No fault with over half consumer returns

Over half of electronic kit returned to stores is in full working order, a Dutch researcher has found. The report says the average US consumer gives a new toy 20 minutes to work out, then gives up.

Elke den Ouden carried out the studies for her thesis at the Eindhoven University of Technology, Reuters reports. She found that many of the problems consumers encounter are caused by poor design. What's more, product developers were unaware of the difficulties they created for users.

Embarrassingly, when den Ouden gave new tech products to a group of managers from Dutch electronics giant Philips, they were unable to get the gear working. ®