I have had this product for about a year and I must now completely echo reviews like BubbaBs on 10/22/2017 and kTosTIUGAs on 6/17/2017: Exactly the same stuff happened to me, all the way to melted plastic and stripped terminals. The lip on the pods are so small when you would try and attempt to stretch it out to put it on the pods. I followed every bit of instruction and purchased based on weight holding capabilities and specs. What a great value this earpiece was for me. This is a good quality product that works well, they are just as little to big for my ears. If Sony had made the ear pad openings taller it would be a huge help but that might sacrifice their great sound leakage performance. These shoes were not of the usual Dansko quality. I popped the old ones out and popped these in and let me tell you, I could not have been more satisfied! This adapter fits the bill like a charm. Still, the ability to shut off the noise cancelling by default would make this feature much more useful.