nick205
|
| posted on 12/9/10 at 07:54 PM |
|
|
Is it just me......or is everything TIHS these days?
I don't believe I'm one given to moaning, but just lately I'm getting so pi55ed off with buying stuff only to find it's total
crap, breaks, doesn't work, can't be repaired, won't be replaced etc etc.
Built in fridge door hinges droke, bought replacements @ £40 a set, got them, lloked OK, fit them, the pins are so loose in the holes the fridge door
drops 1/2" everytime you open it.
Bought some re-manufactured ink cartridges from my usual supplier, get them, fit them, total crap, won't align properly, only half full and now
the printer rollers are covered in cak.
Bought a new oven and hob, got them, fitted them, the fan on the oven sounds like a jumbo jet, the door seals don't seal and the gas hob
whistles like a boiling kettle.
What really really pi55e5 me right off is the time it then takes dealing with crappy companies who just don't give a flying to55
Called the Customer Services line for the oven manufacturer every day for a week - not a hint of an answer. Called the sales number - picked up in 3
rings, but "oh no sir we can't help I'll put you throught to customer services"
There must be an easier way.....?!?!?!
|
|
|
|
|
Humbug
|
| posted on 12/9/10 at 07:58 PM |
|
|
sounds like my old company's IT helpline: we called it Customer Don't Care
|
|
|
ashg
|
| posted on 12/9/10 at 08:14 PM |
|
|
the it help desk at my place is a joke run by unisys. we work with sensitive customer data and have to comply to dpa. my laptop hard disc was full
so i asked for an external hdd. my boss said no its against the IT data protection policy get IT to put a bigger drive in the laptop.
got the bosses approval put a call in with IT for a bigger hdd. 1 week later i get an automated message saying call log number....... rejected please
purchase external hdd. (they made the stupid no external hdd rule in the first place aarggghhh).
gave up in the end went on dabs and got a new bigger hdd copied all my stuff onto it and put it on expenses.
Anything With Tits or Wheels Will cost you MONEY!!
Haynes Roadster (Finished)
Exocet (Finished & Sold)
New Project (Started)
|
|
|
MakeEverything
|
| posted on 12/9/10 at 08:19 PM |
|
|
This also applies to the entertainment on TV for the Heroes concert.
Kindest Regards,
Richard.
...You can make it foolProof, but youll never make it Idiot Proof!...
|
|
|
balidey
|
| posted on 12/9/10 at 08:22 PM |
|
|
If you want to buy a product and you can get one for £5 or one for £10, which one do you buy? Most people will go for the cheaper item. And because of
this over the past 50 years we have had it drummed into us that product need to be cheaper, so they have to be made cheaper..... this has led to the
massive decline (some say death) of UK manufacturing industry and the very unfortunate rise in products being imported from the far east.
The trouble is (and I have years of personal experience and also tests to prove in my industry) that about 99% of items shipped in from China etc are
absolute crap.
its got to the point that now even the expensive items are no good either. Maybe because they are still made in the far east, the quality is crap, but
so many people have added their mark up that we get shafted twice.
And because of this decline in UK industry, where as a few years ago you could go into an iron-mongers (remember them kids?) and chances are they
would have a handful of fridge hinges and you could get a choice.
I'm sure its not all rose-tinted nostalgia is it? Or is everything now just as crap as it used to be?
Dutch bears have terrible skin due to their clogged paws
|
|
|
Hellfire
|
| posted on 12/9/10 at 08:24 PM |
|
|
And when you do get through to customer services, they usually give you the telephone number for their technical department, which is a premium rate
number with charges of £1 per minute, with no alternative landline number and no e-mail address...........
Phil
|
|
|
mistergrumpy
|
| posted on 12/9/10 at 08:47 PM |
|
|
DABS doesn't even have a customer line, you have to go online and have an instant chat message with someone who in my case cut me off. The thing
is if you buy a computer from them which breaks, you're knackered!
My brother works there and admits its total crap.
|
|
|
watsonpj
|
| posted on 12/9/10 at 08:52 PM |
|
|
in short "YES" . I designed office equipment for 14+ years and the advances in technology like CAD,FEA just allowed us to use less and
cheaper material to do the same job.
|
|
|
Davegtst
|
| posted on 12/9/10 at 08:56 PM |
|
|
quote:
Originally posted by MakeEverything
This also applies to the entertainment on TV for the Heroes concert.
I concur, the Saturdays were shockingly bad.
|
|
|
Ninehigh
|
| posted on 12/9/10 at 09:07 PM |
|
|
Ok then number one: The Sale of Goods act states that the object bought must be fit for the purpose. If your hinges can't hold a door up
they've basically broken the law by refusing to replace them.
Number 2 www.saynoto0870.com
Doesn't have every number but I can get one 9 times out of 10.
Number 3 I still vote we set up a manufacturing company with a guarantee like "If it breaks we want to know wtf you did to it!"
|
|
|
SteveWalker
|
| posted on 12/9/10 at 09:09 PM |
|
|
It seems to apply to everything and much of the problem seems to be built in to their company structures and processes.
