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!

Things aren’t made to last, or to repair, otherwise how would they sell you new stuff every couple of years?
Plus, I guarantee it would be cheaper to buy a new toaster (for example) than it would be to buy a new element and pay someone to replace it.

Plus, I guarantee it would be cheaper to buy a new toaster (for example) than it would be to buy a new element and pay someone to replace it.

Possibly, but for something like a toaster I'd try my luck at a Repair Café first.

We have a dyson vac, I hate it. It keeps going, because we have engineers in the family who regard anything broken as a challenge and will try to repair everything, but it's heavy, badly balanced, and continually needs the filters cleaning. We also have a Henry, which was much cheaper, has more suck, and which can cope with anything we have thrown at it during our renovations, even plaster dust. No repairs ever needed. The dyson bungs up in no time with anything like plaster dust.
Higher price doesn't necessarily = quality.

Things aren’t made to last, or to repair, otherwise how would they sell you new stuff every couple of years?

How did business models work in the old days when things like fridges and tumble dryers were virtually indestructible?
I don't think its feasible that a fridge or dishwasher should only last a couple of years....

@Fizbosshoes

Things aren’t made to last, or to repair, otherwise how would they sell you new stuff every couple of years?

How did business models work in the old days when things like fridges and tumble dryers were virtually indestructible?
I don't think its feasible that a fridge or dishwasher should only last a couple of years....

Because the market was massive and not saturated. Manufacturers could charge what they wanted. Imports were not necessarily cheaper. More expensive if anything. As the market saturated manufacturing had to make machines cheaper and cheaper. Eventually outsourcing, well known brands got taken over. Servis, hotpoint, Hoover all really good brands with great quality until accounting got involved. Now I wouldn't touch any of those makes with a barge pole.

I read of a case with a beko washing machine a while ago. One for sale at a catalogue shop for under £150. The motor failed at 18 months and out of guarantee. A new motor was available at £118. It just wasn't worth the repair from an economic viewpoint.

If we want machines that last we have to be prepared to pay the high initial price and pay for repairs as time goes on.

People don't have the money for that luxury if we have a cold winter this year people will be stuffed with the price of energy being so sky high.

I've had my Miele Hoover since around 1993. Granted I'd rather do something else than housework but it's still going strong. The cable doesn't go back in but that was my fault when changing the plug I didn't tighten the screws enough. I stepped on the button for it to retract, it shot in at such a force the plug flew off and I had to get my fingers inside to pull out the cable.

When researching Hoovers it said it would last the average German family 20 years. I'm not German nor average so hopefully more years left in it.

Canon printers are the bane of my life every 2 years without fail it got so bad at one point that I'd set a reminder to contact Amazon we had 6 of the darned things not any more

My iron is a tefal and it's over 20 years old still going strong

I have yet to find a reliable toaster and my kitchen aid food processor turned out to be a damp squib !

Currently hovering up with an Gtec bought from a charity shop because I've had it with dysons I've been through 5 of those darned things

@purplesequins

my parents still use their miele washing machine that they got for their wedding over 50 years ago.

No way....you're trolling us!😂

Just tried to post a comment twice about Apple and it's not showing up 🤔

Are Apple censoring critical.posts? Why have my last two posts shown up?🤔

In France it is actually illegal to shorten the lifespan of a product with the intention of making a customer replace it. Not particularly helpful for domestic appliances, but for much tech where 'updates' slow things down or stop them working it is a step in the right direction. Apple got fined €25m a while ago, although this was for failing to warn about the effects of updates rather than planned obsolescence per se.

I was happy with my iPhone and would have bought another but when it gave up the ghost soon after an update I was fuming and fell out with Apple. I will never buy one again if they think that little if their customers.

Miele products are designed to be repairable for life. Doesn't mean it won't break down, but you'll never have to throw a whole appliance away because one part is not repairable or replaceable, or because a panel has been welded or glued on rather than screwed. I remember reading a few years ago about someone in Europe who needed a new part for a pre-WW2 vacuum cleaner. Obviously they didn't have one on a shelf so they actually custom made one.

