Tefal is boasting quite a bit about repairability - design for disassembly, 10 years of access to parts to professionals and end users. They are also “experimenting” with 3D printing of spare parts - the implication is also for end users, but this is not explicit:
Does this represent “best practice”? How might we test this now as opposed to 10 years from now?
A search for @TefalUK and “repair” doesn’t leave me too encouraged!
Would be interested to hear thoughts of others!
It would be interesting to get them to talk more about what the design life of their products is - I don’t know what mass manufacturers of consumer products do, but I’d guess it’s a low multiple of the warranty period, say 2x-3x.
The marketing certainly sounds reassuring: “*99% of Tefal products marketed in 2015 in Europe are repairable (of which 32%, with the exception of a maximum of one or two unavailable parts, repairable at a “reasonable” cost).” Although I do wonder what “at a reasonable cost” means - I’d like to think it might mean maybe at cost no more than 50% of the cost of a complete replacement?
Do we have any aims/targets for design life, support life, repair costs of consumer products?
They aren’t going to be able to 3D print anything metallic, electrical, large, or subject to high temperatures/high mechanical stress, so I have doubts how effective that’s going to be.
The statement that they are trialling 3D printing “to fight against planned obsolescence” is a bit bizarre as that “planned obsolescence” in their own products can only have been a result of their own production design/engineering/manufacturing processes. And a VP says "We now realise that these are products that deserve a long life”. So they’re admitting to prior indiscretions, but at least that’s better than a flat out denial. Presumably it’s mainly plastic items where the moulds have been re-purposed so no further production is possible.
It’s easy to be critical, but taken at face value it sounds like the right words - and the fact that they can point back to 2012/2015 is positive, IMO.
Perhaps we could survey this by anyone with a tefal product going to their website and investigating its repairability and the cost of a typical repair? My nearest collection point to repair a kettle is in Bristol - that’s a 1.5hr drive each way, or £5+cost of packaging to post it by Hermes, more by Post Office.
The website seems on the face of it to be trying to do the right thing with a guide, search for your appliance, location of repairers (my nearest is Swindon!!). But as you say the Twitter feedback is mixed to say the least. My initial interpretation would be good intent but not backed up by appropriate resources or process. So it is in danger if it losing credibility.
Bit difficult to extrapolate from the disgruntled customer service complaints to how reliable their products are overall - and unreliability (failure in operation) doesn’t necessarily directly relate to repairability (which is determined during design and production engineering), although it does create the need. A devil’s advocate might argue that increased repairability will typically result in increased manufacturing cost (and therefore cost to the consumer) and/or reduced reliability - if more connectors are needed to allow disconnecting stuff these are more likely to break/disconnect, and more screws and compression seals to allow disassembly increase risk of dust/water ingress compared to glue or ultrasonic bond which also provides a seal but makes the case harder to open, etc.
I’ve just tried to get a part for there soup maker which they are still selling and it was obsolete. So much for there 10 year commitment to supply parts. It’s just a selling ploy
Hi Raymond
Thanks for sharing! If you can share more details, we would be happy to name and shame them 
as we have 14k+ followers we can sometimes get the attention of brands.
Welcome to our forum 
OK I purchased a tefal soup maker approximately 3 years ago. The same model bl841140 is still for sale on there own site. One of the main reasons for purchasing was there policy of making sure that the products would be backed up with a repairable for 10 years, which they are still giving On the product. But now it has failed the part I need is a small plug socket on top of the handle that the top section plugs into. So I contacted their customer service. At first they told me it would have to go to one of their recommended repairers (money making). After I told them that I am a certified electrician they sent me the parts diagram to pick the part I needed. So I did and they replied that the part was obsolete. So I went through the promise they have given with the 10year back up. At which they replied that they would give a a 20% reduction on a replacement. Which I think is a absolute insult and I told them so. I have asked to open a complaint with them and I’m still waiting for a reply. So in conclusion the promise they give to keep parts for 10 years to able to repair their products. Is a load of bull**it. They should not be allowed to flaunt peoples trust in their products
I’ll message you with some ideas about how to take this further.
If anybody has some great ideas about how to make some noise, let me know.
I wrote up @Raymond_collings’s story here. Tefal did relent in the end, but this is a very educational tale
That’s great hope it makes the whole electrical retail think about how to treat there customers with there after sales service thanks ray