Fed up of household items not being built to last

[GreenLunchBox]

I'm prepared for people to tell me AIBU, but I moved into this house three years ago and it had two AEG ovens, barely used but out of warranty. Literally barely used as I could tell from how clean they were and all the pizza delivery boxes in the bins when I moved in. Fast forward two years and one of the ovens tripped the fusebox and has been out of action for 6 weeks while two technicians came out . The third technician is due tomorrow and they don't seem to have a clue what is wrong with it so I'm expecting them to say they can't repair it. I paid £165 for the repair and apparently if they can't fix it they just give you money off an AEG appliance. Well, excuse me but I won't be taking them up on their offer because their oven is obviously not fit for use. I will be buying something else.

We also bought a sofabed which after three years of careful use is broken so I will be buying something else. It's very annoying when you spend hundreds of pounds and the thing lasts three years. Are my expectations too high, or should products last more than three years? Gah!

I'm sure you can use your imagination and have a stab at I, @welshiefluff

@meadowbleu

I had a look at the buy me once website but some of the stuff recommended is so expensive, tights 'from £28' a knife for £125. Wow.

It is a complete lottery and I'm dreading having to replace appliances because we've been pretty lucky up to now. It's most lightbulbs and taps we've been having endless issues with. The lightbulbs isn't any kind of fault of our electrical supply, they just don't last and are so expensive.

@meadowbleu Have you got LED lightbulbs? They’ve transformed my life! 14w warm white are almost exactly like the old 100w bulbs, and are lasting years here (except for the hall light, which is on all night every night to illuminate the step on the way to the bathroom upstairs without disturbing anybody else) Much cheaper to run too of course.

My fridge freezer ( MFI special) is 23 years old. My DW (Bosch) is 15 years old, my oven (British Gas) is 29 years old and my WM (AEG) is c 11 years old, I'm just 😬 that everything is so old (but still functional) and waiting for them all to go 'poof' (prob all at the same time).

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@GiantKitten Hi. Yes, some are led. The main problem is that it's a large older house which was last fully renovated about 18 years ago. There are so many lights inset in to ceilings it's like an airport runway. Truth is we rarely put them on and have been swapping blown bulbs from here to there for years for that very reason. I figure it's more eco friendly not to repurchase and there wouldn't be any cost saving running them as they're on so infrequently. Other than that, ceiling lights, outside lights, cupboard lights, table and floor lamps and they're all flipping different fittings. If I'm totally honest, this is my real frustration on top of the poor life expectancy. It's like the Forth Bridge in this house.

That said, we did have the under kitchen cupboard fluorescent fittings taken out as they were always on the blink and had led strip lighting fitted, which is much, much better.

When I first started looking at houses to buy it wasn't uncommon to see a central heating boiler that was 20 or even 30 years old. Huge sulking beasts of things that just trundled on. Now the life expectancy is 10-15 years old and it seems regulations change every couple of years.

When we do have to replace appliances I want the simplest possible that does its job efficiently, no bells, no whistles and less to go wrong.

My Miele hoover is 14yrs old (has had a few replacement parts due to wear) but still going strong.
Miele dishwasher lasted about 14yrs before a mouse became its downfall (chewed through the electrics in about the only bit that wasn't easy to repair) now have a replacement Miele
Neff ovens 8yrs old this Christmas and still going strong (although they could do with a clean), same with AEG fridge. Neff freezer came with the house but is approx 18yo.
Bosch washing machine 14yrs old, I suspect is coming to the end of its life but still going atm.
My zanussi drier lasted 15yrs, 2 repairs but the final break (child snapped a bit that couldn't be replaced) was the end and we replaced with a Bosch we'll see how that goes.
The thing I have no luck with no matter how much or little I spend is Kettles, they never last.

@meadowbleu

I had a look at the buy me once website but some of the stuff recommended is so expensive, tights 'from £28' a knife for £125. Wow.

