sick of this crap

[F4Phantom]

I have had a fairly good run from white goods in the past, but lately, washing machine problems, dish washer problems (fixed under warranty) gas heater problem, brand spanking new TV cabinet sold as 'good quality' the finnish is peeling off (called manufacturer and they dont have any warranty), dryer stuffed and now replaced. I have had a good run from a miele washer once but they all cause porblems regardless of initial spend. I have never really cared about warrantys if I buy a decent product but I am quickly becoming a regular consumer obsessed with having all this stuff under warranty as it all seems to be breaking down around me. One parts guy I spoke to said there is no more reliable brand only ones with cheaper and more accessable parts, he said go for Aussie brands which are cheaper to fix. I am realising the days of buying an appliance and keeping it long term & trouble free could be over. PAIN!!

[Cap]

We have been told that most appliances last between 3 and 5 years. For us its been like clockwork, 5 years and replace with new. unfortunately they make them this way so that the manufacturers have a turn around of stock. How can a 20 year old fridge still work, yet a brand new fridge die in 3years? Again, manufacturing.

[mike 90 RR]

.... Welcome to the "Disposable Society" .... at it's best ;)

[Lotz-A-Landies]

I have had a fairly good run from white goods in the past, but lately, ...

... One parts guy I spoke to said there is no more reliable brand only ones with cheaper and more accessable parts, he said go for Aussie brands which are cheaper to fix. I am realising the days of buying an appliance and keeping it long term & trouble free could be over. PAIN!!And which would be Aussie brands ?, the stalwart of NZ brands Fisher & Paykel, that for the last decade or so has been built in Australia is now built in Thailand. Hoover has gone and similarly Westinghouse is now offshore I believe, so that would leave Simpson.

Can anyone confirm if even Simpson has gone offshore?

Diana :(

[waynep]

People these days will buy an appliance more for the colour or how it looks in their kitchen rather than sturdiness/longevity. In 4 or 5 years they are going to go and redo the kitchen or change house and get the latest and greatest anyway so no matter.

The manufacturers understand this so design and build their products for that market.

It is not good or sustainable in my opinion.

We must be real old fashioned - our visitors laugh at us - our fridge is a 25 year old Electrolux, the wall oven ( Crown ) and dishwasher ( Simpson) are the ones that were installed in the house when it was built in 1983. They do get minor problems but I keep fixing them - actually sort of hoping they will pack up in a major way so we can "modernise" our kitchen, ;):D. We have gone through a few washing machines though.

We've never had a drier and never will have, we use the sun. ( or racks over the central heating vents in winter )

[loanrangie]

Simpson, westinghouse, electrolux all made here still although not technically ozzie brand still made locally with local parts. I would never touch any asian white goods like washer/ dryer/ dishwasher/ fridge.

[ezyrama]

It's like everything, one company transfers their gear from Australian made to a factory in China,Thailand,Malaysia,Korea or the Japanese ship their manufacturing plant from Osaka to Schezuan Provence and then the next manufacturer has to do the same to compete with the production costs. I have a customer who looked at a factory in China for A/Cond units. The cheaper units we sell were coming down the same production line as a very well known brand sold here in Australia by a well known celebrity and when they land here they are at least 50-75% dearer and the price of spare parts, well let's not go there. I don't care what anyone says, if you ship production from a state of the atr factory in Australia and/or Japan to some tinpot company in China whwre half the factory floors are still dirt quality is going to suffer.Universal remote controls for A/C units I sell for about $50, try buying the same thing out of anyone of the big manufacturers for under $100-$150.00. The main problem is basically human greed, if someone can supply an item cheaper from one outlet compared to another, the average comsumer hasn't got a clue on the quality difference (and I mean that in the most sincere way) and when they pack up after a year or two peolpe complain about how crappy the equipment is but when I t was bought all they probably did was gloat about how cheap they got it for. Until everyone realises how good the manufacturing base we use to have here in Australia was and we get back to looking after our own backyard and not lining the pockets of a foreign country and stop pandering to these people we will continue to pay through the nose for their inferior products:mad:. Sorry for the rave,but I see so much of it in my industry and when I get started I get on a roll.;)

Cheers Ezy

[spudboy]

Hey F4 - you should have a long chat to RonB ;) He has a good history of buying stuff that doesn't work!!

It's like buying power tools these days. I have a lot of stuff from when I built boats 25 years ago, still near enough good as new. Today, if you buy a GMC tool (for about $20 or some stupid price that I can never believe) you can only expect it to last until the end of the warranty period before it buggers up.

[Chucaro]

Hey F4 - you should have a long chat to RonB ;) He has a good history of buying stuff that doesn't work!!

It's like buying power tools these days. I have a lot of stuff from when I built boats 25 years ago, still near enough good as new. Today, if you buy a GMC tool (for about $20 or some stupid price that I can never believe) you can only expect it to last until the end of the warranty period before it buggers up.