For example: Having had my broadband with Demon since 1993, I moved it to TalkTalk (money is tight at the moment). I specifically wanted to cancel my
Sky TV and use TalkTalk TV instead. I told them this and they put me through to the "ex" Tiscali team, placed my order, sent me a letter
of confirmation and no more. On calling to find what's going on, they've lost the order and had to re-order it. On going live, I request
TalkTalk TV only to be told it's unavailable, as they've put me on the TalkTalk network, not the Tiscali one and TalkTalk TV will not be
available there for some months - arrrgh. Caller ID stops working, despite the system saying it is on. Cannot access online account, their servers
are down for three days for an upgrade. Receive first bill and it's three times what I expected - turns out they've put me on the wrong
tarrif and charged for daytime phonecalls, plus adding a connection fee despite saying they would not, as I was already a customer for my phone. All
this took a number of phonecalls to sort out.
Six weeks later, there is noise on the phoneline and the broadband keeps dropping out. After a week of doing their checks ("make sure you are
sitting in front of your computer and next to your TalkTalk router" - no my router is upstairs with my headless server, my computers are in two
different rooms and neither is by a phone!) they eventually concede that their is a line fault, but won't forward it to BT Openreach for three
days, as I'm out at work. They promise to call Openreach at 10:00 on Saturday and call me immediately after - they don't. I call them
numerous times and stay in the house and finally at 22:00 they tell me it's too late - they didn't call Openreach until 18:00!
I cannot phone Openreach (I am not their customer) and the TalkTalk callcentre cannot either, they can only send a message via two other departments
to Carphone Warehouse customer services, who can, but no-one ever calls me back or puts a note on the system to inform me of what's
happening.
People promise to call and never do. Our broadband is so intermittent that we are having to use a mobile dongle most of the time.
Openreach call and ask if we are in with no notice. Only on the third occasion actually agreeing to an appointment (some time between 08:00 and 13:00
- that's anything up to £180 lost income for me, as I'm usually at work for 7ish). They turn up, say its a broadband problem and only at
my insistence do they investigate further, agree that there is noise on the line and do something about it - they next day the noise is back and the
broadband never improved.
Three weeks of noisy phone line and intermittent boroadband and we're still no further on; still have no idea when something will be done; and
indeed they agree that there is no statutory deadline for dealing with such problems, only responding to the first call, so if it takes months,
there's nothing I can do!
[Edited on 12/9/10 by SteveWalker]
|
|
|
nick205
|
| posted on 12/9/10 at 09:14 PM |
|
|
As always, LCB makes me feel normal 
Glad it's not just me then!
|
|
|
nick205
|
| posted on 12/9/10 at 09:15 PM |
|
|
quote:
Originally posted by Ninehigh
Ok then number one: The Sale of Goods act states that the object bought must be fit for the purpose. If your hinges can't hold a door up
they've basically broken the law by refusing to replace them.
Number 2 www.saynoto0870.com
Doesn't have every number but I can get one 9 times out of 10.
Number 3 I still vote we set up a manufacturing company with a guarantee like "If it breaks we want to know wtf you did to it!"
The hinges will be returned - trust me!
The problem in this particular case is that there's probably only one factory in China churning the shite out so 99% certain I'll get the
same poo from any of the suppliers iffering them 
|
|
|
pekwah1
|
| posted on 12/9/10 at 09:28 PM |
|
|
sounds to me like the common point of failure here is you fitting the components.....
|
|
|
MakeEverything
|
| posted on 12/9/10 at 09:42 PM |
|
|
quote:
Originally posted by pekwah1
sounds to me like the common point of failure here is you fitting the components.....
lol
Yeah, not getting in your bloody car!!!  
Kindest Regards,
Richard.
...You can make it foolProof, but youll never make it Idiot Proof!...
|
|
|
AndyGT
|
| posted on 12/9/10 at 10:23 PM |
|
|
quote:
Originally posted by nick205
The problem in this particular case is that there's probably only one factory in China churning the shite out so 99% certain I'll get the
same poo from any of the suppliers iffering them
A great company I deal with is ezee-fix.co.uk An old-school bloke who is super-helpful. His email address is enquiries@ezee-fix.co.uk
Good-luck
nothing is impossible
everything is possible
|
|
|
Peteff
|
| posted on 12/9/10 at 10:24 PM |
|
|
No it's just you, I bought a spraygun on ebay for £10.99 including delivery thinking it's probably going to be sh!te but at that price who
cares and it's quite brilliant
yours, Pete
I went into the RSPCA office the other day. It was so small you could hardly swing a cat in there.
|
|
|
stevebubs
|
| posted on 12/9/10 at 10:57 PM |
|
|
quote:
Originally posted by mistergrumpy
DABS doesn't even have a customer line, you have to go online and have an instant chat message with someone who in my case cut me off. The thing
is if you buy a computer from them which breaks, you're knackered!
My brother works there and admits its total crap.