It is a complete lottery and I'm dreading having to replace appliances because we've been pretty lucky up to now. It's most lightbulbs and taps we've been having endless issues with. The lightbulbs isn't any kind of fault of our electrical supply, they just don't last and are so expensive.

If it’s stuff that will last a lifetime it shouldn’t be more expensive in the long run, but it is a classic case of Samuel Vimes boots theory.

When we bought our house 2 years ago the appliances came with as it was let previously and landlord didn’t need them. We’re now having to replace the Fridgemaster fridge freezer (which it turns out was a Which? ‘Don’t buy’ for being crap in the first place!) and Indesit cooker, have gone for a Bosch and Zanussi respectively so hopefully they will be a bit more reliable. Taking out a Which? Subscription even just for a month and then cancelling is so worth it IMO to find out what’s more likely to be crap.

@Seeleyboo

We moved into our house 4 years ago and bought everything new. In the space of 4 years the washing machine and tumble dryer are past their best. The hoover and dishwasher have died and a very well known expensive toaster and kettle brand may as well be binned. All of these items are well known brands.

Same, though we're at the 8 year mark in our house, so have done well to get this far. Things are starting to go though. We bought so much new stuff when we moved in - sofas, oven, dishwasher, fridge. We're already on the second fridge and oven and the dishwasher racks are going to give way under the rust any day now. The sofas are all saggy and uncomfortable too.

My last washing machine lasted 19 years! I doubt my "new" one will last anywhere near that long.

Yep, we spent £2k on a sofa that's now 2 years old. The stitching is coming undone all over and it looks threadbare in places.

We replaced our dishwasher after 12 months.

Our tumble dryer is so 'smart' that I have to put it on 4 times to get anything vaguely dry and I'm at the end of my tether with that too.

And our food processor died over the weekend after only being used a handful of times.

Whatever it is though, you can guarantee it's just out of warranty.

@TuftyMarmoset yup, in our house the phrase is usually 'buy cheap, buy twice' but I think on top of the initial affordability, the quality isn't always so much better for the price. It can be, but seems less of a given these days.

As I said for appliances we've done really well and we did buy quality items. We have an under counter fridge and it's pair, a freezer which are over 20 years old. Our big fridge freezer was purchased in 1997 and our washer dryer in 1998. Our Henry vacuum and the microwave are both about 12 years old, although the microwave has never had a lot of use really. The dishwasher is about 16 years old, it had a series of engineer call outs in its early days under guarantee and then decided to settle down and behave. I'm dreading having to replace any of it.

Echo the PP about Whirlpool appliances. They were in the kitchen when we bought the house four years ago and really are degrading very fast. What's more, the cost of spare parts makes repair prohibitive. e.g. to replace the over door handle, Whirlpool want £185 for the part alone. For a double oven I could buy new for £500.

It's clear they just want to sell the appliance and don't care how long it lasts afterwards.

It's put me off them and I'll never buy from Whirlpool myself, as a result.

Don’t disagree with the main point, but if house was newly renovated are you sure the wiring isn’t faulty OP?

@FourTeaFallOut

We went through a phase of washing machines crapping out ridiculously early - within a year or two. This one, Samsung Eco-bubble, is almost 5 years old and still going strong so I have my fingers crossed it doesn't start getting temperamental on me.

This is the same for us. We had 3 washing machines in 6 years and decided to pay a bit more for the Samsung. It's still going strong after 3 years.

Um not had that myself.

Dishwasher came with house still going strong after 8yrs of use.

Same with the fridge, washing machine i got..still fine 8yrs later

Boiler is 36yrs and going strong 💪

Even the wooden floors that previous owners installed have remained scratch free for 8yrs

Only things starting to go are the bathrooms e.g. enamel in Bath

Maybe its just luck something the same brand appliance is fine for one person and for another it just breaks down alot

Quality control?

Siemens,dish washer,washing machine ,hob,Oven.Nor cheap but no trouble so far.Dualit toaster and kettle both over 10 years old.Maybe we are lucky,all Siemens were top of the range.

