Wednesday 2 September 2015

Kettles, irons and toasters

I swear there is a conspiracy. A small appliance one. They are all made to last EXACTLY a year. Although I have to give our kettle credit - it's been hanging around for about 3 years. Our previous toaster was older than our marriage of 13 years at the time it died. I have high hopes for the new one as it is a super funky 4 slice Russel Hobbs. But from talk around the school I know toasters fall into the same category. I am keeping a beady eye on it. And do not even try to have one fixed - no one does it and it will cost you more than a new one. We live in a truly disposable society.

So this morning at about 11 Lucy gives me a call. "It's the iron" , she says. "It made one big spark and it's dead" At least she is ok.  I ask her to find the box and check the date of the slip. It turns out it is almost to the day 1 year and 1 month old - a full 29 days after the guarantee expires. Sigh!

So I bought a new one - at least I went to Pick n Pay and got a much coveted Stikeez more than my normal day to day groceries would have brought me. Does it make up for it? No way - although the kids might disagree.

Do you agree? Am I the only yearly buyer of especially irons?

15 comments:

  1. You're right! Especially irons!!! So frustrating, aaargh!

    http://jessv83.blogspot.com/

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  2. LOL, I've heard that some DG's are especially tough on irons, but I've only ever had 3 irons, not bad for 14 years I think
    DH threw out a perfectly good toaster after a bat came in the front door and after much swatting and chucking towels at it, it decided to take shelter in our toaster of all places.

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  3. Yep and cellphones have a self-destruct setting to go off after about 22 months. I hate changing phones but it seems although they just break.

    I must admit that since I banned our domestic goddess from ironing the irons do seem to last much longer - before I had to buy one about every 3 months.

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    1. Our ihones seem to keep for years. New battery and they are fine.

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  4. I never used to bother with the "1 Year Warranty" notice and slips in the box. I guess I've been lucky in that most of my small household appliances have lasted well beyond their respective guarantees and warranties. But I've found over the last few years that kettles are particularly poor quality these days and I must have bought 3 or 4 new ones in as many years. And irons! (Although, I believe that the irons dying has more to do with the way in which they are used and "cared for" by our domestic helper, who insists on winding the cord around the unit's base while it is still hot.) So, when my last toaster bit the dust a few months ago (after almost 10 years' service), I registered on the Mellerware site and submitted a copy of my till slip. It's supposed to have a 2 year warranty, so we'll see. It's a pain in the backside but I think I'm going to keep doing this from now on...

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    1. Oh I would love to know how that one turns out

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  5. Our iron lasts a bit longer (more like years!) ;-) It seems I should thank the wonderful lady that comes once a week!

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  6. I think it helps I almost never iron! I am a fresh-from-the-dryer kinda girl. I will say though, that I found a great and heavy iron while in college and it has lasted this long. It's been dropped, banged, and through 7 moves!

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  7. Agree 100% on the iron but I've been WISHING for my kettle to die for the last 10 years. It is nothing fancy, a Safeway from Clicks bought about 11 - 12 years ago. I've been waiting for it to stop working, thinking it would happen once we moved in (10 years ago) and it's STILL going strong!

    Same with my toaster. My cheap Safeway one was ours at home, then I took it to previous company where it made my lunch daily for 9 years. I left it there when I left - i should check if it's still going strong :)

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  8. Irons dear irons! We've bough fancy ones we've bought cheap ones still need to change very often. And phone too :(

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  9. Our iron gave up its ghost last week!! I suspect it may have been damaged in the house move. It definitely wasn't a year old but of course I had JUST dumped the box and had no clue where the receipt was!

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  10. Irons generally only last a year in my house too... apart from the last one that I've just replaced, it was going for 2 years! I find that if it's a heavy iron, it lasts longer.

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  11. Years ago things were made to last...now they rarely live past their guarantee date...makes you think.

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So what's on your mind?