Who should you chase when a power bank torches your stuff, the shop or the brand?

Under EU consumer law the seller is on the hook, not just the brand. I had almost the same fight in Spain with a cheap jump starter that swelled up and spat smoke while plugged in. The shop tried the same line, 'warranty is between you and the manufacturer', until I pointed out the two-year legal guarentee applies against whoever sold it to me. They can chase the maker afterwards if they want, that's not my problem. A registered letter to the store manager naming that guarantee got my money back inside a week after three weeks of being ignored. In Portugal I'd get DECO involved. They handle exactly this sort of runaround and a complaint through them tends to unstick things fast. For the desk and the melted cable, that's a damages claim rather than warranty, so photograph everything and keep the burnt remains as evidence. Small claims is very doable if you've got the receipt and the photos.

On the public shaming question, I'd hold that in reserve. It feels satisfying but stores treat it as noise unless you've already got the paper trail showing you asked nicely and got shrugged at. A formal complaint plus a damages letter carries more weight than a review. Fourteen months in is comfortably inside the guarantee window too, so the timing argument they'd try doesn't hold water.

The legal angle matters less than the practical one in my experience, which is that waiting politely gets you nowhere. I had an ebike battery pack swell and crackle on a shelf in my garage two years back, bought from an online seller who went quiet after the first email. What actually moved things was filing with DECO, the Portuguese consumer outfit. Once the complaint got a case number the seller's tone changed within a fortnight and they refunded the pack plus a bit for the scorched shelf board. Costs very little a year and they handle the back and forth for you. On the damaged desk and cable, check your home insurance before you spend another hour chasing either company. Mine covered smoke damage to furniture from a faulty appliance, no arguments, and the insurer then went after the supplier themselves if they felt like it. That's their job, not yours. On the public shaming question, I'd hold that card until the formal routes are exhausted. I posted photos of my swollen pack early on and it felt good but achieved nothing. A dated paper trail, photos, the receipt, the incident report if the fire brigade came out, that bundle is worth more than any angry thread when it lands on a store manager's desk or in front of a small claims judge.

That hissing bit made my stomach drop. My kid's toy charger got hot enough to smell funny once and I never trusted it after, so I get the shaken feeling. One thing I keep wondering about, the desk and cable damage. If the store and the maker both keep passing you back and forth, would house insurance care about a small claim like that, or is that more hassle than it's worth? Also how do you store the dead battery safely in the meantime, does it just sit in a metal tin outside untill someone asks for it?

This has me checking the power bank in my van drawer now, it lives in there charged all summer and I never thougt about it. Mine's way older than yours though, probly pushing five years, so no receipt or warranty hope if it ever goes. Reading these replies I keep thinking about the after part nobody plans for. If it does puff up or die, where do you even take a swollen pack? My local tip has a battery bin but I'd be nervous dropping somethig dodgy in there. Guessing the burnt one has to stay as evidence like the Spain guy said, but what's the plan once the claim is settled?

This stuff never used to happen back when packs were NiCad and just quietly died instead of putting on a fireworks show. Had a drill pack go up in my shed years ago and it cured me of leaving anything charging unattended overnight. One thing I'd add here: skip the store entirely and write to the chain's head office with the receipt scanned in. Store staff can only shrug, head office actually tracks complaints against branches and tends to throw refunds at the problem to make it go away. Worked for me with a fridge that kept dying inside a year.