We WERE the loyallest customers of Dyson products and didn't even look at other makes until the piece of merde which was the vacuum cleaner we bought last October. It was much lighter and less solid than all the previous machines we've had, couldn't cope with moving from solid oak floor to woollen rug without a loud hissy fit, had a new clutch after three weeks, motor went completely after five months of nonsense with it and two engineer visits blah blah blah ...
So we bought an excellent Electrolux bagless replacement which is as good as the Dyson was crap ... in fact so much better that cleaning is a pleasure ! (sad I know). This was actually £100 cheaper too :)
Annoyed with the ubiquitous Sir James who constantly promotes his 'British' company (products in fact manufactured in Malaysia), we wrote an articulate letter addressed directly to him, linked to the Amazon order number, pointing out that we had put up with six months of a defective machine giving us a build-up of dust in our house (luckily we have a cleaning lady who uses her own Henry once a week, or would have had to replace it sooner). DH is an engineer so commented in an informed way about the inferior standard of the plastic and the components (he was the one here when the engineer called). Basically pointed out to him that his much-proclaimed 'market leading standards' have slipped...
Did he give a flying F* ?
We received the most bland fob-off letter informing us that: 'Sir James spends most of his time travelling and is out of the office, so we (Customer Service) can tell you that our products are thoroughly tested and are of the highest quality blah blah blah '
Next time I see that smug bugger on TV wittering on about his British company will have to throw something at our (unashamedly Japanese) TV !
If you're going to compromise on quality, don't pretend you are still selling quality products, plus at least seem as if you are listening to your customers :(
Clearly the gong places him above us mere mortals.
AIBU and just accept that globalisation means that most manufacturers just don't care that a percentage of each batch are just going to be rubbish due to lack of quality control and penny-pinching on raw materials + cheap labour, and it's enough just to give a refund?
Sorry to be boring and should have posted this in the Anthea Turner housekeeping forum but it's more of a grrrr about what a waste of time you get when you buy something important which is just ... scheiss !