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That's pretty scary, since the common wisdom these days is that appliances bought from brick-and-mortar stores should be safer/more reliable than the random thi
by AdmiralAsshat 3y ago
That's pretty scary, since the common wisdom these days is that appliances bought from brick-and-mortar stores should be safer/more reliable than the random thing bought off Amazon.
- barbariangrunge 3y agoYeah... well, I've gotten a lot of dud products from Walmart lately. The only reason I go there is I'm in a small town and they ran everybody else out of business, so they have a monopoly over most goods unless you want to drive 100km to get to a competitor
- porkbeer 3y agoAll the more reason not to.
- seanp2k2 3y agoWalmart and Amazon sell a lot of the same stuff, sometimes just under different “brands”. https://youtu.be/4UrqlMfwUC4 https://youtu.be/4UrqlMfwUC4 has more info. There aren’t that many companies making cheap neon curly straws — they probably come from the same factories.
- TylerE 3y agoBoth can be true, and probably are.
- comboy 3y agoIt's scary the same way planes are scary. Think about number of devices sold. One model malfunctions and it's on HN front page. Very unlikely events happen sometimes and its those kind of events that you see in the news.
- jxramos 3y agoyep, the news pools all the crazy outliers spread across big windows in time, geography, demographics, whatever the universe is of interest, and reduces them to a concentrated dose.
- fullstop 3y agoPlus people don't clean the filters or give them proper clearance.
- BaculumMeumEst 3y agoor using a li-ion battery is scary, driving is scary, going outside is scary, eating food is scary, drinking water is scary, breathing air is scary.
- asveikau 3y agoI think of all the things you mentioned, cars are the scariest and one where people very much underestimate the risk. Although the "wrong" food is also very deadly and underestimated, but that one is tricky because it takes a long time to act and the results vary a lot by individual.
- akira2501 3y agoPlanes are scary. They weigh an incredible amount and need to pick up a dangerous amount of speed while carrying a ridiculous amount of fuel before they can become airborne. What makes them seem safe is the layers of safety systems we've built around it. Likewise, anything that connects to 110V lines in your house is equally scary, and news that the safety systems might be entirely inadequate for an entire class of products rightfully gets attention.
- seanp2k2 3y agoFor example, Samsung fridges with their poorly-designed ice makers and defrost cycles: https://www.classaction.org/blog/looking-for-updates-on-the-samsung-ice-maker-lawsuit-heres-everything-we-know https://www.classaction.org/blog/looking-for-updates-on-the-... After repairing this myself half a dozen times and seeing how they designed their (our) dishwasher with its DD82-01373A one-piece molded plastic part with integrated non-removable uncleanable sensor that we had to replace for $150 because it got a bit of particulate matter stuck in it, we’ve sworn off all Samsung products and try to warn everyone we know that they’re garbage. That plastic part also has a 1/8th turn plastic locking knob that sits inside the washer and is easily knocked off by the errant plate, causing a leak down the side for which one must uninstall the dishwasher to resolve.
- bboygravity 3y agoMy first hint that Samsung was a garbage production company: https://www.androidauthority.com/kryptowire-android-vulnerabilities-report-1055020/ https://www.androidauthority.com/kryptowire-android-vulnerab... Then there's the bloatware, the smart TVs, etc. Yeah, no Samsung for me either.
- toast0 3y agoThe aggregate safety of appliances bought through brick-and-mortar vs random imports is that failures are more readily tracked by the CPSC and patterns of failures will result in recalls. If you're one of a small group of people that buys a dehumidifier from a brand that's active for 3 months on amazon; chances are that brand isn't going to be included in the recall notices when the samey design sold with persistent brands at major retailers is determined to be unsafe. On the other hand, who's got a dehumidifier built in 2011-2014 that still works? I'm on my second one since 2019, and while the dehumidification is still working, the pump seems to be on its way out. On the first one, the compressor stopped spooling up not long after the warranty period ended.
- whatshisface 3y agoTurbine compressors spool up, that compressor turns on. :-)
- toast0 3y agoWell.. in this case, it doesn't really do either; but terminology noted. :)
- quags 3y agoSurprisingly I have one from 2008 (fridigare) I just unplugged because it’s listed on the 2016 site https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2017/Gree-Reannounces-Dehumidifier-Recall-Following-450-Fires-and-19-Million-in-Property-Damage-0 https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2017/Gree-Reannounces-Dehumidif... so people should check the latest and earlier recalls.
- bmitc 3y agoI have an LG dehumidifier, and it is rock solid. It also automatically turns back on and recalls settings after a power failure. I've only had it for two years, but it's been good so far.
- mook 3y agoThe appliance bought at the brick-and-mortar store could get a recall; the random thing bought off Amazon wouldn't have one is it's at similar levels of setting things on fire.