Do guarantees REALLY mean that much these days?

[jmurray01]

Years ago when things were still made to last, you would probably really want to get a guarantee with your new Vacuum Cleaner so your hard earned money wouldn't be wasted if it should break down and so you could keep it running for longer without spending any money.

Well, needless to say these days vacuums are getting cheaper and more disposable (this has been happening slowly since the early nineties but increased dramatically with the Millennium) and as such people are more likely to buy a mid-range vacuum which will do a good job and replace it yearly.

This brings me onto whether product guarantees are really wanted these days.

Of course with high end vacuums such as Mieles or Dysons a guarantee is still seen as a selling point that people want, but with the more common vacuums such as Hoovers (which unfortunately are nothing to write home about now) and Electroluxes, would a guarantee really make any difference to the buyer?

Back before I collected vacuums it wouldn't have made any difference to me at all to be honest.

Maybe I'm wrong but this is just the feeling I get from "general consumers" of this day and age.

Feel free to give your views.

 

[thekirbylover]

no they dont mean much to the general consumer, money dosnt have as much of a value as it did 10 to 20 years ago, people have more disposable income so £300 and there Dyson burns out after 7 years it dosnt matter just buy a new one, also people dont have to work as hard as they did

 

[vintagerepairer]

On an expensive cleaner it can make the world of difference as to whether one buys the cleaner or not. Having said that, up until 2005, Dyson only gave a 2 year guarantee with their cleaners, and people still bought them. Dyson was already fast developing a reputation for making vacuum cleaners of below-average quality, yet even this did not curb the sales. It did however prevent Which? magazine from allowing any Dyson to ever become listed as one of their best-buys as they felt the high performance of the cleaner was still outweighed by the high price tag and low quality. An introduction of a 5-year guarantee saw Which? putting Dyson models forward to best-buy categories.

It needs to be remembered though that in UK law there is no requirement for any manufacturer to offer any after care at all. Statutory rights say that goods purchased must be fit for the purpose and that all defects are to be pointed out to the consumer prior to sale. Should a fault develop in the first 6-months after purchase, the burden of proof is on the seller to prove that the fault was not there at the point of sale and that the good have been misused etc, or else admit to there being a problem. After 6 months, the burden of proof falls to the consumer to prove their argument. They have a total of 6 years in law to bring a case against the person or company who sold them the goods - but never against the manufacture, unless of course it is some complicated case where damages to property or life or whatever are to be compensated for, but that is way above mere faulty goods. For faulty goods, the contract is only ever between purchaser and retailer.

Having said that, even in the 6 year window, the law allows for wear & tear and for deperciation. It also allows for the retailer to deduct an amount off a refund for the use that the purchaser has had. So lets say Jamie that you take a kettle back to Argos and you paid £20 for it 6 months ago. Argos offer you a full refund of £20. They don't have to do that. They can calculate how much likely use you had off the kettle and balance that against the time it could be expected to last form then arrive at a figure & deduct according from the £20. Realistically, no retailer in this climate would ever be so stupid to do such a thing for a £20 kettle, or even a much larger purchase, but they are entitled to if they wish.

One problem I was hearing about recently is ebay. So much is of course sold on ebay and in many cases if the goods had been sold through a recognized retailer the manufacturer would be including their own guarantee scheme in addition to the statutory rights held between purchaser & retailer. This would be all agreed with the retailer before hand, when agreeing a 'cost' price. Some stores buy goods at such a low price that the retailer has to agree to cover the cost of all the returns, rather than sending them back to the manufacturer. Now, some goods placed on ebay have been sourced from all manner of suppliers at all manner of prices. To that end, the manufacturers are not always willing to enter into a guarantee obligation with the purchaser as they may not have been paid enough for the goods when selling them at cost, and to be honest, I for one do not blame them for not wanting to get involved. Margins have always been tight on electrical purchases, but these days they are almost none existent.

 

[vintagerepairer]

" people dont have to work as hard as they did "

Really?

 

[jmurray01]

To an extent Michael has a point in that there is the minimum wage these days and as such you don't have to work as hard as you did in, say, the 1950s when there was no such provision, or in later years when there was but it was set very low.

 

[vintagerepairer]

I think anyone who goes to work for less than £25K pa will have to work hard for it, whatever they do, as will the majority of people who earn above that. That is of course is assuming one is fortunate to have a job at all at the moment.

 

[thekirbylover]

my parents get about £5000 a month they have 4 jobs, my farther used to work at fords or jaguar and got promotions nothing major but he was near the middle of the company if that makes sense, he was offered early retirement, they also gave him allot of money just to leave lol, he then, as i predicted, got bored of being at home, so looked for a job, the only thing he could find was a sanitation engineer for the department of health and safety, so he has his pension and his wages from doing that, my mother works at a nursery through out the day, and from 8 till 9 she dose a breakfast club, and 3 till 6 an after school club, my point is that we have more money than what my parents would of had when they were my age, people would make do and mend its quite sad how the country has changed so much in 30 years also the minimum wage seems like its constantly moving up

 

[pr-21]

Air Way Centurion 25 year warranty......

