Someone suggested ebay is now using the boards to advertise ? Anyone know if that's true ?
It was also suggested certain individuals can earn a few pennies by promoting certain products via the boards. Is that true ?
Whatever the case, a visit to the Product Review site will provide you with hundreds of genuine reviews by those who paid actual money for washing machines (and many false, paid advertisements as well, of course. But they're pretty easy to spot)
Handy tip --- scroll to the end of the stack to read genuine as opposed to paid-comments. Even product-review sites have to earn their keep as we know
Last time I visited Product Review, the hates were on in particular for both LG and F&P. You can read the detailed complaints by the dozen
Not that Simpson or any of the others did any better
Seems Electrolux bought out the made-in-Australia companies and moved the factories overseas, apart I think from a few Westinghouse products which -- according to rumour -- claim to put overseas components together to qualify for the made-in-Oz sticker
During my tours of Product Review I couldn't find one washer that wasn't criticised by ordinary Aussie buyers
Same with wall ovens where the problems included exploding glass doors, heat leaks, break-downs from the start, etc.
What I did discover on Product Review was that frustrated Aussies, thousands of dollars out of pocket and very unhappy with the alleged service provided by manufacturers whose entire product ranges are made overseas for cheap, were turning to buying second hand, 15 year old Hoovers and Simpson washers. They were taking them to 'redundant' ex-Simpson and Hoover mechanics and having reconditioned or new (rare) motors fitted
What a commentary on today's white goods, huh. People are buying yellowed old made-in-Oz washers and having motors fitted by out of work Aussies who cannibalise old appliances to kick start the old but reliable items
Many of those on Product Review asked each other how to get at least part of their money back on the made-overseas washers they described as 'unusable'. And people suggested they try to sell them cheap on ebay
So I looked on ebay and sure enough ---- there were hundreds of nice looking name-brand washers, described as 'only a few months old' and as ' barely used'. No one wanted them. Because everyone knew they are lemons
Then I went to the second hand Hoover, Simpson, Malleys and Whirlpool machines. And there were people bidding hard for them and prepared to pay a few hundred apiece
Guess that's why people aren't buying the new lemons anymore. They're all sold by the same US company anyway. And almost all of them are made with inferior components overseas where people are paid sixteen dollars per month
Like the big name-brand machine we bought. The one that leaked black stuff onto the clean clothes from the moment we first used it. The one which has the rusted lid after only nine months of being in an indoor, steam free laundry. The one which that big US company received so many complaints about (as revealed on Product Review) that they were going to discontinue it. But then they decided they'd just sell them to trusting suckers who thought the machines were still being made by a trusted Aussie company
Then when the suckers found the name-branded machine was a piece of garbage, the big US company fobbed them off and off and off and off. Even the big companies own servicemen confided the things were worthless junk
Be nice if a government actually provided incentives for Aussie manufacturers to build reliable Aussie products IN Australia, using Australian labour
And just think -- if Aussies had work, they'd spend and Australia might even pull itself out of the ever downward spiralling recession and unemployment tsunami
None of the brands mentioned so far in this thread did well at ALL on the Product Review sites. The machines which came out tops were yellowed old Malleys, Simpsons, Whirlpools etc. which Aussie tradesmen had put new and reconditioned motors in. Those old machines --- which ran for 12 to 20 years without a blink --- are the most highly sought washing machines in the land. Because unlike all the mass produced pieces of junk sourced from overseas, the old machines were made by people and companies who actually valued their reputation and wanted to give the Aussie people value for money. And they were made of real Aussie steel which didn't rust even when housed in backyard washing sheds for over a decade
