS and kin connectors have been around since the 19th century, the 6.3 mm mono plugs were originally designed for telephone exchanges.
The TRRS format is a bit dumb, though, as there are two different pinouts, which means that you may need to use a TRRS to TRRS adapter sometimes to map between those pinouts, which is not completely confusing at all.
Most likely, although the manufacturer states they are compatible with both apple and Android devices.
I read a while ago that apple "won" this war, do if that's true, on newer android phones they would sound fine and on older ones they'd sound as if you are underwater.
Yeah, there is like no standardization with this, it's a mess.
Man I haven’t watched Ashens in over 2 years and since then my life has gone down hill to the lowest point it’ll ever be but at least I still have Ashens to bring me back to better times
I hope you're in a better place than you were 8 months ago pal
@@jonnystrange3617 I went from sleeping on a bed during this comment to sleeping on a couch for 5 nights outside without food and a single cup of water a day (by my own doing I could’ve been inside) and to now sleeping on a couch inside since then and have done nothing to change it whatsoever so it’ll continue to go downhill till I decide to change it or given up on and die from it because I am just a jobless leach with no aspirations :^)
My first year working retail cheap little solar powered garden lamps had gotten popular. We got hundreds returned as defective because the customer had not removed the little slip of paper protecting the rechargeable battery.
Man it's so comforting seeing this content is no different than it was 12 years ago ❤
Unfortunately, I too, own one of those crappy webcams... I do have to disagree with Ashens though, the ring light does turn off with capacitive touch control. The switch point should have a marked indicator on the case, I just can't remember exactly where and I'm not nearby the camera to check lol
"A busy, understaffed supermarket where you just need to get the queue down before the manager complains, even though he knows full well that Sarah is off sick and he just made John go over and work on the checkouts even though there are supposed to be three people in this department at all times and my god they only pay you for doing one job and frankly that's not enough to cover the rent and electricity bills these days. And I mean come on how the heck are you supposed to test a TV aerial anyway, they won't let you set a TV up as it has to come out of existing stock and they won't write it off?"
I used to work at Asda, and this is spot on!
This man is a UA-cam legend, a master in the art of unboxing.
as everyone that has ever worked a customer service desk knows.... Yes, customers can absolutely get plugging in headphones wrong, and they'll probably loudly insist it's your fault somehow and swear at you.
As someone has worked in retail I can give a little bit more insight.
You have to ask the customer for the reason they are returning it to make sure its safe for resale. Some customers worry that if they just said "I don't like it" the refund would be refused.
You then normally have a company policy to throw away anything "faulty" because you don't have time to test it and are risking being sued if you resold the goods.
I remember when wireless headphones first came out and I had to become tech support for so many customers helping them connecting it to their devices
I worked for Macy's in the 70s. The crap that was returned was amazing. I agree most people don't want to admit they didn't want it. They don't even try to pack it properly.
I had lots of customers return shopping carts because they put the wheels on backwards. They never even bothered with the instructions that had pictures. I, of course was assigned to fix it. I got quite good at it after a while. It took me less than 5 minutes to take it apart and put it back together correctly.
I still have PTSD from the hours I had to spend explaining and reexplaining to people how to pair XBox 360 or Wii controllers to their systems.
Please never stop what you do Stu, don't change a thing! Been loving the channel since 2012
Seeing those slips from Asda just gave me haunting flashbacks. I worked in a warehouse in Bedfordshire that took returned vacuum cleaners and refurbished them to be sold again. Worst job I ever had. Many did work. Many had motors 5 mins from failing so our quick on/off test was pointless anyhow. Many were returned because they were clogged or full. We were expected to have every cleaner looking like new inside and out then repackaged ready to go in 20 minutes.
My Christmas bonus at that job. The treat we got... A single can of Fosters each.
@@SpudgunStreams - A friend of mine used to work for a small engineering firm.
Every Christmas the elderly millionaire that owned the company would turn up in a chauffeur-driven Rolls-Royce, tell the staff ‘You’ve all done very well’ and give them their Christmas bonus: One boiled sweet each.
haven't watched ashens since 2015 and i come back to the same brown couch and the same exact dry british humor. never change, ashens
As someone who used to have to sort through returned items for an electronics company, the condition people would return stuff was chilling. I had a portable DVD player that have been vomited on stuffed back into its case 😣
I often see the wireless keyboard-mice combos at thrift stores usually just the keyboard, no mouse, no wifi dongle that is absolutely required to use the thing.
I haven't bought any electrical goods,
neither new or returned,
but I still question my life choices.
Congratulations on finding so many that actually worked! And it's so interesting seeing Blackweb and Onn brands in both the UK and the US.
Onn and BlackWeb are actually Walmart brands. Interesting to see Asda seemed to have kept the trademarks and production deals after being sold.
This sort of video absolutely makes me want to go buy a pallet of returns, sort and fix, sell stuff on. But I know in my heart I'll just end up with mostly junk, and I'll never actually get around to looking at any of it, never mind doing the work to sell the good bits..
One common return "trick" peopl;e use is when something breaks they go and buy the same item, take it home put the old one in the box and treturn it. That might explain the aerial.The 5v 1A adapter your left is handily fine for usb charging so you could use it to power a usb hub and you have a multicharger or use it to replace the batteries in most 4xAA appliances.
Get a lot of this in electronics. Usually dead easy to spot when they've returned it in a short period yet its filthy
@@BaguetteBeardBass The black sheep of my family took it a step further. Hed buy a big screen tv, take it home, return with receipt, browse store, pick up big screen tv and take it to customer service to return. As he didnt exit store no alarms.
Once we found out i did think it was clever but ofc he got greedy (hence us finding out when he was arrested). Still he got away with some 50'000 worth. Ironically i worked in retail systems at the time so was designing the systems to stop such shit lol. Hed not have made it past one of my systems.
What use is that, tho? They’d have still bought two of the same item, and returned one. Effectively still buying one.
@@flashpone7910
Point is they only bought 1. They used one till it broke and can get a new one for free.
@@flashpone7910 If you break you microwave outside of warranty, you get a replacementt.
Essentially you trade in old and damaged for brand new at no cost.
Thankyou for still doing these videos