made in china rubbish

[Brett1907]

A mate of mine had to pull the jets out of his Kipor generator and clean them out. It now works perfectly and is not noticably louder than a honda of the same size. And it cost half the price.

There is some very low quality gear coming out of asia, and it is mainly driven by the fact that we all want to pay less. Some of us may be willing to pay more for better product, but we are a minority and that means lower turn over of stock which drives up the cost and stops the shop from selling the better gear.

We need to take inferior products back to the point of purchase to inform them that the gear is no good. I do understand your reasoning Far Side, it van be easier and quicker to fix it youreslf, and it may even work better then. But unless you notify te seller they can't do anything about it.

Brett

[Mattg68]

I hear you Farside,

I myself have had a bad run with goods lately, I can't say all of these have come out of china but most likely. In the last 2 years I've had (all bought new):-

Sony handycam - didn't recharge battery (had to wait till after christmas holidays to get repaired)
Sony laptop computer - 4 months old and dvd drive craps itself - return for repair.
Sony external dvd drive - 2 months old & starts making grinding noises - return for repair.
17" LCD TV w/inbuilt dvd player - 6 months old & craps itself - return for repair.
2 x set top boxes - 1 at 3 months the other at 9 months - crap themselves - return for replacements.
LG hard drive recorder - 6 months - craps itself - return for repair.
Sony TV - 1 month old starts buzzing - taken for repair (twice).

I'll never buy Sony again, that's a given now. The biggest bugbear I have is driving all over town to get these things to repair outlets as the one Brand can have several locations to return to depending on item bought. Enough already!

Matt

[keepitreel]

I have just finished the long process of buying a plasma screen.
I am one of these blokes that researches everything first before I walk into the shop, so I know what I want and how much to pay.
Seems the salesman at most of the major appliance stores use the 'Made in China' line to get you to purchase the dearer gear made in Japan or elsewhere.
I had several of them tell me not to purchase a particular panel because of this andthen proceed to show me panels out of my budget.
I was always going to buy Panasonic because I have lots of their gear and it has never let me down(touch wood)
Seems that Panasonic also get gear made in China and an exact replica of the panel I bought sells for $800 cheaper!!
Hopefully the made in Japan sticker on mine will make it last longer otherwise it is a very expensive sticker!!!

[PinHead]

I have just finished the long process of buying a plasma screen.
I am one of these blokes that researches everything first before I walk into the shop, so I know what I want and how much to pay.
Seems the salesman at most of the major appliance stores use the 'Made in China' line to get you to purchase the dearer gear made in Japan or elsewhere.
I had several of them tell me not to purchase a particular panel because of this andthen proceed to show me panels out of my budget.
I was always going to buy Panasonic because I have lots of their gear and it has never let me down(touch wood)
Seems that Panasonic also get gear made in China and an exact replica of the panel I bought sells for $800 cheaper!!
Hopefully the made in China sticker on mine will make it last longer otherwise it is a very expensive sticker!!!

not the plasma...a good mate services TV's etc..has an agency for repairs for most brands..advised against plasmas..when they drop pixels and they grow into black holes they cannot fix them so I stayed away from them. A certain well known brand starting with S and mentioned above is not making them anymore..they are buying Samsung and rebadging them...let them have the warranty problems...this now goes on with a lot of products...made by different factories and rebadge them to whatever name you want on them.

I also like the salespeople that try and sell you what they think you want...
recently I wanted to upgrade the home entertainment system..I knew the amplifier I wanted and the type of TV and centre speaker. So off I go , walk into the shop...I accost a salesperson and tell him I want to have a play with the amp I wanted...so he sets it up..I just about empty the shop by giving it a work out volume wise (gotta have loud music and movies)...he then proceeds ot starting prattling on about other amps...made in other countries and best of all, he says, they are cheaper...I just looked ta him. Then I asked him why he was showing them to me when I asked after the amp I wanted when I walked into the store. His words were: "Don't you want to save some money?" They don't get it..it would not be savng money as the others were not what I wanted. It appears that a lot of salespeople and also the store owners are selling items for a price and not pushing the quality items which usually cost more. I did not want the 4k amp nor the 5k amp..just give me what I wanted was all I asked for.

