Things MN have recommended on threads that you bought but turned out to be crap?

[CovidStoleTheRainbow]

I'll start.

Shark vacuum cleaner.
I should have got another Miele. The Shark is just another average sucker upper.

A Dualit toaster.
After years of cheap toasters that starts off great but soon end up toasting one side more than the other, I listened to the years of recommendations on MN and spend £140 on an effing Dualit toaster just for it to do exactly what allllllll the other toasters do. The only difference is, is that it looks a tiny bit better and as though I have stupid money to throw at ridiculous items like toasters. Never again.

Anyone else?

What other things are always recommended by other Mumsnetters that actually turn out to be a bit shit?

@OneFootintheRave

The Mutha Scrubber foot scrubber thing. I ordered one about 5 weeks ago after seeing a recommendation on here.

It hasn't shown up, they don't answer emails and their website had been offline for the last 2 weeks ....

Looks just like a Newtons Chirpody Sponge - really good and £1 in Savers.

The Aldi candles and Yankee candles. Both shite.

I love my Mooncup, but bought it years before finding Mumsnet. Bought a Shark vacuum on the back of recommendations here and not impressed. Now we have a cleaner, I've given up hoovering (yay!) and have bought a Ewbank carpet sweeper instead. I am very pleased with it, so not all Mumsnet ideas are duff 😁

Actually I bought a Jo Malone candle because MN too, the pomegranate one. It has a really strong scent but it's not nice, it gives me a headache. I'm not sure what the smell is supposed to be but it's horrible.

I'll stick with Diptyque I think!

Snag tights for me too. I mean, they're ok, but no different from any other opaque tights I've ever had and they cost a fair bit more.

A menstrual cup. I hated it, was told to try different brands. Ehmmm no, I'm not going to spend hundreds trying different cups when I'm already in my forties.

Also the tilbury pillow talk lipstick that suits everyone. It doesn't look bad but it doesn't do anything for me either. Plus MAC stays on longer.

Washable menstrual pads (can you tell that I at least try to be eco friendly?). They don't stay put enough and I leak via the sides. I am prone to flooding so that might just be me. I gave up tryjng to have more eco friendly periods. Forget it.

@Handsnotwands

You'll save us all a lot of money!!

Is everyone saying those Korean cloths are shite? I put some in my Amazon basket today!

Excellent thread!

Waterfall cardigan (when it was de rigeur here), as a waterfall it doesn't work for me but if I tie it in a knot at the front it hides my Wotsit-stuffed stomach when I've overdone it.

Charlotte Tilbury foundation... the Emperor's new clothes of all cosmetics. I'm not a fan but convinced myself for ages that I was. The mascara is quite good I'll concede.

That Benefits 'they're real!' mascara... great as an eyelash removal tool. Awful bloody thing.

I love my Shark and my Dualit toaster!

I’m a marketing departments dream 😂

I replaced my Miele Cat and Dog drag around with my Shark.

[quote IdblowJonSnow]@Handsnotwands

You'll save us all a lot of money!!

Is everyone saying those Korean cloths are shite? I put some in my Amazon basket today![/quote]
I love mine. Gets loads of dry skin off my arms.

I also bought one of those springy hair removers. Fuck me, it was the most painful thing I've ever done to myself. Ended up with it firmly attached to my top lip, sobbing as I tried to cut it off with a set of nail scissors. It went straight in the bin, and I had a massive red mark on my lip for about three days.

Lakeland heated airer.

Hard to get the clothes onto as a pp said. The power cable is also extremely short, so difficult to position it close to a convenient power socket.

Also, people say it just costs about 5p an hour to use so they leave it on overnight, so maybe around 10 hours? I found that the extremities of the clothes were still damp more often than not even though I did cover it with a sheet or large towe.

I worked out that drying a load in the tumble dryer comes to just over 50p, so more or less equal in cost and it does the job more thoroughly.

The heated airer is folded flat into a corner of my utility room now, where it is still bulky and a bit of a nuisance to be honest.

I mostly use a normal unheated airer by my patio doors when I have to dry my washing inside .

Molke bras. Awful things.

