Inbuilt Obsolescence

I bought a Whirlpool micro-wave oven exactly ten years ago which has served me well. Perfect for me, a low fi person, no flashing leds, loads of buttons etc, just basic switches and easy to use.
On Tuesday, the power switch/timer thingy broke, A tiny piece of plastic linking the switch to its stem broke off thus rendering the micro-wave unusable.
The switch is small enough - size wise it would sit nicely on top of one of those, y'know, pack of three condom packets you get in a tiolet pub vending machine, with a couple of milliometres to spare - that's the size of it.
Anyway, I rang the shop I bought it from and, amazingly, they said they could replace it - I had expected that, because of its age, there wouldn't be any replacement parts made for this particlular model, given its age.
Got the replacement switch to day and it cost...........33 fcuking euro and 45 cents. :eek:
In addition, if I had left the micro-wave in to the shop, it would have cost another 30 euro at least service charge.
It would have been cheaper to have bought a new micro-wave, I reckon in places like Power City etc., even without the service charge.

This led me to thinking - have any of you Footiepersons had similar experiences of inbuilt obsolescence in products??

Do you ever stop complaining Hamish :rolleyes: :p :D

Obsoles... :confused: .....what? :o :D

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Anto McC

Do you ever stop complaining Hamish

---

Ah Anto, you know me well enough by now.

Me complain?? :eek: ........I'm very content really with life.

Just amazed at how much junk society creates. When you think of all the washing machines, fridges etc that end up being taken apart in places like India for scrap, parts etc it's no wonder people have such little value on things.
If something fcuks up...ah sure.....feck it out..cheaper to replace it.

We have two recycling bins down here. A brown one for food, bones, grass, sticks etc that will make compost and a blue bin for plastics, cans etc. My sister slags me off about detaching the plastic bits from toothpaste sachets, milk cartons, orange juice cartons or cutting up and emptying the sand out of jug plastic water filters etc. :o
A lot of plastic isn't good enough quality to recycle and ends up in landfills - the very plastic that you see dotted all over the landscape - brown bread containers, biscuit packets etc.

We're subconsciously brainwashed not to get things fixed because it's cheaper to replace.

Take woofers in your speakers for example. They start to buzz and distort - get new woofers? Nah, buy new speakers.

Many businesses depend on the throw away aspect of their products to survive. I mean, if everyone got things repaired, western society would collapse. :D

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by d f x-

Obsoles... :confused: .....what? :o :D

---

Yeah and I had to check the dictionary to make sure the spelling was right. :o :D

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by sirhamish

Yeah and I had to check the dictionary to make sure the spelling was right. :o :D

---

aye, have you been digesting adam's dictionary that he always refers to...... :eek: :D

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by kerr's tribe

aye, have you been digesting adam's dictionary that he always refers to...... :

---

Sheridan is a good influence on me these days.

Any examples of Inb. Obs. yourself KT??? Ever buy anything you really liked, some part of it was defective and you had to replace the whole shebang 'cos there was no spare parts.??

And please.....no jokes about men..I know your mind. :p :D

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by sirhamish

Sheridan is a good influence on me these days.

Any examples of Inb. Obs. yourself KT??? Ever buy anything you really liked, some part of it was defective and you had to replace the whole shebang 'cos there was no spare parts.??

And please.....no jokes about men..I know your mind. :p :D

---

Spoiled my joke..... :mad: Men are generally defective :rolleyes: :D

We had a dishwasher here for 13 months and the door locking mechanism broke. Just after the warranty ran out and it cost something like €60 to fix it. It was just a part to send away for and the technican repaired in a 5 minute job. Its all a con job. the manufactors make everything so it breaks.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by thejollyrodger

We had a dishwasher here for 13 months and the door locking mechanism broke. Just after the warranty ran out and it cost something like €60 to fix it. It was just a part to send away for and the technican repaired in a 5 minute job. Its all a con job. the manufactors make everything so it breaks.

---

Absolutely true - cars are also notorious too for the same reason.

and don't get me started on Hoovers. :mad:

Hamish your turning into my ma or something complaining about Hoovers and the likes.Jaysus i can't even tell you if we have a hoover in my house and if we do,i'll be damned if i know what it looks like :D

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Anto McC

Hamish your turning into my ma or something complaining about Hoovers and the likes.Jaysus i can't even tell you if we have a hoover in my house and if we do,i'll be damned if i know what it looks like :D

---

Babysis, he's useless, he doesn't know how to do housework....... :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :D Snigger

Hamish, if you want to fix it yerself, do a google for parts for your model. I'm sure there is something out there. I have a TV in my minivan (for the kids on long trips etc) about 4 years old, sure enough a few weeks ago the frame cracked and fell to the floor. Called the company (audiovox), discontinued model, no more parts etc. Did a search online and low and behold I was able to get a replacement frame for $40. Took about 10 minutes to fix it. Much better than having to pay $500 for a new one.

Anyways, arent microwaves something like $2 nowdays?

At work somebody plugged in an 8 month old 20 inch pc monitor without checking if it was switched off first. In 1% of cases, as we learned later, this can cause the board inside the monitor to burn up. Cost of replacement of the board? About €20 less than the cost of a new monitor. :eek:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by sirhamish

. . . . y'know, pack of three condom packets you get in a tiolet pub vending machine, with a couple of milliometres to spare - that's the size of it.

---

Had to read this phrase three times to make sure we were not talking about a personal problem here :p

PS 2 :mad: :mad:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by sirhamish

This led me to thinking - have any of you Footiepersons had similar experiences of inbuilt obsolescence in products??

---

Windoze?...:rolleyes:

Had a simlar experience with a washing machine, broke the handle off and thought I be rode for a replacement but I hit google and got it delivered for €10. Don't believe what the shops or repair men tell you-try google first.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Metrostars

replacement frame for $40. Took about 10 minutes to fix it. Much better than having to pay $500 for a new one.

Anyways, arent microwaves something like $2 nowdays?

---

Jesus, Metrostars, that the very point of my thread - I DID get a spare part/replacement. I don't want to buy a new micro-wave.

ATM I'm searching Goodle for info on Cd players. The laser is defective is my stereo and despite various cleaning CDs etc, it's obvious that the laser is defective. A good buddy, who owns an electrical shop is fixing it for next to nothing as I am a customer there and he's a very honest bloke.

I'm NOT going to buy a new stereo - great speakers and a kick-ass sound - until the laser fcuked up lately.

Ah Jaysus Hamish your back! How did last night go for ya?:eek: ;).