- A third (33%) of clumsy Brits have broken smartphones or tablets
- Most people break their gadgets by dropping them (39%), or spilling liquids on them (16%)
- The most popular method of home gadget repair is Super Glue (38%), closely followed by sticky tape (30%) and elastic bands (18%)
London – A third (33%) of haphazard Brits have broken
smartphones and tablets and, as austerity bites, over half (53%) of them have
carried out emergency DIY repairs to mend their broken gadgets, according to
the specialist gadget insurer Protect Your Bubble.
For DIY
enthusiasts, Super Glue is by far the most popular home repair tool - almost
four in ten (38%) have used the ultra-strong adhesive to mend gadgets. Just
under a third of respondents (30%) elected to use sticky tape, with others have
used implements such as elastic bands (18%), Blu-Tack (12%), hair ties (9%) and
chewing gum (5%). Men (59%) are more likely than women (46%) to attempt a DIY gadget
repair job.
So why attempt
home repairs rather than simply getting them fixed? The main reason, cited by
41% of respondents, was the sky-high cost of professional repairs. Meanwhile,
almost a quarter (24%) was simply prepared to put up with the damage. A further
15% decided to wait until their mobile contract was next up for renewal and
they could get a brand new handset.
Men are six times more likely than women to break
their phones or tablets by sitting on them, while women are four times more
likely than men to damage their gadgets by using them in the bath.
As a nation, we’re
coolly cavalier rather than carefully cautious when it comes to protecting our technology,
despite top-of-the-range smartphones and tablets costing hundreds of pounds to
replace. Of those who have broken their gadgets, a staggering 49% did so within
just six months of purchase, while almost one in 10 (8%) did so when their
gadgets were practically brand new.
Almost a quarter (23%) of
accident-prone respondents said their phones or tablets were less than three
months old when they broke them - terrible luck for smartphone owners locked
into 24-month contracts and without gadget insurance. One in 10 (11%) have owned up to wrecking at least three gadgets.
Northern
Ireland residents are the clumsiest when it comes to gadgets with almost half (48%)
admitting to breaking smartphones or tablets, compared to only 23% in Wales.
Stephen Ebbett, director of Protect
Your Bubble, comments: “It’s easy to see why haphazard Brits would at least try
DIY repairs with whatever adhesive implements they can lay their hands on, but
I think most would tell you their amateur attempts to fix their gadgets didn’t
work.
“People shouldn’t
be putting up with broken, barely-working smartphones and tablets. Insure your
gadgets and your policy will include cover for accidental damage, whether
that’s a broken screen, speaker problem, call issue or battery malfunction, as
well as liquid damage. And when a phone can’t be repaired, it will be replaced.
Compare the cost of specialist insurance – £5.99 per month for an iPhone 5 – to
the cost of replacing a £500 handset or tablet yourself, and it’s a
no-brainer.”
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About
Protectyourbubble.com: Online insurer
Protectyourbubble.com offers
comprehensive cover at fantastic prices. Its expanding product
range includes low-cost insurance for gadgets, pets, bicycles travel, car hire
and cosmetic damage to cars. Gadget insurance starts from as little as £1.49 per month.
Full gadget
product details: http://uk.protectyourbubble.com/gadget-insurance/
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