There are also some Aussie made products that are absolute rubbish,,and not small ticket items either..one particular brand of locally built boat I looked at was of such poor quality I feel sorry for those that have bought them...and the funny part in those is that they are not the cheapest around either...yet they really push the Australian made bit.

I guess that you only get what you pay for regardless of country of manufacture BUT there are laws to protect you if the product is not of the quality expected by law.

[joeT]

I hear you Farside,

I myself have had a bad run with goods lately, I can't say all of these have come out of china but most likely. In the last 2 years I've had (all bought new):-

Sony handycam - didn't recharge battery (had to wait till after christmas holidays to get repaired)
Sony laptop computer - 4 months old and dvd drive craps itself - return for repair.
Sony external dvd drive - 2 months old & starts making grinding noises - return for repair.
17" LCD TV w/inbuilt dvd player - 6 months old & craps itself - return for repair.
2 x set top boxes - 1 at 3 months the other at 9 months - crap themselves - return for replacements.
LG hard drive recorder - 6 months - craps itself - return for repair.
Sony TV - 1 month old starts buzzing - taken for repair (twice).

I'll never buy Sony again, that's a given now. The biggest bugbear I have is driving all over town to get these things to repair outlets as the one Brand can have several locations to return to depending on item bought. Enough already!

Matt

Sony electronics have had a few quality problems lately, I've heard similar stories from the car audio forums. You must have had lots of patience to keep going back to sony so many times! Anyway, a bit off topic...

Things made in China are like things made anywhere else, there is good and there is bad. Its amazing how much manufacturing goes on there. If you go to a factory, and ask for a particular item and a price, they will ask you how much you want to pay. They will have a $1, $2, $5, and $10 version with corresponding levels of quality. Unfortunately for us the mass retailers go to the lower end of the spectrum, as low as they are allowed to to pass min. regs. How else do we get portable 240v generators from supercheap for just $99...

[Noelm]

been in the retail and service industry all my life and except for a very small minority MOST customers do NOT see the quality, all they see is that some Department store or Liquidater has the "same" thing for half price, they do not care about parts availability later on, the fact that if it does break down WE fix it on site or anything else, most consumers see price and if it is discounted (or perceived to be) the better it sells, you see it all the time on this site, someone will post the fact that (say) Kmart has a 25% off sale, does not matter that the goods are no cheaper, or in fact could be cheaper at another store, it is a sale, so better stock up! and Electrical goods, Power tools, paint brushes whatever are no different, all we see is a (say) GMC drill for $39, then why pay $150 for a Metabo? even though the good one will be handed down to your kids and Grand kids, and the elcheapo will be in the rubbish bin, it does not matter a drill is a drill is a drill (to most people)

[Noelm]

joeT you are spot on there, we used to be a really big Battery wholesaler (small batteries that is for torches and stuff) and you could get a D size Battery for almost any price you wanted to pay, the really cheap ones were half empty and had "filling" to make up the size, we used to cut them open to show prospective buyers what they were getting and the 25 cent battery was about 1/8th of the case, the rest was just sawdust combined with some material to make up some weight, were as (say) an Ever ready was a "full" battery, but some still got the elcheapo because it was what customers wanted, did not matter if most were duds and the ones that worked only lasted for a small time, they were CHEAP!

[manchild]

been in the retail and service industry all my life and except for a very small minority MOST customers do NOT see the quality, all they see is that some Department store or Liquidater has the "same" thing for half price, they do not care about parts availability later on, the fact that if it does break down WE fix it on site or anything else, most consumers see price and if it is discounted (or perceived to be) the better it sells, you see it all the time on this site, someone will post the fact that (say) Kmart has a 25% off sale, does not matter that the goods are no cheaper, or in fact could be cheaper at another store, it is a sale, so better stock up! and Electrical goods, Power tools, paint brushes whatever are no different, all we see is a (say) GMC drill for $39, then why pay $150 for a Metabo? even though the good one will be handed down to your kids and Grand kids, and the elcheapo will be in the rubbish bin, it does not matter a drill is a drill is a drill (to most people)

Spot on mate.My friends always hang shite on me for being a toolfreak.How can you pay 600+dollars for a cordless drill?Easy mate ,i dont want to loose time and running around for another one when the cheap ones let me down ,while i could be earning a few hundred bucks working.Metabo or Aeg for me thanks.
George
By the way chinese do make high quality products but not many people interested in them .

