I agree with the Choice guidelines on how long appliances should reasonably be expected to last for, but the problem is the guide isn't a real help if things do go wrong because as it stands, it's a bit vague. For instance, it lists categories-entry range price, mid range, top range, but doesn't put a dollar amount on any of the applianaces in any category.
For any real help to consumers, what is needed is longer warranties, in writing.
Some years back, I had a Simpson washing machine. It broke down under warranty. It was a major item-gear box. Replaced free. A few months later, another major thing.Also replaced free.
Then about a year or so after that, gear box again. I was out of warranty. Not by a lot but by a few months and they made me pay.
What recourse would I have had legally, that was worth the cost of pursuing?
To me, a lot of the warranties on quite expensive things are way too short.
I was looking at fridges a couple of years back. We bought a medium sized fridge (which had to be replaced a few months down the track as it was unrepairable apparently) but there were big fridges in the salesroom that cost eye watering amounts like $5000-$6000 etc and the salesman told us a lot of them were only lasting 4-5 years these days, that ever since they were all built in China and elsewhere, they weren't made to last the 20 years or more that older fridges routinely gave.
I'd like to see 5 year warranties as a norm on high end appliances that cost mega dollars. That would put an end to extended warranty sales too, or at least make them not as attractive.
