I am sick of poor quality in almost everthing we buy now.

reply to post by davespanners

That is all true! But people don't usually think about that when they purchase things, they just want them cheap and they want them now!

One of the problems is not only do they want them cheap, people tend to buy cheap products, they buy the same cheap product over and over again, not me I buy higher end products when I can find great sales, a for instance is my Cuisinart Coffee Pot that normally sells for $110.00. About eight years ago Costco has the last one on the shelf, it was on sale for $65.00 and the manager was standing there and said I could have it for $40.00 since it was on display and no box, I find bargains like that all the time and it still works perfectly.

Makes me wonder how many cheap coffee pots people buy every year or so, where is the savings there? A little hint about Costco, if you see something like a TV etc that happens to be the last one they will give you a major discount, the key is you have to ask.

reply to post by Aquarius1

reply to post by yeahright


I don't use the timer on my coffee pot nor do I program it, my former client had a Mr. Coffee and I made my coffee in it once and it wasn't drinkable. I use an espresso grind and it's pretty heavy duty, Mr. Coffee just doesn't get it in my opinion.

He was my client for five years and in that time I had to replace his coffee pot twice.

Bottom line it's a matter of taste when it comes to coffee. I do have an espresso machine but don't have room now to keep it out so don't use it anymore.

Originally posted by Aquarius1
I don't use the timer on my coffee pot nor do I program it,

When I got my first car at age 18 (32 years ago) I needed a drill to do some fairly heavy rust work on it.
I bought a B&D drill and to this day I still use it, looks bad but runs perfect.

I bought a Master Craft orbital sander a few years ago and the stupid plug was made of hard plastic!! Every time I used it the plug would come loose and no juice. Complained and the answer I got was thank you for your complaint.....laughing now but fuming then.

I was re-finishing our picnic table and had some older sandpaper but not enough so I bought more and I tell you the old stuff sanded perfect, the new Chinese stuff was about as good as using a rag. Took it all back and now I know enough to check where everything is made. I lucked out in finding a small hardware store that still had some old sandpaper in stock and I bought them out.

The sad thing is there is no choice now, almost all products are crap and we can't do much about it.


Thanks to everyone here for the good,bad and ugly stories, keep them coming.

Regards, Iwinder

Its not just cheap products, you can pay a nice amount of money for something that's basically rubbish and yet a praised brand. I had this happen with Sennheiser and Bang&Olufsen, prices are insane yet plastics are cheap designed-to-break kind.

I also can't seem to find a simple small flash light that would work right, I buy them on almost yearly basis, the materials are simply too low quality so the light seems to change on random. But hear this, I still have a huge flashlight with its own rechargeable battery that still works perfectly after 25 years, yes that's 25 years - made in Russia. It would probably cost like 3 thousand dollars now.

But the positive side is I don't have to worry about birthday gifts for my friends, I just buy them new mp3 player which seem to break annually .

reply to post by SassyCat


Bang&Olufsen is famous for being all style over substance though, they are known in the hifi world at least for sounding like equipment that costs half as much

I have a rogers cadet valve amplifier from the 60's that still works with its original valves

It's the old adage, you get what you pay for.

You can still get cookware that will last for ages, and the other things you mentioned, but you'll pay out the nose for it (not just a modest premium). That's the catch. Just that previously, there wasn't the option for ultra-cheap (or even moderately priced) imports made with an emphasis on profit over quality, but easily more affordable.

So, the pans one gets at Target or Wal-Mart just aren't going to last. Then again though, it's often cheaper these days to just keep buying pans as needed, vs. spending over $150 for a pan or pot. Same with a lot of things. It's a more disposable consumer market.

Originally posted by Gazrok
It's the old adage, you get what you pay for.

You can still get cookware that will last for ages, and the other things you mentioned, but you'll pay out the nose for it (not just a modest premium). That's the catch. Just that previously, there wasn't the option for ultra-cheap (or even moderately priced) imports made with an emphasis on profit over quality, but easily more affordable.

So, the pans one gets at Target or Wal-Mart just aren't going to last. Then again though, it's often cheaper these days to just keep buying pans as needed, vs. spending over $150 for a pan or pot. Same with a lot of things. It's a more disposable consumer market.

I agree, It used to be that you would pay $300.00 for a cookware set and you were good for at least 20 years.
Not so now even if you shop at brand name stores and not the discount stores.
I have only set foot in Wal-Mart once in my life and that was once too many, same for my wife.
Some of the things on my (bitch) list you can not find anywhere at any store that is better quality.
We are stuck in a crap rut I believe.
We bought a new non stick frying pan from Sears a few years ago for around (estimation here) $70.00 and the handle on it kept coming loose. This was frustration to the 9's as when you cooked you needed a screwdriver handy by the stove.
Yeah as for your "not just a modest premium" remark you are so right there.
We are not going to shell out $1000.00 bucks for cookware that still is "probably made overseas" and I don't mean Italy:-)

Regards, Iwinder

We bought home here used, the house was built in 1958 and when we took ownership they left the very first fridge that was in the home so it is also 1958 dated.

Instead of tossing it out we put it in the garage for beer/pop.....mostly beer :-)
I gave it two years tops to survive our cold winters here as the garage is non insulated.
That was 18 years ago and it is still keeping the beer....ooops pop cold.

12 years ago we bought a new fridge for the basement, brand name....frigid-air after 4 years some computer part or whatever gave up the ghost and the fix was just short of what we paid for it.
Paid about $1000.00 after tax for the fridge and the fix was quoted at about $700.00 but not assured to be that price.
SIGH..........So we bought another one and thank god it is still going but we did buy another major name instead of the last one.