It's owned by BT. Nuff said...
|
|
|
stevebubs
|
| posted on 12/9/10 at 11:00 PM |
|
|
quote:
Originally posted by SteveWalker
[snip]
Openreach call and ask if we are in with no notice. Only on the third occasion actually agreeing to an appointment (some time between 08:00 and 13:00
- that's anything up to £180 lost income for me, as I'm usually at work for 7ish). They turn up, say its a broadband problem and only at
my insistence do they investigate further, agree that there is noise on the line and do something about it - they next day the noise is back and the
broadband never improved.
Three weeks of noisy phone line and intermittent boroadband and we're still no further on; still have no idea when something will be done; and
indeed they agree that there is no statutory deadline for dealing with such problems, only responding to the first call, so if it takes months,
there's nothing I can do!
See previous comment ref Dabs.
I work in Telecoms, and if I never had to deal with BT again, it would be too soon...
|
|
|
Mr G
|
| posted on 12/9/10 at 11:06 PM |
|
|
Fair play to DABS when I had to return a LG lcd tv that had become faulty - printed out a return label and had the item collected and a refund to my
card quickly made.
I had heard that they were the last people you wanted to deal with if you had problems but my experience was good (apart from the faulty product that
is)
Normal is getting dressed in clothes that you buy for work and driving through traffic in a
car that you are still paying for - in order to get to the job you need to pay for the clothes
and the car, and the house you leave vacant all day so you can afford to live in it.
|
|
|
nick205
|
| posted on 13/9/10 at 08:18 AM |
|
|
quote:
Originally posted by pekwah1
sounds to me like the common point of failure here is you fitting the components.....
LOL - maybe you're right
|
|
|
mistergrumpy
|
| posted on 13/9/10 at 08:58 AM |
|
|
My £650 LCD telly that I bought from DABS in 2006 turned out to be second hand, which I discovered when it broke after 2 years and DABS wouldn't
acknowledge that they'd sold me 2nd hand goods for full price. They offered to repair it for a fee and it would take 10 weeks. I rang ACER and
they sent a man out within a few days and then collected it just after and it was done inside a week. What's worse is that my brother has access
to the online conversation I had to have and the fact that the advert I bought the telly from says damaged packaging only Will never buy
from there again, never, never.
|
|
|
mcerd1
|
| posted on 13/9/10 at 09:32 AM |
|
|
I know exactly what you mean, often the stuff breaks just after its out of warranty
so I often end up making my own repair parts when I can - at least they last...
re: dabs
I used to get stuff from them every now and then and luckly never had a problem with stuff thats been delivered (had a few issues with stuff that said
'in stock' but some how they never had any to send to me )
but apart from that have you noticed there prices have gone up a bit ? (either that or everyone else is cheaper)
so these days I stick to better places like:
http://callright.x2tek.co.uk/ (aka: graememk from LCB)
and www.stak.com
and if they don't have it then amazon or even john lewis (as they still price match on everything)
[Edited on 13/9/2010 by mcerd1]
-
|
|
|
karlak
|
| posted on 13/9/10 at 09:49 AM |
|
|
Ahh DABS - that would be the shower who I sent my faulty (but mint condition) speakers back to, perfectly packaged for repair. Two weeks later
"they" return with a sheet saying they wont be repaired because of the poor condition of them. Open the box to find a pair of speakers
that look like they have been used as footballs.
When I called them, they were impassive to my argument that they had been damaged by them.... This was until I also pointed out that they were not
the same speakers as the serial numbers were different - I had taken a picture of them before sending them with serial number. Much humble pie was
eaten and I got a full refund for the cost of the speakers as I would never use them lowlifes again... Use them at your peril.
All in my opinion of course 
MK Indy - 2litre Duratec - Omex 600 - Jenvey throttle bodies - ETB DigiDash2
|
|
|
GeorgeM
|
| posted on 13/9/10 at 03:17 PM |
|
|
quote:
Originally posted by balidey
If you want to buy a product and you can get one for £5 or one for £10, which one do you buy? Most people will go for the cheaper item. And because of
this over the past 50 years we have had it drummed into us that product need to be cheaper, so they have to be made cheaper..... this has led to the
massive decline (some say death) of UK manufacturing industry and the very unfortunate rise in products being imported from the far east.
The trouble is (and I have years of personal experience and also tests to prove in my industry) that about 99% of items shipped in from China etc are
absolute crap.
its got to the point that now even the expensive items are no good either. Maybe because they are still made in the far east, the quality is crap, but
so many people have added their mark up that we get shafted twice.
And because of this decline in UK industry, where as a few years ago you could go into an iron-mongers (remember them kids?) and chances are they
would have a handful of fridge hinges and you could get a choice.
I'm sure its not all rose-tinted nostalgia is it? Or is everything now just as crap as it used to be?
I'm glad it's not just me !
what do we expect though when we want to pay ourselves 10x the wage that they earn ?
My conscience is clear - I drive a GREEN car
MNR Racing
essexkitcarclub.com
|
|
|