Now if you like to have good power tools you need to get Festool or Fein and they are not cheap

[Lotz-A-Landies]

... Today, if you buy a GMC tool (for about $20 or some stupid price that I can never believe) you can only expect it to last until the end of the warranty period before it buggers up.That's O.K if you buy them from the "B" warehouse you can use and abuse them and so long as you blow it up within 12 months, you can take it back to the "B" place and it'll be replaced.

Diana

[JDNSW]

And having extended warranty does not always help. My son is just going through this - his reverse cycle aircon (well known Jap brand, bought from a major retailer) is under extended warranty. It has now been out of action for sixteen weeks. A fortnight ago the warranty company's repairer said it cannot be fixed because we cannot diagnose the problem. Initially they offered to pay the written down value of the system less the cost of three service calls and about 500km of mileage (three return trips Tuggeranong to Yass). Following discussions with the head office of the retailer, they are now offering to pay the original cost of the system, less one service call cost, which will still leave him out of pocket by the inflated value of a new one plus installation.

The lesson seems to be to forget extended warranties. Discussion with an independent repairer suggests the system probably is repairable for a lot less than replacement. This problem also points up the drawbacks of extensively computerised equipment that is redesigned for each model and that nobody, let alone the servicemen, really understand.

On the other hand, my fifteen year old F&P freezer, when it died a few months ago, I was able to diagnose myself with a multimeter, and the thermostat was actually available, although it took three weeks to get.

John

[Stue 3 doors down]

I have to agree, at present I building up a eco friendly kitchen business and have been buying older Australian made machinery:thumbsup: as it is more solid which produces a better finish and half the cost.:D. Having bought new machinery before and finding out it was crap:mad: and no backup from a well know machinery reseller was so disheartening it made me angry :wallbash:but as there are negatives then there are positives out of the problem. :twobeers:

My positive outcome was to change how we did things as I am over white board and MDF crap :rocket:that can stop a 415volt saw due to moisture in the board and buckles easily and all this goes in to a normal $25k kitchen that last last a lifetime (15 years is the bit you dont get told). I have pulled 35 plus year old kitchens that where so well built they came out in splinters :eek:and I have ripped out 8 year old kitchens that fell apart:o no matter how well built the board is made to breakdown.

I decided that if was good 50 years ago then I am going back to how it was built then just using new sizing and information. No more crap from this work shop and the proof is I have people waiting for me to start production so people are starting to turn, slowly.

What sort of world are we leaving for the next generation and the third world countries that are becoming more economic. My thought is not to be rich but to die doing something with accomplishing something with integrity and compassion.

Bring on the Anti Crap revolution:banban::toilet::nazibanned::clap2:.
Got to cook dinner now and feed the angry hoard, McDonalds!:o No, really home made rissoles with Leak, parsley and celery blended together.

[Chucaro]

I
Got to cook dinner now and feed the angry hoard, McDonalds!:o No, really home made rissoles with Leak, parsley and celery blended together.

no wine :( bon appetite :twobeers:

[Stue 3 doors down]

Only one beer left and no wine:mad::(:(. Hoard is only 7,3 and 1.

Wife cant get any for me as shes in Marysville doing a fascial party for some 30 plus local women tonight:D:BigThumb: (proud husband here) She knew some from previous work parties who wont be going tonight from Black Saturday fires, RIP.:no2::BigCry:

[F4Phantom]

I have to admit the miele washing machine did have an easy access panel and inside was built like a car, cast iron weights instead of concrete blocks etc.., very nice to work on, the big issus was parts, although freely available were very expensive so that a new model was better value. As for the cheaper brands they are put together so cheaply its amazing but I am not sure all this influences reliability and I am still unsure if electronics cause more problems. My washing machine problem I am currently having is with a wirlpool, the part is about $170 and I can get new machine for say $600, only 3 times more and will likley have less problems as all the parts are new + it would be under warranty, so I get 5 years to forget about it. Its a cycle I probably cant break. I think I will keep the RRC, I really would hate to have to deal with these issues on a machine worth 100 times a washing machine.

[350RRC]

F&P bring the sads IME.

DL

[abaddonxi]

Buying Australian made.

I had an interesting experience this week with a heater. For the past few years I've picked up heaters cheap, had them serviced by the manufacturer and sold them for a reasonable profit - the magic of buying in summer and selling in winter.

Last year I had two left over that I didn't sell before it warmed up. This year I moved the mountains and finally got the gas on and was able to plug these two heaters in.

Only to find one of them didn't work. Both had been fully serviced by the manufacturer, and put in storage by me untested. I was a bit ****ed, but it's been a year, so probably not much I could do about it, gave them a call and organised a service call. Guy arrives, swears and gets earbashed on his phone the whole time he was there, tells me the heater needs to go back to the factory and disappears with it.

A week or so later they bring it back, different guy, charges me $240, whinge, whinge, whinge. I get him to have a look at the other one, which he does for free. We get to chatting, he tells me that I'm his only call for the day, and he's based in Sydney.

Not happy about the charge, but for four hours driving plus parts.:eek:

I'm willing to wear that.