I'm tired of poor quality stuff made overseas failing on me all the time...

[motion]

Originally Posted by the

That was sweet, the digicam stops working after 3 years, you take it back and exchange it for a much better one, brand new, for free.

Too much abuse of the policy (people would return their still working 10 year old TVs, etc), though, and now it's only a 90 day Costco warranty on electronics.

You're joking, right?

[nostatic]

my g/f was made in hong kong. She isn't poor quality at all...you guys are just checking out the wrong stuff or in the wrong places.

[Moneyguy1]

Hong Kong is a different animal.......

[Aurel]

Originally Posted by nostatic

my g/f was made in hong kong. She isn't poor quality at all...you guys are just checking out the wrong stuff or in the wrong places.

Hong Kong was under British rule when she was made. And how long is she gonna last anyways? That is where build quality matters..

Aurel

[Venetian]

25 years on my Rolex watch worn daily and still going strong.

[nostatic]

Originally Posted by Aurel

Hong Kong was under British rule when she was made. And how long is she gonna last anyways? That is where build quality matters..

Aurel

Good point. So far so good, but maybe an extended warranty is called for. She does have a younger sister.

My comment still stands though. Mainland China, Singapore, Philippines, Vietnam and Japan...had great luck with them. The only crazy ones were made in Korea (well, and a few US-made versions). Go figure...

[the]

Originally Posted by motion

You're joking, right?

[nostatic]

no, I think he's saying that you're joking about them prefiously having a lifetime guarantee on everything. I never heard of that...Craftsman tools, but not on electronics.

[the]

Originally Posted by nostatic

no, I think he's saying that you're joking about them prefiously having a lifetime guarantee on everything. I never heard of that...Craftsman tools, but not on electronics.

They did have a lifetime, no questions asked return policy, on everything (except maybe computers, but including all other electronics, including TVs, cameras, DVD, etc. etc.).

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/announcements/costco-officially-changes-return-policy-for-the-worse-239924.php

[sammyg2]

You could not afford a television that was completely made in the US (every component). It would probably cost about $100k.

Anyone here remember a thing from high school called history? Rumor has it that it tends to repeat itself.
After WWII Japan was trying to recover and develop some manufacturing. They were short of raw materials, so they made little tin toys and stuff, usually very fragile due to being stingy with materials.
Made in Japan was an insult. It meant crap, junk, not worth more than a few pennies.
Later, they got better. Slowly they increased quality, complexity, and now made in Japan means it is veprobably the best and very expensive. After they became a world manufacturing power, they also because a world consumer. Their standard of living increased, their labor cost increased, they became westernized.
In stepped Taiwan, South Korea, etc. They all did the same thing. They started making stuff cheap, and eventually it got better, then it got more expensive.

Now onto China. They made stuff like crap a decade ago. Their quality is getting better. It still has a way to go but it is well on the way.
Now why would anyone expect anything China to turn out any different than any other country?
They have more natural resources, they have more people, so it's on a grander scale but the same thing will happen. In another 10 years stuff made in China will be top quality, we will be more than happy to buy it if we can afford it, but we will be b!tching about cheap crap made in Turkey and Africa.

See, we drive this trend. It is our fault. we as consumers want affordable stuff. we will buy it if the price is low enough, but if it is really high we will not. Sure a few of us might say that we would pay a premium for one thing or another, but on average no one wants to pay alot for anything. Business responds to our wants. They give us what we ask for.
We want cheap, they give us cheap. It's always been that way.

I'd also say that most of us are victims of the sensationalistic media. They decided recently to go after "made in China". It was a way to get people fired up, and after all that is how they stay in business.
"China toys contain lead which kills our kids". Bah.
What they don't tell you is that the paint on those toys contain about .05% lead oxide. Big freaking deal. That's barely over the very conservative limit. They also don't tell you that my generation played with toys that contained 100 times more lead than those toys being recalled now. Big freaking deal. It is BS.
Don't let them control your minds.

[SlowToady]

My laptop, an HP Pavilion 1310US, just took a dump around Thanks Giving. Bought it in 05' before college. First the hard drive went, but that was no big deal, I just replaced it. $100 I shouldn't have had to spend, but whatever. Then the screen went; I was surfing the web and all the sudden it sort of flashed, and then went dark. Greeaaatttt...now THAT is an inconvenience. And then the CD/DVD burner died. And now the modem. Wow, I got all of 2 years out of it...BAH.