That is incredible customer service!🤗

Ah, it's let me this time. I'll put my tin foil hat away 😂

Had some interesting stuff , for my 40th ( now 59) had a new double ,oven, element went every 2 yrs.
New kitchen, fridge freezer, hot point 9 yrs old , lives in hall, neff double oven 4 yrs old no probs, hob Samsung 4 yrs old, Bosch dishwasher 4 yrs old, washing machine replaced 2 yrs ago ( previous one 6yrs old zanussi .
Cheap tesco kettle/ toaster set 4 yrs ago, just cat and i

Well this is fun

www.theguardian.com/money/2016/feb/27/old-domestic-appliances-hoover-fridge-moulinex-mixer

[quote GiantKitten]Well this is fun

www.theguardian.com/money/2016/feb/27/old-domestic-appliances-hoover-fridge-moulinex-mixer[/quote]
I thought for a second they had stolen this thread

I have a 25 year old Henry hoover . A 23 year old fridge freezer and my last microwave was 21 when it died. Yet my bastard Samsung Tv is dying after 2 1/2 years !

BOSCH washing machine- 11years old and used most days
Neff dishwasher - only a couple of months old but is another world to the crap one we had
Miele dryer - 5 years old and like new

We have lamona appliances in the kitchen that we inherited when we moved in. The kitchen is 7/8 years old now. The fridge, job, oven and dishwasher have all had to be replaced. I think they're Beko with the lamona label. Anyway. I wouldn't recommend them. Absolute waste of time

Here we just had an indesit condenser dryer replaced after a year of hell. they'd have saved themselves time and money if they hadn't kept trying to fix it. On delivering the new dryer the guy said our new one (different brand) was so good we could get up to 5 years with it. My mum has hers 28 years!!!

Neff dishwasher has just stopped heating the water. 2 years 3 months old. The one before that died at a similar age.

We have a Hotpoint vented dryer, you can generally mend these fairly easily, ours is about six years old and needed a new door switch which cost £10 off eBay , we have also changed the belt on these in the past. Usually less technology means easier to fix, DH has the tumble dryer apart about once a year to clean it thoroughly as they can be a fire hazard if the innards are dusty.

Just to update my earlier post re my AEG washing machine, when I eventually got to speak to someone who could help me, she was ever so patronising "I used to be like you Mrs Cherry, thought I knew my rights until I worked here, your warranty is with Currys, not AEG".
Skirted round the issue of me registering my warranty with AEG/ why I had to send proof of purchase, why AEG had already repaired it.
Told me to ring Currys (que more tears of frustration at spending nearly an hour trying to speak to someone who could help but no joy".
Then I got a message providing me with an uplift number, which apparently if I show that to Currys they will give me a refund or replacement.

I love the Buy Me Once website - I have 2 of their Solidteknics pans which are sooo much better than the cheap non stick pans I've bought before and kept having to throw away when the non-stick went

uk.buymeonce.com/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage&options%5Bprefix%5D=last&q=Solidteknics+

I have Hotpoint and they are fine. I usually buy cheap stuff or get second hand.

I think my toaster was about £3.50. It toast bread. It's about 13 yrs old but I don't use it much.

I think it’s a case of buy expensive from BUYMEONCE list and have something that lasts, or accept the items you buy won’t last and therefore just buy cheap. The cheaper versions such as Argos Cookworks are often cheaper than the standard brands and yes, they break down, But so do the brands that cost double and triple.

I’ve been paying £10 of a stainless steel cookworks jug cordless kettle. They last on average 2 years. I’m onto probably my 4th one. Before that I had a branded one (Russell Hobbs) which cost £45 and also lasted 2 years. I guess if I’d bought the kettle on BUYMEONCE for £145 10 years ago, it might still be going and I wouldn’t have sent 4 kettles to landfill. The trouble is it’s hard to know what will actually be properly reliable.