The age of disposable electronics
 

Purchased a Samsung Galaxy Active2 watch October 2019 $300.00, stopped working, touch screen no longer works, warranty expired November 2020. Costco said it was covered by their Concierge service and warrantied for 2 years...Nope! Went back and forth between Costco and Samsung, neither can do anything.

I figured the watch would have had a longer lifespan, but seems we are truly in the age of consumable and disposable electronics, may as well be diapers or paper towels. Sad!

I won't be buying another one. In fact, the exercise, HRM, and some of the features I purchased it for sucked anyway. I use a chest strap HRM now, way more accurate. I'll probably go back to wearing my Tag Formula 1 watch :-)

I hear lots of bad things about Samsung products. From the fridges to TV and now watches.

I have a few old Casio watches that have been bullet proof perfect.

And Panasonic used to be excellent.

But I've had a couple of crap quality Panasonic items recently. And a bad Sony one too :(

The Costco site states "Costco reserves the right to fulfill the second-year warranty obligation through, at Costco's choosing, repair, replacement, or a refund up to the purchase price."

I would want them to refund the purchase price as it is clearly stated. Did they refuse to do that?

And cars, domestic appliances, televisions, power tools, farm equipment, yada yada

What used to be considered 'durable goods' now seem to be "experiences". There's nothing of value left after the widget's been used up - and that a shrinking timeline - so now you pay for the experience you want to afford and require. Mercedes Benz vs Kia. It's the same appliance, it's just that the Merc offers a more luxurious experience until it craps out. A Bosch dishwasher vs Kenmore. Milwaukee vs Ryobi.

All of it's junk the minute it quits working. Which it will, and sooner than you'd like.

I had a passion for film cameras. You bought new and better lenses, but you (fairly much) kept your chosen camera for life. Now camera enthusiasts seem to upgrade every few years - almost a disposable.

The problem is "we" want quality, and we want it REALLY cheap. I remember back in the day, not everyone had everything. Regular folks wanted lots of stuff and saved up if they wanted it bad enough. With today and the credit that anyone seems to be able to manage to get, everyone has the coolest phone, everyone has a giant TV, everyone has a nice car, etc.... Even with all of the credit, for everyone to have everything, the prices have to be ridiculously low to the point that things are built to price vs quality. I'm sure that there are still quality items out there, that last longer. Although, even most of those are still probably ultimately disposable. But since almost everything these days is built around some sort of computer, it's probably not realistic to be able to "fix" everything.

I think a lot of it is due to being built to a price. But I also think a lot of it has to do with the fact that everything is so complex that it doesn't make sense to repair a lot of stuff.

You can fix the differential on a 40 year old Porsche. What are the odds that a modern Porsche with torque vectoring diffs are going to be as fixable in 40 years?

My 11 Y/O Panasonic plasma TV is at the shop right now. Will see if they keep it or it gets repaired.
Won't be buying another Panasonic as they have fallen off the map for home theatre electronics.

Any suggestions on new flatscreens?

Samsung and Panasonic were my trusted brands.

Sony and Phillips I will never buy again

There are no 'brands' anymore. It's a weak metric of quality.

If I get 5-10 years out of a TV or any electronics that are used daily, I am ahead of the game. I am cheap, so I wait and do not buy the latest and greatest when they first hit the market, ever. By 5 years, new tech is needed to rum them, so what's the use of fixing? I can understand a watch. I wear those G Shocks or Iron Man watches. The band falls off, its time for a new one.

Not a fan of my 65" Samsung 4K- It's buggy as hell, and doesn't work with the Samsung soundbar.

It's 1/2 baked

rjp

I thought this thread was going to be about newer BMWs and Audis… tell me I’m not the only one?

Pretty much everything is crap these days - brand blame and or selection?

FORGETABOUTIT!

Everything is the same - every brand, every name = everything is about maximization of earnings and returns and minimizing costs.

Every - every public corporation runs on exactly the same metrics - make the most possible money.

So, as consumers, everything we buy is a crap shoot - but we have created this environment - we want the cheapest (LOL - "least expensive") version of everything.

Then we wonder why all the cheap crap that we buy fails...


DUH - we keep rewarding crap production in the mistaken belief that cheap price equals value.

From the time of the GM "planned obsolescence" to present day, just about everything is disposable in America. I would almost say, it is our culture.

It’s all BIC pen technology..........out of ink, throw it out. Has been for a very long time.

Rich

Increasingly complicated products, stiff competition for low prices. We are at the intersection point.

exactly.

Although from a certain point of view, I suspect stuff is probably, on the whole, far more reliable today, than it was 20, 30, 40 years ago.

My last PC was over 8 years old when I replaced it. And it was still working. I wiped it and reinstalled windows and gave it to my son. As far as I know, it's still working. My TV is a 46" Samsung that's 13-14 years old. It works as well today as it did when new.

Cars are far more reliable now than they were in the 80s and 90s, I think.

So yes, lots of stuff is now disposable because it's not made in a way that some parts are easily fixed/replaced, but most of the stuff also lasts pretty well. The bigger problem these days is obsolescence due to the march of technology.

The 1980s cars were certainly designed to be replaced in a few years. I bought my 86 El Camino in 1991 and the original owner drove it for 5 years and 39,000 miles. It is at 364,000 miles or so now. I have had to replace the front A-arm bushings twice, and I even wore out the yoke on the driveshaft. It only goes 350,000 miles before a new $40 yoke is needed because a grove wears into the yoke from the seal. Brake pads were $12 for GM Goodwrench pads. Every part on the car works as designed or better. Maintenance is the key.

Most people are tired of a car after a few years, and they get it paid off and just want a new one. I tend to bond with my cars.

There are different levels of TV sets. Buy from the big box store or discount sellers and you get the cheapest price. Buy from a shop that specializes in home appliances and the same TV on the outside is a higher quality. At least it was that way 10 years ago. Our TV is a 60 inch Sony and it has been flawless. We bought it at a local mom and pop appliance store.

This, and generally avoiding cheap parts-store parts. Once you start putting imitation (aftermarket) replacement parts on your car, it's over. GM OEM isn't really all that bad, but it costs- it's the cheap knockoff aftermarket trash and outright negligence is what kills cars.

It just happens a bit sooner with American cars.

rjp