I still have 9GB Cheetah SCSI drives that were purchased new (for a fortune) running in my bought-used custom built Dual PentiumII 300mhz desktop. The only thing to ever fail on it was the power supply, which I overloaded, and knew I did. Even then it ran for many months. Replaced it with a bigger one, and again it runs. Even when it overheated multiple times because I couldn't see that the CPU0 fan wasn't plugged into the fan header. Still runs...

I have a SUN UltraSPARC 1 Enterprise. Runs like a top. And built like a tank.

Or how about the Motorola 8420 I had? Made in the late 80s, Dual Processor 6800, used in service at a large company until about 5 years ago when I got it. IT STILL WORKS! Not even any DISK ERRORS! I finally sold it for $200, and MADE money.

I've had more recently purchased computer components fail on me. Like a bunch ATAPI/IDE disks. And blown capacitors on motherboards. Like the server at work that over heated and spilled its guts (and magic smoke). That's it, all it took, one time. My old PII-300 has over heated multiple times, no problems.

I'll stop ranting now, but basically what I've found is that for computers, if it HAS to last, spend as much as you possibly can. They are NOT made like they used to be. I'm trying to make a move to all UltraSPARC based machines, and for good reason.

Good luck Wayne...

PS: Try buying the "server" chipset boards if you haven't already. They tend to get the less craptastic crap.

Originally Posted by Wayne at Pelican Parts

From another thread:



Even the SONOS system I just bought (and paid *a lot* of money for) has "MADE IN CHINA" printed on the back. I would have figured that me paying a premium for the system might have resulted in something made elsewhere, but I guess not. You can't escape it - everything seems to be made in China these days. Is the stuff from Bang & Olufsen made in China too?

-Wayne

[Porsche-O-Phile]

"Made in China" is a euphemism for "crap built by slaves".

For one, I go out of my way to look for products that are made elsewhere. Seriously. I do. I look at the labels. It is very hard to find stuff NOT made in China, but I do look and it is a primary factor in my purchasing decisions.

A couple of weeks ago I passed on a Ryobi sander and bought a Makita one, even though the Ryobi one had better features for the dollar. Reason? The Ryobi one was made in China. Yes, I actually put it back on the shelf and paid more for the Makita one with supposedly "inferior" features, because it is built in Georgia, here in the U.S.A. It's been working fine. No problems (knock wood). I'm sure there's some guy in Georgia happy with my decision. And I feel good knowing my dollars are helping that guy in Georgia to support his family, rather than going over to China helping to reward their slave-labor society and fund their government building bombs and guns to possibly one day be pointed at us.

Point is, I will pay more for stuff made pretty much anywhere other than in the commie slave-labor gulag known as "China". I owe nothing to them and refuse to put my money into rewarding them for treating their citizens like chattel, polluting the hell out of the environment, building sub-standard junk, etc. I will pay even more for something made here in the U.S.A., out of U.S. components. And I do. Same with European-made stuff. Most of those countries have excellent working conditions and treat their labor force well, and build quality products that are meant to last more than a few weeks. I reward that with my wallet. They've earned it. China hasn't.

Ultimately, China only seems to do one thing well - make crap cheap. And that's largely because they say "f*ck the environment" and "people are expendable, who cares" about their own citizens. If so-and-so doesn't want to work in the sweatshop anymore due to the hazardous conditions, they kick his ass out into the street and plug some 12-year-old kid in his place. People mean NOTHING in that society. I just don't see it at all. It's like the Borg. Individuality counts for little, and only the collective interest is deemed important.

Sorry, but I have very little respect for China. Their economy and "growth" is a sham, created by a despotic government by forcing the populace at gunpoint to make it happen. If that makes me an "isolationist" or "insensitive" or "culturally naive" or whatever, fine. I don't care. I refuse to reward that kind of behavior and if someone doesn't like it, they can kiss my ass. Our fathers and grandfathers fought to prevent that kind of economic model from succeeding, and to prevent communism from taking over the world and now Joe Six-Pack and the rest of Idiot America want to just chuck all that and say "aww, f*ck it, we were just kidding" in the name of getting a cheaper plasma TV. What a crock.

