Your electric toothbrush is starting to act up. It charges poorly, makes strange noises, or just stops working. Bother. Most people would just throw it away and buy a new one. A real shame, as many devices are perfectly repairable. When Saskia's two electric toothbrushes started to give up the ghost, she did some online research. She stumbled upon Borstelbeer, a company that repairs electric toothbrushes. The rest is history: within a week, she was enjoying electric brushing again. Definitely a recommendation!
My experience with Borstelbeer
I reported the two toothbrushes via the website and immediately received a shipping label. The toothbrushes were two Oral-B ones: a blue one belonging to me and a green one belonging to my son. After a few days, I received a notification: both had been inspected, repaired, and were on their way back. That notification is actually a nice detail from Borstelbeer: after every repair, you get feedback detailing exactly what they have done and found.
With the blue one, there appeared to be water damage. And not a little bit either! The entire internal mechanism had been replaced. The exterior was still reasonable, but just to be sure, they replaced that as well. With the green one, it wasn't too bad: it looked fine inside and the battery was still working well. They did some checks and found everything to be in order. Only the on/off button was a bit sensitive. It works fine, but something to keep an eye on.
Water damage and battery problems, incidentally, are the most common complaints Borstelbeer encounters. Many toothbrushes give up because the battery fails after a few years or continues to charge poorly. They also regularly see damage from drops. And with Sonicare brushes, they often encounter loose bolts, a mechanical problem that you can't easily fix yourself. In all these cases, repair is perfectly possible and considerably cheaper than buying a new one.
Borstelbeer's workshop where electric toothbrushes are repaired!
How much does it cost to repair your electric toothbrush?
A repair at Borstelbeer costs €34 (at the time of writing this article), including parts. Sending it to them and receiving it back costs an extra €4.25. If your toothbrush turns out not to be repairable, you will only pay a €15 inspection fee. All repairs come with a one-year warranty. Do you live near Delft? You can also simply drop it off; they have a walk-in consultation hour. An initiative like Borstelbeer fits perfectly on your greener to-do list. With a repair, you'll get much longer use out of your toothbrush. This is not only good for your wallet but also a favour to the planet. Such a device consists of dozens – perhaps even hundreds – of valuable parts and raw materials that come from all over the world. The longer you use it, the less needs to be produced. If we all did that a bit more often with our appliances and gadgets, it would really add up significantly!
Find out more about this repair service!
Right to repair
For a long time, it was considered ‘normal’ for manufacturers to design appliances in such a way that they were difficult to open, let alone repair. Glued-shut casings, parts that were impossible to get hold of. Some appliances were even deliberately designed to break down after a while. The EU has now done something about this: the right to repair. Manufacturers are obliged to repair products outside the warranty period at a reasonable price. Software tricks that block repairs by others are no longer allowed. And spare parts and repair information must be available to consumers and independent repairers. The law currently only applies to a number of product categories such as washing machines, vacuum cleaners, and smartphones. An electric toothbrush is not yet included. But the direction is clear, and initiatives like Borstelbeer show that repairing is also possible without mandatory legislation!
You might also find this interesting
- Also see: All about eco-friendly dental care. It's different than you think.
- Also see: glasses… We can't live without them, but they also have an environmental impact.
- Also see: Places where you can donate clothes to charity!
Sources: europarl.europa.eu, consilium.europa.eu. Photo credits: Borstelbeer and thegreenlist.nl (packaging with repaired brushes).
