Helkama quality woes

This post is a follow-up of my post from 2 years ago about my new bicycle, a Helkama Jääkäri. It had its fair share of problems, and even though the customer service was very responsive, the repetitive problems with its luggage carrier were too much for me. The next bicycle is not going to be a Helkama. Last December, the third carrier broke. I had received also the this one as a free-of-charge replacement, but it a nuisance when it breaks, even though replacing takes only about 10 minutes. It is not in very heavy use: the stuff I transport on it weighs about 2-3 kg, but apparently the welded/soldered connections are prone to corrosion/fatigue breakage.

Helkama knows that they have a quality problem with its carriers. When I asked for the second replacement carrier, the customer service told me, that they are trying to identify a suitable replacement for the subcontractor who makes these carriers. This time I thought to repair the carrier instead of asking for another replacement, which took less time and will probably last longer. I don’t know whether they have changed their component supplier. If my own repair breaks, I still have two old broken carriers I can repair…