Also fridge freezer Siemens.Very spacious and quiet.

Wow, so many replies! Thanks guys....it's infuriating so many people have noticed the same and it seems paying more isn't necessarily the answer.

I don't think there are any wiring problems but that's worth considering @BeenThruMoreThanALilBit

Well thankfully the oven was repaired today so fingers crossed it stays that way now

I got sick of toasters lasting precisely 13 months and bought a classic dualit toaster on sale, for £80 about 17 years ago. Since then it's had a new timer for £25 and, just last week, a new element for about £12, including postage.

I got a magimix food processor, around the same time. The switch unit broke, last year. Unfortunately, no replacement part was available, so it had to be a superglue and electrical tape fix, as it was a simple moving part rather than anything electrical that had failed.

@PickAChew

I got sick of toasters lasting precisely 13 months and bought a classic dualit toaster on sale, for £80 about 17 years ago. Since then it's had a new timer for £25 and, just last week, a new element for about £12, including postage.

I got a magimix food processor, around the same time. The switch unit broke, last year. Unfortunately, no replacement part was available, so it had to be a superglue and electrical tape fix, as it was a simple moving part rather than anything electrical that had failed.

Seems most people on this thread are happy with their Dualit toasters. Somebody earlier on in the thread had a bad experience so maybe that was bad luck. Tbh I'd never heard of Dualit until this thread. I bought a Delonghi toaster and kettle about 12 years ago and they're similar prices to Dualit. The toaster is still going strong but the kettle died years ago. I was fuming at the time and checked if it was still in warranty because it was something like two years old. Not great for a £80 kettle

@Seeleyboo was the poster

Weirdly Dualit toasters are still about £80!

That must have been eye-wateringly expensive 17 years ago!

YANBU. When we moved into our house (not even 3 years ago) we bought all new everything. We got sofas from DFS (interest free payment plan meant we could buy other stuff outright). They're out of their term in a month's time and the first thing I'll be doing is buying two new sofas and taking these to the dump.

Why?

Two new sofas have broken three times. One person sat on the first one and the frame snapped. Repair man came out, 'fixed' it. I sat on it that evening and it snapped again. New repair man came out, told us the last repair man did a shit job and it was fixed (which to be fair, that sofa hasn't broken again since). Then, the other, fault free sofa broke a few months ago. It's currently propped up with my uni books. Also, for clarity, none of these people sitting on the sofa were 'morbidly obese' or anything out of the ordinary.

Absolute garbage. That isn't even taking into consideration that the fabrics are utter shit, either. I sat down with wet hair once upon moving in and it left an ugly watermark stain on the fabric. Never had that before. And, well, two kids later you can imagine the state of them now (hence not donating to a charity shop). Wouldn't be worth re-upholstering as I could buy a new sofa for that.

Absolute waste of money. Meanwhile, my mum bought sofas from a 'fancy' furniture shop in a local town. Cost £££ but they still look and feel brand new to this day, and she bought them when I was in my late teens. So about 10 years ago, with daily use and two grandchildren running riot.

It's a joke.

@LemonWeb

Miele Neff Bosch Siemens

All the cheaper brands break far too quickly and they’re designed to be uneconomical to repair.

Agree about Miele. My mum has only bought their appliances after disasters with other brands and they're still going. You can tell how delighted I was when she bought me a Miele hoover (yes, because the Dyson I bought is utter trash). I mean, it works... but the suction on the Miele would almost lift the carpet off the floor in comparison.

Well.....in ye olde days appliances were built like tanks, basic, lasted for years, could be repaired but were very expensive. So they absolutely had to last.

The race to the bottom has been going on for years. Cheap poorly designed appliances wearing a posh frock depending on the brand and all at affordable prices. What do you realistically think is going to happen to the quality.

AEG and zanussi are both owned by Electrolux and ovens made in Germany. The element would have gone low resistance to earth so needs replacement. Quite common on any oven that's not used much. Have the engineers replaced that yet?