[bayfisher]

Spot on mate.My friends always hang shite on me for being a toolfreak.How can you pay 600+dollars for a cordless drill?Easy mate ,i dont want to loose time and running around for another one when the cheap ones let me down ,while i could be earning a few hundred bucks working.Metabo or Aeg for me thanks.
George
By the way chinese do make high quality products but not many people interested in them .

I like quality power tools too, They certainly make life easier when working. I have a Metabo and its a great drill i also have a Hitachi which i think is better. It also happens to be made in china

[Roughasguts]

I think there are a lot of over rated products out there now, Makita and Sony for example. They may have been good for a decade or so but now there just over priced junk. They been sitting back and resting on there reputation for to long.

China has been getting there act together though. I have several tools made in China, and they seem Okay for the moment, Except Talon, I bought a dud there.

[manchild]

I think there are a lot of over rated products out there now, Makita and Sony for example. They may have been good for a decade or so but now there just over priced junk. They been sitting back and resting on there reputation for to long.

China has been getting there act together though. I have several tools made in China, and they seem Okay for the moment, Except Talon, I bought a dud there.

Agree,you can add Dewault to that list as well.
George

[joeT]

For all I've said, I have to admit to buying a few cheap power tools. Like my $40 GMC power drill which I've used for years. Not the best drill but seems to do the job ok for the couple dozen times I use it a year.

[Noelm]

thats what I mean, a (say) GMC will drill a hole, but try dropping 10 times a day, leaning on it force a bit through some really tough old hardwood, the GMC will be replaced under warranty (because no one will fix it) but the GOOD one will still be drilling 15 years from now, and China does make SOME good stuff, but the general public want cheap, and there is not too many that are GOOD and CHEAP usually one or the other, as an example, I was doing a big deck, and I thought I would buy a cheap coil nailer to do the job, then just keep it when I was finished (to buy a cheap one was almost the same price as to hire one for a day) after about 100 nails, I got that sick of the piece of sh!t jamming, or not driving the nails fully home, I threw the F%$#* thing in the garage and used a hammer and twist nails to do the job.

[MY-TopEnder]

I take offense to this, I do import components from china, Not everything coming from there is "crap". Its really down to quality control on the suppliers and sellers side. I actually aim to put out a quality product and do offer a warranty. If any thing is wrong i want the customer to come back to me, it means i can fix the problem rather then the customer bad mouthing my company or taking this sort of attitude. It also means i can go back to my supplier and rectify the problem rather than continuing to import faulty components.

Cheers Chris

I'm in product management for a large company that imports bricksaws, blocksaws, small road saws and the diamond blade consumables that go with these saws. I deal with chinese suppliers on a daily basis and can tell you that there are good products coming out of China if you look in the right places.

The other thing is, bigger chinese manafacturers take alot of pride in their work, and when presented with a major claim, they will do everything in their power to fix the problem.

About 12 months ago we had a batch of smaller saws come over that appeared to show signs of poor or no steel prep prior to painting. There were only a handfull of saws present the problem, but we had to suspect the batch. They replaced these frames at their own cost, and even air freighted them to Australia so we could rectify the claim for the customer.

Recently the chinese market was de-regulated and is going through some pretty major changes in regards to different taxes and duties. It is becoming a very competitive market over there at the moment, and generally the guys that are producing quality products are getting the contracts.

On the topic of the GMC Drills, i know of a couple of cabinet makers who use GMC Cordless drills day to day... They bought them from Bunnings on trade discount, and when they have problem they're returned to Bunnings on their standard no questions asked policy and are given a new one as replacement. While GMC say their warranty does not cover trade use, Bunnings don't ask any questions and by the time it makes it back to GMC, its too late.

[bayfisher]

My dealings with Chinese manufactures have been similar, Usually if your not happy their not happy. Our main supplier takes a lot of pride in his factories work. If anything is wrong they are likely to bend over back wards to replace or fix problems. I never seen the same manufacturing flaws twice after i inform them of any problems (ie from one shipment to the next).