The meaning of good design

[Refugee]

I always buy kettles from shops that display them out of the box. I always look underneath to see if there is the tell tale dimple under the sight glass.
Molinix were the worst offender for leaky sight glasses. These go bang every half hour as the water slowly leaks onto the base.
We have got a £10 Wilco one that has been going for about 5 years.

[pwdrive]

Our current one is a Russell Hobbs like wot's in the link, so far it's been a cracker, tap fits into the spout ok, doesn't fill the kitchen with black mould steam, nice design, it's had a hammering 'cos we drink a lorra tea and coffee in our house.

Never use the sight glass, no need.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Russell-Hobbs-18...B0041M5238

Lawrence.

[Yorkie]

Don't forget that Sale of Good Act gives you some rights up to 6 years from purchase. You probably could have got it repaired for nothing if you'd pushed the retailer and had proof of purchase.

Well yes, that's true, but it much depends on the nature of the item, and what might be considered a reasonable expectation. I think with a kettle or similar small domestic appliance that's over two years old, we'd be hard pushed to get the retailer to budge, and Trading Standards wouldn't get involved in taking the matter up. Annoying really, because a kettle can't really be abused by the user and is maintenance free. Seems to me that the elements in the Allesi we had weren't up to the task.

Up to 2 years, I usually cite the EU legislation - just got Argos in Putney to replace an electric iron for my daughter in law which was 18 months old. They weren't having any of it, saying 'it only had a 1 year guarantee unless we took out an extended warranty', but I wafted the EU directive under the manager's nose and I think he was keen to get me out of the shop as I had an audience of customer's all waiting to be served, so we walked out of the store with a free replacement.

As to Argos, we recently bought a new steam iron for ourselves - £59.99. Got it home, and went online to register the manufacturer's extended warranty, then noticed that the model number didn't correspond with what we'd paid for. Check on Argos website, and what they're supplied was a £19.99 iron. Went back to the store, and they discovered that the same £19.99 iron in their warehouse was labelled up under two stock numbers so whether you paid £19.99 or £59.99 you got the cheapskate iron. They didn't have any of the correct irons in stock, but they did at a nearby branch, (allegedly) so they reserved one for me - yes, when I turned up it was the same story there, so that's how they were arriving from their central warehouse, so we got a refund and bought another make and model elsewhere.

Then got a request from Argos to put a review on their website, which I did. Got an e-mail back to say the review wouldn't be published, but that a 'customer care supervisor' would be in touch within 24 hours to discuss the issue. Good job I didn't hold my breath - that was late November. Needless to say, the silences is deafening fro the 'Customer (couldn't) Care (less)  Supervisor. Don't know if they've sorted their wonky stocks  out - don't care - I'm an ex customer now, but I wonder how many others have bought and paid for a £59.99 iron and been palmed off with a £19.99 one and not noticed?

Oh well, it is just an electric iron - not a car!

Aldi have got the right idea with their 'Special Buys' on their 'Work-Zone' cheapo power tools and the like - a three-year warranty.

[ppppenguin]

A stiffly worded complaint citing the legislation, followed if necessary by a letter before action should get results. No reputable company wants to have to deal with a County Court summons unless the customer is blatantly trying to pull a fast one. Even then it may well be cheaper for the retailer to cough up at a stage before court action.

Hardly worth the whole business for a £30 appliance but that Alessi was well over £100.

A year or so ago I helped a friend get redress from Argos over a TV that failed a few months out of warranty. She got a replacement set, roughly similar to original which was no longer in production.

[pwdrive]

Well...David, street cred to you for wafting the law under their noses, sometimes I wonder what planet these bodies are on.


Not Argos but some local "tradesmen" Tried to get a gas man (engineer) that was a joke, got a nice chap eventually, needed a lock changing, went to the outfit that supplied the doors and windows, I must have given them about 8k of business over the last few years, saw the man in person down his office "I'll be up there tomorrow to do the job" that must be about a month ago, still waiting,  waiting that is to tell him to go forth and multiply.

Sometimes I think that they think the customer's just floated up the Tamar on a Weetabix

Lawrence.