A lot of us purchased Air Way Centurions with a 25 year warranty and they are out of business.......So I say not so much....Mine has had a flame since day one if you open up the exhaust port, that could probably light a cigarette. I bought through Tom Gasko and he said it was normal...Needless to say, I don't use it........


 


 


PR-21

 

[electromatik]

I say they do, at least to me. Warranties have always been something of a marketing ploy to make people want to buy. It's always been understood that the companies could go bankrupt, go out of business, etc. This is a world of chance, but most successful, solid companies remain in business long enough to honor them. It's similar to health insurance. It gives you somewhat added peace of mind but you hope you never need it.

 

[madabouthoovers]

"People don't have to work as hard as they did"

I'll come back and ask you if you still agree with that statement in a few years time when you are old enough to have started work, and realise the value of money - and how hard you have to work for it.

 

[thekirbylover]

well there have been laws put in place where you have to have breaks after so many hours of working, a minimum wage has also been put in place, also more health and safety laws are in place, also go back to the 70s, for example,everyone had manual jobs, so miners for example working in harsh conditions for not very good pay, factory workers were pretty much the same, and as for women working in the 70s they got nursing and secretarial jobs which weren't that bad but they needed allot more concentration and typing skill because unlike a computer if you make a mistake your screwed so yes people did work harder decades ago also there jobs were more tiresome and boring and more manual especially for the middle classes

 

[rugsucker]

66 Thunderbird Landau

Could that be a former teachers yellow/black/black T-Bird rolling off the assy line?But seriously a teacher bought one new and kept until trading for 70s grand Prix.And a Lincoln right behind it!great picture.

 

[filterqueenman]

No..too many exclusions

Exclusions is the key word and or limited! I have a 4 year old Miele Twist Salsa and the cord got very hot one day. Took it in for warranty and the cord, handle and wiring harness was not included in the 5 year warranty. Waited 2 and half weeks for the parts and 165.00 to repair a 500.00 two year old machine. Needless to say It was very disappointing when I read the fine print!

 

[vintagerepairer]

"
well there have been laws put in place where you have to have breaks after so many hours of working, a minimum wage has also been put in place, also more health and safety laws are in place, also go back to the 70s, for example,everyone had manual jobs, so miners for example working in harsh conditions for not very good pay, factory workers were pretty much the same, and as for women working in the 70s they got nursing and secretarial jobs which weren't that bad but they needed allot more concentration and typing skill because unlike a computer if you make a mistake your screwed so yes people did work harder decades ago also there jobs were more tiresome and boring and more manual especially for the middle classes "

Not everyone had manual jobs. A doctor for example or nurse now that you mention it (not a 'bad' job?) they were not manual jobs.

Working conditions may be better now, but far more people don't have a job to get up in the morning to do. Manufacturing has been allowed to leave the country and two governments have allowed the internet to grow at such a speed many of the jobs which remained have now gone too.

There may well be a minimum wage but that I can tell you is a long way off the £5000 a month which you say comes into your own household. Added to which, are you aware of the work which is done for minimum wage? If some of that isn't hard, dirty work, I am afraid I don't know what is. And as has been said already, when you begin work yourself you will soon get to learn what it is all about. Credit to you for being able to write down a few pointers which someone who was alive 40 years ago may have waxed lyrical about, but you'll be in for a surprise of your own in time. I'd sooner be in work in 1973 and not 2013.

 

[thekirbylover]

yes but what we class as hard work today isn't my parents are not on minimum wage, and some jobs haven't really changed, such as doctors nurses except there is little written paper work due to computers

 

[vintagerepairer]

There is no more I can say which isn't encapsulated in what I already wrote.

 

[electromatik]

Wow filterqueenman, that would be highly annoying. I always want to read/see the fine print beforehand so I know what's coming. I never saw a warranty that nitpicky, but I guess even Miele is. They can't guarantee everything for all eternity, but if they say five years, it should everything, cord also. Pity!

 

[rutger]

Today many people are totally unsure if they'll ever have a job or future (or keep the job they have), that produces its own stresses & strains.

I don't think anyone unless they study every job can say people don't work as hard as they did. Certainly the job for life & the security & happiness that went with it are for many people history.

Also don't forget that unless things get greatly better economically, being able to retire at a decent age will certainly belong to a past generation & will definitely be the preserve of those most wealthy. In your opinion people might have worked harder before but I think we are on the brink of people having to work until the sort of age we haven't seen for a very long time.

I don't doubt older generations worked hard but we can't just point to things being easier etc now - in so many ways they're not.