Ignorance is bliss until you start to pay out for repairs.
The thing is though, unless you actually buy and own the brand you're none the wiser nowadays with brand reliabiity. I recall Ariston washers were seldom reliable as well as Colston (anyone remember them??!) machines and Indesit had poor reliability for many years. Yet, I have a Hotpoint tumble dryer now- it was cheap as chips to buy at the time, it's vented so less goes wrong in theory and its relatively quiet when in use. I'd have never considered Hotpoint now because I knew that Indesit were the backing company, but I've been honestly, quite surprised and delighted that nothing has gone wrong with the now, four year old machine and it is used every third day or once a week depending on the wash loads. Would I consider Hotpoint in the future? After putting up with a horrible White Knight for many years and kept spending excess on replacement doors (4 in all) and then the heater element burning out, I may well consider Hotpoint again for its reliability and less cost.
I think it can be quite foolish to think that buying a brand that used to be good, can still be good, nowadays. It doesn't happen very often and although I may be singled out, I don't think Dyson would have survived had he remained in the UK with production of his models - and Benny does make good points here in so far as the way in which are economy and wages are concerned.
Dyson on the other hand is not like Numatic where they are churning out ONE machine with several variations. Numatic enjoy the market they hold and they've done very well. Their position in the UK makes a lot more sense, because they aren't interested in huge sales - why else has it it taken them so long to break into the U.S market? Numatic are very different to most other vacuum brands and have followed a pattern that most other commercial brands have done - keep the basic machine in production and add design changes little by little as the years go by.
Another British brand that I miss from my child hood is Tricity and Belling. Belling I believe, was swallowed up by Creda. Belling cookers used to be well built and lasted ages. My granny had 2 of them and 2 Tricity cookers. We had a 20 something year old double range Belling that came with the house my parents bought. It just refused to die, even if its white metal parts were starting to rust exterior wise. Replaced it with a modern Belling in the 1990's and it lasted only four years with a burnt element in the main oven.
