In alt.home.repair, on Tue, 17 Jul 2018 12:56:23 -0400, Wade Garrett
wrote:

Had one of those 10 year smoke detectors start going off regularly for
no reason after five years of service. Called the manufacturer, waited
on hold a good 20-25 minutes for a customer no-service droid who kept
putting me on hold after each bit of info he asked for.

He eventually said they'd send me out another and email me a shipping
notice and tracking number when then did. On the plus side, he spoke
clear, intelligible English.

About 10 days later I happened to notice a rather soggy package sitting
near my front door- which I never use as we come in and out through the
garage.

I ran the tracking number that was on the package (they had never
emailed me a shipping notice) and it had been delivered the previous
day. Unfortunately, it had rained overnight. While the shipping carton
was a mess, the retail box was only damp.

Installed the detector and it was DOA- making erratic alarms and not
quitting when I hit the hush button. I had to jab the kill hole on the
rear of the device with a screwdriver.

I called the mfr again- this time only spending only 10 minutes on hold,
and they said they'll send a new one.

Sheesh!

I wouldn't throw away the first one, maybe not even the second one.

One of my neighbors had erratic alarms, thought the smoke alarm was bad,
took it out (allegedly to have it repaired!), fire started not long
afterwards, had been smouldering in a sofa or something.