[quote IdblowJonSnow]@Handsnotwands

You'll save us all a lot of money!!

Is everyone saying those Korean cloths are shite? I put some in my Amazon basket today![/quote]
If they haven't yet been dispatched by Amazon it not too late to cancel the order

Yankee candles are horrible except for the vanilla ones.

Ugg Boots have to be the most overrated footwear of all time. Even more shite than Crocs

Shark vacuum
Instapot

Are the ones that immediately come to mind.

@SuperFairy

I replaced my Miele Cat and Dog drag around with my Shark.

My mother has a Miele all' floors... Once you've collected all the attachments and struggled around the house it's akin to going on military manoeuvres! I'm trying to persuade her to get a Shark at the moment!

A chuffing slow cooker

Yeah, I thought it was going to change my life. it didn't. BUT... there are a few things I always use if for.
Roasts - In an oven bag and into the slow cooker and the meat is cooked to perfection. Fall apart tender every single time.
Caramel - Sit some tins of condensed milk covered with water and 'cook' for a few hours. Water level never drops so a much safer way than a saucepan
Salt beef - A piece of salt beef covered with Ginger Ale slow cooked all day.. perfection.

I hated my new Shark too. It’s supposedly a pet version.
You empty it, after one room really be cause of the dog.
You have to put your hand in the dirt to get it out.
It won’t Hoover up giant spiders, it just point blank doesnt.

On my third time of using, a clump of dog hair got stuck in the centre pipe.
Nothing would move it. I tried a skewer, I tried a chop stick, then the end of a handy fishing rod 😄
My husband had to remove it with a long chisel and a hammer!!

Our standard old fashioned animal Dyson was so much better, and removed giant spiders, a key feature

Don’t buy a shark.. !!

Dr Martens. Looked lovely but fuck me they were uncomfortable and now just live in the wardrobe waiting for my next charity shop clear out.

@VenusClapTrap

A chuffing slow cooker. Chop stuff up, chuck it in, switch it on and you’ll have amazing easy dinners they said.

No, because every bloody recipe in the book requires ‘browning off’ and other such faff. And all that chopping takes hours. Not quick, not easy. Slow cooker got used twice then went to live under the sink with all the other useless kitchen gadgets that were too good to be true.

And everything tastes the fucking same.

I’m a good cook, slow cookers make my food taste shit.

I do like my Shark Liftaway. I just really needed something I could easily do my millions of stairs with that I could plug in, so the liftaway worked perfectly for me. For a different situation, I might get a different hoover.

Green Korean towels - good. I do have childlike hands. They are freakishly small even though I am freakishly large. Mooncup - good, though didn't get it via MN. In fact a LOT of these things mentioned I've found good. Eufy, good. I love my Dualit toaster. What's not been good...

I never have been tempted by the heated airer because a laundry dehumidifier is so much more efficient and cheaper to run. And I am the implacable enemy of damp... Snag tights - I tried them and found them just not very tight tights and laddered super easily. I went back to Wolford.... Well maybe this is part of it? Like, if you already have a really good product or a good solution, then you probably don't need the new thing.

Like, if you're a good cook and you cook a lot, then there's a limited number of things that a slow cooker makes better. But if you're NOT a good cook or even just that you often get home to a cold, dark house, it can be really nice to get stews in your life! People are recommending that experience, of coming home after a really long day, wet and cold, when you really feel at the end of your energy, and opening the door to a hot dinner. It's a kind gift you can give to your future self. I don't actually have one any more but I remember that nice feeling, so I feel warmly towards slow cookers.

@IdblowJonSnow, there are definitely lots of folk on MN that love them, and they’re not dear, so you could give them a go and report back. How small are your hands?!

I’ve thought expensive one - bought a seasalt Cornwall coat, waaay more expensive than I’d usually spend on a coat. It is certainly very waterproof but I look like a granny. No offence to grannies but I’m not even 40 yet. Literally the first day I wore it to the supermarket there was an 80yr old granny wearing the exact same one and it deflated me slightly

But love my menstrual cup and all the advice I got using it.

@Peakypolly yes! I also bought snag tights, so uncomfortable, wore them once, other high street brands are much softer and heaps cheaper