Where does it all end? I say the dump/ Landfill/ company profits for the voting share holders. :-)

Regards, Iwinder

reply to post by Iwinder


I understand the problems, and yes, it can be infuriating.

Here's a little run down on the articles you mention with my opinions but I'll leave my overall opinion till last because it's something most people don't consider......

Cookware... One good pan can last a lifetime.

Garbage Bags... There are different qualities available, if a cheap sack breaks then you have used 2 which makes them twice the price.

Tinfoil... I use baking paper wherever possible, it doesn't tear as easily. Foil is only used for protecting my roasts from burning.

Peppr Mills... Yeah, most are cr*p. There seems to be a trend to have push button ones with lights at the moment. I have one than is a simple spring loaded thumb button on the top, stainless steel and glass. Works great and only need one hand.

Battery Charger... Not sure about the warning for lead on/in the wires, but surely any connecting wires would have coatings on them.

Lawn Sprinkler... "ptfe" plumbers tape would solve any leaks. I often improve brand new things I buy by doing what manufacturers skimp on. Prevention is better than cure 'n all that.

Toilet Paper... Kitchen roll. It's stronger, wider and often costs about the same.

Plastic Wrap... Tupperware boxes for storing and microwaving. Saves enough in the long run and useful for all sorts of other things.

Cookie Sheets... Silicon Rubber ones work OK

Snow Shovels.... One good one will outlast lots of cheap ones.

Thick plastic food wrapping.... One of the sacrafices we must make if we want a certain product. Wastefull if you ask me.

Cans with cr*p openers... Use a tin opener or take it back to the shop and make a fuss. You have a right to access...lol

Vinyl shower curtains... Get one with reinforced eyelets or invest in a shower screen.

Rubber hoses... I only use hoses that have a reinforcing "braid" along them after I made the mistake of connecting a toilet inlet with cheap hose. I came downstairs one morning to see a sponge floating on my kitchen floor.

All the good stuff you mention that has given years of service is either from a different era in consumerism or was made by a manufacturer with a good track record, the "2003 grand prix" sounds great, but formula one cars have always been special...lol.

Which brings me to my final opinion....

In this day and age, we are all the victims of the continued and almost unchecked advances of advertising and design. Regardless of a product's quality it is usually advertised as wonderful and is the best of the best. Designs of packaging have advanced and never forget that money spent on packaging, labels, consumer testing, research and all the bunk that goes with it is not money spent on the actual product.

Sometimes it is the more popular items that are the cheap quality. Take things like consumer electronics for example, they are not made for lengthy use and are designed to be "updated" as technology continues to march on.

Couple all this with a sellers desire for the highest possible profits and you buy a nice looking box with a semi or sub quality product that has a limited guarantee if you're lucky and in these times of corporations and large manufacturers the chance of most things coming from overseas has grown considerably due to outsourcing and labour costs....eg, profit.

In my life, if I don't need it I don't buy it. If I want one I will try to make one. If I can't make one I'll try and get one second hand or from a friend's donation. If all those fail then I wasn't meant to have it and will go without.

Simples.

reply to post by nerbot



Thanks for the input and great ideas, on the battery charger yes the leads are coated and by the warning in the box they are coated with lead insulation.....go figure.
The lawn sprinkler was the same deal, the warning was that it leaches lead from inside and to wash you hands every time you handle it. Laughing about it now but we returned that puppy straight away and the sales clerk could not believe what we showed him.
Next month in the same store all those lead leaching buggers were gone and never did return

Regards, Iwinder

Speaking of shower liners, I buy Eco Soft Clear Shower Stall Liner with metal eyelets at Bed Bath and Beyond for $12.99, they always have $5.00 off coupons and that is when I buy. They last forever and are heavy duty, since they are soft plastic you can put them in th washing machine on gentle cycle with cool water. I wouldn't suggest the dryer.

Here is another one that is a real kicker.....We have a natural fireplace and the wood grate we used gave up the ghost and the new ones were crap.

Instead of being solid welds on the legs and the brackets they got cute and used nuts and bolts in the weight bearing joints.

Anyone with a natural fireplace can tell you they get very hot (I mean HOT) so with the heat the stupid cheap nuts and bolts loosen.

Ever had a fire going good and hot and the wood grate falls down?
Well we have and it cost me a lot of hand and arm hairs here :-)

We looked everywhere and when we knew it was a useless search for a quality grate we took our old one to a machine shop and had them fabricate a new one to the same specs.

This cost us about $200.00 dollars Canadian but it will outlive us here and it is all solid stainless steel with all stainless welds and no nuts and bolts.

Laugh at the cost but we were paying about $95.00 for garbage that lasted one season if that.

Back to my point here, you cannot find anything of quality anymore even if you look, we had to look outside the box and then some to find what we wanted.

Regards, Iwinder

Remember grasshopper.. Cheap no good
Good no cheap ..

Originally posted by Expat888
Remember grasshopper.. Cheap no good
Good no cheap ..

Ahhh thank you master :-)

I have a couple more to add to the thread,
Cutlery that bends when you try to cut into a steak, or any dense meat.
Portable gas cans now have no pressure release valves????? not good in hot weather.
Stainless Steel appliances, beware because they will claim they are stainless but in fact they are coated with the thinnest possible coating and it will rust!

Faux Leather furniture has got to be one of the biggest rip offs going.
They advertise it as leather, read the fine print and you then see there is no leather there at all.

I must mention this again, the bloody extension cords that go all twisty because of shi*y insulation, I am now on my 3rd hundred footer in the past 5 years.

I will be back with more as I get stung by more greedy marketers.

Regards, Iwinder