To want you all to name and shame, crap products you have bought. I'll start...

[darcymum]

Mitchum, smart solid deodorant for men (what's the difference for women?)

I bought two of these stick deodorants, the deodorant part fell off both of them, making them unusable, when I rolled it up, and no I didn't roll it up too much.

Anyone else?

Some of these have really made me laugh.

Love the turtle ready beds image.

Agree Vanish is rubbish and soda crystals are better (available at any supermarket for less than £1).

My personal worst however has to be an electronic nit comb. Paid £15 for one. Didn't zap any lice but did a good job at giving mini electric shocks to anyone unfortunate to use it. How I wish I'd discovered the nitty gritty comb earlier...

Totally agree about how small Gap pyjama sets are - rubbish. And they refused to refund. My boy is on the 2nd centile and they were too small.

Would like to add anything by Petit Bateau for exactly the same reason.

Okay my boy has followed the 98th centile and at 3 is now down between the 75th and 91st and has worn GAP pj's since he was about 10 months old, true to size (i.e I buy the age he is) and he fits them. He is currently wearing Size 3 and he is 3 years old. You do realise they are "snuggle fit" dont you - they are supposed to be fitted like leggings and a gay man's long sleeved t-shirt?

The silicone bakeware cupcake pans are good for putting mashed baby food in and freezing as its easy to turn out once frozen

Also, it strikes me that we could multi-use some of these useless items.

The ped egg could probably double as a bobble-off, if you loosen the bobbles with a Veet waxing strip first, and then hoover up the remains with the Vax that wont work on hard floors...

Or you could try using the bobble off on your heels...failing that, you might find another use for fabric softener - create a pultice using that and leftover bobbles (see above) and apply to the heels. Remove with a discarded stick-on bra or scrunched up binned pair of Gap Pyjamas...

The Ready bed turtle image is the first thing ever to make DH on MN :)

He bought me one of those sleeved blankets for Christmas last year! I had to look pleased!!

I agree on Moonsand (was so glad when the kids agreed to throw that stuff out) and Hotwheels (never did manage a loop-the-loop. Hand-held vacuums pretty feeble too.

Had a kids' garage too (forget the brand) that took ages to assemble and then when you tried to play with it it collapsed immediately . Lots of tears of frustration over that one!

So am I the only one that loves Vanish?

Oh, a vote for (or rather against) two-in-one shampoos. They just seem to skip the conditioning part! A bit like those unisex jeans you used to get when I was 12 that skipped the fit-girls-properly part of the bargain, and unisex walking jackets that were sold until the early 90's that would only fit a woman like a gorilla (low waist, arms down to her knees)...

George Forman grill - it only gets warm and boils the steak.

Hand-held vacuums - tried 3 now. They suck, or rather they don't.

Silicon yellow and white half egg thingies to poach eggs in - egg now permanently bonded to silicon.

.

Steam cleaner from Lakeland - completely rubbish

steam cleaner from Lakelan - absolutely rubbish!

Flash Ready Mop. You might think you could modify one of these so you can refill it with cheapo floor cleaner and not the wildly expensive refills but it has been carefully designed to leak its entire contents all over the floor if you attempt to interfere with it in any way.

Tummy tub - it's a £20 bucket that makes it look like your trying to drown your baby

Sainsburys taste the difference blueberry cheesecake - I bought it looked forward to it all day and it was so bland I could barely taste it ( maybe that was the difference?) it wasnt cheap either.

PMSL at "supposed to be fitted like leggings and a gay man's long sleeved t-shirt" - you omit to mention that they are also designed for artic conditions/ v. cold houses - my two hot-bodied DC are still in shorts and (in DD's case only) T-shirt PJ's at this time of year so there are maybe 3 or 4 nights a year when they wouldn't sweat to death in Gap PJ's

Oh and shoes from primark, I wore them a week and the side wore through. Not as economical as I thought.

Silicone bakeware. Total crap. Non-stick my arse. What a waste of money.

Bobble off made a fool out of me. I begged DH to let me get one and shave all my jumpers. It did nothing.

this really takes the biscuit though. The Michebag. The magnet cover fell off on one side and flapped around in boots knocking things off the shelves whilst I spun around like a knob trying to put it back together.

Clarins beauty balm is lovely. You don't rub it in, it's not a moisturiser. Smooth it on so there's a thin layer over your face, let it dry for a minute and then put makeup on. It will last all day. It's like a primer but not thick.

Ecover washing up liquid is really good!

I don't mind Argos bedroom furniture either. Sure you get what you pay for, but ours is fine considering the alternative (ie the floor).

Bad buys:

covered litter tray (granted it's the cat that's crap, not the product per se)

non-clumping cat litter (as above)

ice cube bags (got freezer burn trying to extract the "cubes" to pool in the bag)

Ecover laundry liquid never washed my clothes, nor rinsed out properly, and turned everything a sticlky greige.

Clarins beauty flash balm is like concrete on your face, even applied thinly. Rather like egg white with powder paste.

Tatty! LOL
Fernie - I thought that about the tummy tub as well!!!

my Mitchum solid broke too - gutting as its so expensive!

The pineapple peeler/slicer thing from lakeland is rubbish - it was given to me as a present( don't ask!) and it just completely shreds pineapples to a pulp.

Avon's hair regrowth minimiser cream - useless- I didn't notice any difference.

The gap pjs never fitted my kids as their legs are too short - I think they are made for long skinny kids - mine are skinny but with short legs, so if the top fits the legs are far too long. I bought some for the children of a friend of mine and they look great in theirs.

I really hated MAC mascara, expensive and clumpy

does it have to be a real solid object because I vote for Barnard Marcus' letting service

WUBBLYBUBBLY

I've not read the whole thread so don't know if anyone's mentioned it.I think you've got a radio controlled clock,which synchronises itself with some signal thingy probably in Germany and sets itself on to european time(+1).Try setting the "DCF"signal to OFF,that should sort it out

JML Nicer Dicer, broke on first use.

Magic Bullet chopper upper food processor thing, saw it on Bid Up TV, was mesmerised by the 15 min advert and bought it for 60 quid. Bloody useless and unbelievably loud, DD would scream if I switched it on. It's in the garage now gathering dust (And I saw it about a month later in the QVC shop for 20 quid - DH went wild).

Pampered chef silicone fancy cup cake thingy, makes them look like roses -doesn't fit in my oven and they won't refund, even though it's not been used.

Pampered chef chopper upper, mushes up onions, takes longer than a knife and is a bitch to clean.

(ya think I'm a frustrated chef?)

I loved my tummy tub - or rather, my DD did! She used to giggle and laugh every time she got in - impressed my DG who bought it bedgrudgedly as it was '£20 for a bucket'. ↲↲
OTOH I hate tesco own brand washing tablets and calgol dishwasher tablets - neither got my clothes or dishes respectively washed properly. False economy!