Fake VTC5 Batteries Confirmed
With Sony declaring that they do not make VTC5s, can we be sure of any claim to authenticity?
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by Dave Cross
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At the time a representative of UKE said, “We are aware of the claims made and are investigating this presently. Firstly, we need to verify that the claims made are true.”
VTC5s were never intended for vaping devices and many questions surround the sourcing of them. “We received these batteries from a trusted supplier, and would never knowingly supply fake batteries,” continued the UKE representative.
FOR REFERENCE: the two images on this page illustrate the difference between a pair of genuine VTC5s, the fake cells and a graph produced by Torchy The Battery Boy illustrating failure during performance of the fake cells.
Today, December 10th, the store sent out the following message to customers via email:
"Hi All,
We have spent the past week testing the VTC5 batteries amid allegations that they were not authentic. What we had to do was ensure that the results we found from our tests were similar to those that were posted online. This was not an easy process, as we had to test a large number of batteries to ensure a balanced result. Unfortunately, we can confirm that we have been supplied with a number of non-genuine VTC5 batteries.
Our initial tests, conducted when we took stock of the batteries, proved successful. However, we only tested a small number of the VTC5‘s and whilst they performed well, we now know that they did not reflect the entire batch. We have subsequently tested a larger number of the VTC5 batteries against a number of genuine VTC5 batteries, as well as other batteries in our range.
We can confirm that around 30% of the VTC5 batteries in question are not capable of consistently reaching the targeted 30amp limit on a continuous discharge, they are also not reaching the 25amplimit – which our tests have shown genuine VTC5 batteries to produce. Many also look different when compared to the genuine VTC5 batteries; upon closer inspection. As such, we recommend not using these batteries.
We are now conducting a full product recall on all VTC5 batteries purchased from us between 19th– 28th November 2014, regardless of whether they perform to standard or not. All customers will be issued a refund and should return the batteries to us if they are able to; postage for return will of course be refunded. Those who have already requested a refund should have been refunded already, and if not – please do get in touch.
Whilst we are not the first company to be a victim of counterfeit batteries, this does not mean that we do not take this incident very seriously. Although our suppliers are some of the most trusted companies in the e-cig industry this does not mean that we are immune to unfortunate incidents such as this. We will be extensively testing a larger number of batteries to ensure authenticity prior to release, as standard. 99% of the time we deal directly with manufacturers, but with the VTC5 batteries we are unable to source them directly from Sony. A problem that is widespread within this industry.
We apologise for this incident and the difficulty it has caused our customers. This is something that simply cannot happen, and we will endeavour to ensure that it will never happen again.
Sincerely, UK ECIG STORE"
Dave Cross
Journalist at POTVDave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous start-ups to develop content for their websites.
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