I'm going to guess you didn't send them back for free replacements? And, guess again that the reason is "it's not worth the hassle [ie cost is greater than my time is worth]".

We should be punishing product manufacturers whose products fall in the bottom quartile of life expectancy - returns by Freepost (receiver pays the postage) and get £10 compensation + money back or replacement.

Perhaps then we could start addressing some of the planned obsolescence in low value goods.