I just sent this off to the BBC:
(This complaint also covers the reporting of the same story on BBC TV and radio)
I find it disgusting that the BBC would report on a story like this in such a poorly researched manner, effectively scaremongering and propagating untruths.
The real news story is that some companies (both at home at abroad) are supplying Nintendo DS consoles with power supplies that are not tested to British Standards. Also, some companies sell pirated DS games.
However, the news reports have twisted this into something else entirely. The video on the page http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7766708.stm explains how these DS consoles from Asia are counterfeit, and therefore illegal. This is simply not true. They are legitimate Nintendo consoles, made in the same factory as the “legit” machines for sale in this country. When did it become illegal to import goods from abroad?
The power supplies normally packaged in with Asian DS consoles do not function correctly in the UK (as is the case with most electrical goods from other countries), and so it is likely that either these retailers are either providing a UK-spec “unsafe” supply, or are providing the original 110V Asia-spec supply that customers are forcing into a 220V UK socket, causing damage.
In addition, where was the evidence that anyone, anywhere, had actually bought once of these “counterfeit” consoles, and had it “get on fire” (as the HMRC representative put it)? Just because they don’t bear the BS mark doesn’t mean they are unsafe.
In the past I have trusted the BBC to properly research and report on news stories, but if the quality of the “facts” reported in this case are indicative of those in reports on subjects I am not familiar with, I have to wonder if I’m just being lied to.
Sometimes it’s good to rant.
