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I remember that upright vacuum cleaner (it's a vacuum cleaner without a long flexible pipe, it's just a long arm with wheels). I did not buy this. The head was
by jokoon 5y ago
I remember that upright vacuum cleaner (it's a vacuum cleaner without a long flexible pipe, it's just a long arm with wheels). I did not buy this.
The head was pivoting and had a small part of a flexible pipe.
After 6 months or so, that flexible pipe broke, it was impossible to fix it properly even with a strong duct tape. They asked about 100 euros to remplace the ENTIRE head part. The seller said "normal wear".
It's impossible to find a solution for this, unless you create some "durable design" label, which would essentially be an independent company testing every devices and items out there, and certifying those object as being "durable enough". The brand would just use those certifications.
Same thing for right to repair.
There are durable brands (Miele for example), but they are so much of a niche that they overprice their articles. Consumers are never aware because it's difficult to know what part will break and when.
Oddly, there are almost no brand that advertise the durability of their product. It's very easy to suspect all those brands agree with each other to not make durable items. Such anti competitive practices are often quite difficult to prove.
Look at how Louis Rossman spent YEARS making video for people to hear about just Apple. The electrical appliance is also a huge market, and electrical appliances will break more often, so without doubt it makes it much much harder to fight.
- black_puppydog 5y agoMiele is niche?! Having grown up in 90s & 00s Germany, it's one of the household names for me...
- Lio 5y agoMiele are ace. Lovely designs. We bought a built-in fridge freezer from them recently. i.e. hidden behind a cupboard door. The sales guy couldn't understand why we would pay extra for an appliance that no one would see the name on. He was all about impressing any visitors to the house. It was the most energy efficient unit I could find according to Which magazine. Should recover the difference in price to the no-name unit they were offering with 2 years. (Actually probably quicker now given changes in the energy market). I expect to keep it for at least 10 years and as well as better performance it has other useful features not on a bottom of the range unit. E.g. It's really quiet and if you go away on holiday you can switch the fridge part separately to the freezer to save more energy.
- avs733 5y agowe have a miele fridge, dishwasher, and oven (and vacuum). Compared to the US high end competition they are vastly superior. It's a shame really. There are two reasons I suspect: 1) not available in big box stores where most people make appliance purchases, 2) simply name recognition
- mopsi 5y agoMiele is super expensive in the US for some reason, everything costs 3x more than in Europe.
- Lio 5y ago> normal wear In the UK the manufacture couldn't get away with that. Goods are expected to "last a reasonable length of time", that includes even after the warranty has expired. I once contacted Apple about a blown 4 year old MacBook Pro PSU. The Apple support guy told me I'd have to buy a replacement as it had reached the end of its life. At the time they were really expensive. I asked him how long exactly Apple PSUs were expected to last and he went silent for a moment and then said he'd ask his manager. His manager came back to me with the offer of a new PSU no questions asked, which I gratefully accepted. One of the those questions not to be asked was what the lifetime of an Apple PSU was. :P