Expensive items bought that disappointed/didn’t live up to the hype?

[Theroadnottravelled]

Mine is a cordless Dyson vacuum. Cost loads, has a poor battery, doesn’t pick up well, so overrated. Gets rave reviews - why?? My next one will be a Henry ;-) My other is overpriced, average pub/cafe grub when out as a family. Such a waste of time, money and effort. Sorry, I’m usually more upbeat…

Am amazed at the negative Dyson posts. I've had a cordless for over 5 years and it's brilliant. I'm careless with vacuum cleaners and Dyson has taken everything, including dog hair. Customer services is brilliant as well, will definitely have another.

Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturising lotion - Not sure they could have given it a more unsuitable name 🙄

same. I coveted one for years and hated it with a passion.

I agree. I can't stand the stuff. It just sits on my face like an oily film. Doesn't sink in at all.

My DFS recliner chairs. One reclines more than the other and two engineers have been out, scratched their chins and done naff all. Plus they are held together with giant open staples which drop out occasionally. I was terrified the dog would eat one.

Thank you all for the vacuum recommendations! I'm about to move and need a new one and a cordless one for downstairs. Will stick with Henry!
When i moved home, a few years ago I bought a smeg kettle and toaster. It looks beautiful but they really are the worst purchase ever. The toaster settings don't have an inbetween. Its either really crispy / burnt or not toasted at all. I have to watch it and time it myself. The paint on my kettle has started to come off and I've noticed the water doesn't stay as hot for a cup of tea as my mums does which is annoying. Will definitely be buying a new set for our new home.

I make the lattes, they are amazing. Incredibly expensive though, I limit myself to 1-2 per week!

My pans and pots set from Ourplace. Total waste of money and I feel stupid for buying into the hype

Dolce Gusto Coffee machine that you use the pods with!

Absolutely vile coffee as it’s Nescafé and a majority of them contain instant coffee!!!

Henry vacuum - waste of space that has little suction power. I took it back for refund and got a Miele instead.

Pub chain meals - I’m not paying that much for frozen chips and a pinged ready meal,served by a surly staff member. All the chains are the same these days, with very similar menus as they all buy in the ready meals from the same 2 or 3 suppliers, ie 3663 etc. We eat out less but go to proper independent restaurants who actually have a chef rather than a spotty youth who can’t do anything other than ping and fry from the freezer! Small independents like Chinese or Italian are usually far better and not much more expensive than the pub chains.

my contributions to these sort of threads are always the same items each time:

-Shark anti-hair wrap cordless vacuum, despite its name it gets, well, hair wrapped around the roller.

Simba mattress, if you want backache this fucker is the way to go.

Dyson vacuum - picked up poorly but too expensive to throw out. Went back to an old electrolux until it became an electrical hazard. Have a stick shark now and the filters need to be cleaned too often but apart from that I like it.

Has anyone mentioned Kitchen Aid kettle yet ? Lasted less than 18 months. The way the kettle connects with the base is a design weakness as the concentric metal rings are too easily pushed out of shape by general family kettle use.

Looks like I'm not the only person this happened to but quite why the amazon reviewer below didn't learn their lesson after the second identical kettle purchase is beyond me, nor why they left a 5* review !

Customer Review

• DD
• 5.0 out of 5 stars Short life span on KitchenAid kettles, unfortunately
• Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 30 April 2025
• Colour Name: Candy AppleVerified Purchase
• I love this kettle, I have bought three previously and the down side is they don’t last very long 😔 12-18mths and then problems with electrical connection. Please buy on the assumption they are not long term. Expensive for short life span, however, five stars for the initial experience of loveliness.

Anything Tommee Tippee we have found just breaks, or is really bad quality.

Shark hairdryer come dyson dupe thing. It’s just a hairdryer now. A bloody expensive one. The big brush attachment just broke my hair. The curling barrels take an age and my hair then flops. Waste of money. In fact it’s going on market place today and I’ll get a £20 one off Amazon.

I love my Eufy Hoover. I've actually just replaced it after my last one died but that had lasted me a good 6/7 years. I do it room by room.

Lift all shite onto bed (I have teenagers) chuck Hoover in and close the door. It gets cables or stuff stuff regularly but I just pull out.

I've never bothered with WiFi/remote. I'm old school and just turn it on... carpet looks like a freshly cut lawn with all the tracks from the Eufy.

I'm really happy with it

Airup. Waste of money on a plastic bottle that leaks and a rubbish company that doesn't care.

Henry can't cope with hairs????

I'd say you must have a dud one, it's used by every office cleaner there is. My husband is a builder and uses it for sucking up plaster and brick, all sorts.

It's not my go to at home because it's so heavy but it can definitely deal with hairs

Dyson Air strait - £400 for a hair straightener that dries your hair straight wet to dry. It's super hot, damaging, the plug is the size of a brick (no idea why this is) and its heavy AF. I returned it and bought a L'oreal steam pod- so much better and less damaging

Hotel Chocolat, Decided to buy a box for everyone as a treat for Christmas.What a disappointment.@ £14.00 + a small box.Bland tasteless & boring! We binned our box.I was so embarrassed.I should of just not bothered!

Emma mattress - it was so uncomfortable and despite sending it back and having it replaced it was no different. It also made me incredibly hot and sweaty at night! After 9 months of terrible sleep we ended up buying a silent night mattress which was so much better. So the Emma mattress was a waste of money.

and this one is very specific but I went to a local cafe today and had a Coke which cost me £4.75 and was just a warm standard 300ml can…..I had to ask for a glass and if they had a cold one! could have bought a multipack for the same price

I have the opposite experience, now admittedly it's only just about a year old so maybe it will start getting dodgy but to date it is my absolute favourite appliance in the house! I have the most basic model and all carpets except bathrooms/kitchen obviously. It does an excellent job everywhere and gets more dust out of those carpets than I ever knew they had! I usually set it off when I am leaving the house and let it do it's thing rambling from room to room, it's great to come home to spotless floors. If it died I would most definitely get another one.

My basic eufy was okay. But my slightly upgraded eufy on a prime day deal is bloody amazing

Underfloor heating

Turned it on twice; first time no noticeable difference in the room temp after a few hours

Second time used a thermometer, and yup, just one degree elevation in temperature after three hours

Massive waste of money

Nespresso machine. I didn't buy it, my DH did. We had to drink Nespresso capsule coffee for years. When the machine finally died I persuaded him that we should by an Illy machine. Not only is the coffee much better, I no longer have daily headaches requiring Ibuprofen

Tepur mattress. Two porkers with bad backs so absolute hell. It also made me very hot.

Any knife claiming life time guaranteed. Nonsense. I am tempted by the Ninja.

Dr Sister younger you face cream £200 (waxy but great at smoothing wrinkles).No spf so nuts.

Dyson cordless, still too heavy for my disabled hands. My cleaner curses as it needs recharging within ten minutes. Tbf we've had loads since the original yellow and grey DC1.