Here's the harsh reality: China is an ENEMY of the United States. They are NOT our friends and they most certainly do NOT represent our interests. I have no doubt whatsoever that they want to eventually destroy the United States and become the sole governing power in the world. The first step in doing so is to take over the world's manufacturing (which they're doing, and which we're doing such a great job handing to them) so everyone else is dependent on them. Furthermore, they are deliberately and systematically undermining the U.S. economy by taking advantage of Idiot America's insatiable lust for cheap junk - particularly consumer electronics. They happily extend us the credit to buy their slave-labor built garbage in return for owning greater and greater shares of the U.S. Don't believe me? Look at the percentages of Chinese-backed investments in the U.S. over the last 30 years. We're very close to a tipping point where if the Chinese ever wanted to literally destroy the American economy overnight, all they'd have to do is call in their debts.

Thank you Idiot America for handing our country, which our forefathers fought for and died for, to the most vile, despotic and oppressive government in the world. Way to go. Enjoy your GPS unit and your toaster.

[Groesbeck Hurricane]

Until Americans stop expecting to make six figures and buy $1.00 t-shirts we will continue down the current path. Current regulations allow manufacturers to add less than 1% (that is one percent) of US made material to a finished good and label it as Made in USA. Until we get back to core manufacturing in The US we will continue to depend more and more on foreign sources. Don't blame the EPA (this was Nixon's baby!), OSHA, or any of the other regulations. Blame ourselves for moving away from our manufacturing roots. 100 years ago all the junk items selling in Europe were Made in USA. If you want to stop this, get with American manufacturing and buy direct from US Owned entities.

Sorry, I'm ranting mad and not making much sense. Buy US Made Products, but know that most of their content was made elsewhere.

[Moneyguy1]

I think that saying a TV made in America would cost tens of thousands is an exaggeration. With our ability to use robotics and modern manufacturing methods a bit more expensive, yes. But the Far East has to put up with ever increasing costs of transportation which domestically produced goods would not have to bother with to the same degree. The "weak dollar" can work to our advantage domestically as well if only we, as a manufacturing nation have the stones to take advantage of it.

I see the brainwashing amongst our elite group here as well. We demand lower costs and the latest generation of adults have no concept of "quality". That is unfortunate.

[Hetmann]

I also actively seek goods from the USA and other first world economies. I end up buying a lot of vintage stuff and refurbing it. It would never work if I had little kids to buy for or if we wanted all the latest gadgets. Seems like all we really manufacture here is military hardware. I am hoping the US companies can figure out a way to bring some of the manufacturing back.

[lendaddy]

Transportation costs are not nearly the factor you might think (on volume products). Delivery delays, customs issues and "stuffed pipeline" quality problems are much more serious.

[ckissick]

I just outfitted my whole home office with two desks, three bookshelves with glass doors, two filing cabinets, a big dresser, and other odds and ends for under $1000.

I got everything at Ikea. Ikea stuff requires assembly, and it all fit together perfectly and is very sturdy. You won't see my office in Architectural Digest, but it looks nice enough.

The thing that amazed me was that everything I bought was very cheap, and made is Sweden. And good quality. I don't know how they do it, cost-wise, without cheap Chinese slave labor.

[75'930cab]

[QUOTE=Porsche-O-Phile;3676625

A couple of weeks ago I passed on a Ryobi sander and bought a Makita one, even though the Ryobi one had better features for the dollar. Reason? The Ryobi one was made in China. Yes, I actually put it back on the shelf and paid more for the Makita one with supposedly "inferior" features, because it is built in Georgia, here in the U.S.A. It's been working fine. No problems (knock wood). I'm sure there's some guy in Georgia happy with my decision. And I feel good knowing my dollars are helping that guy in Georgia to support his family, rather than going over to China helping to reward their slave-labor society and fund their government building bombs and guns to possibly one day be pointed at us.

[/QUOTE]


You do know that Makita is a Japanese company? I do agree Makita is a 1000 times better product then Ryobi!

[sammyg2]

Originally Posted by Groesbeck Hurricane

Until Americans stop expecting to make six figures and buy $1.00 t-shirts we will continue down the current path.

One dollar, where? I'm paying $2.50 for mine, I knew there must be someplace to get them cheaper. Don't hold out now, share your secret.....

[motion]

Originally Posted by nostatic

no, I think he's saying that you're joking about them prefiously having a lifetime guarantee on everything. I never heard of that...Craftsman tools, but not on electronics.

Actually, I am rather incredulous that someone would take something back to Costco after 3 years of use, broken, and exchange it "for free" for the latest and greatest. Its this kind of abuse that forced Costco to change its policy. IMHO, if you use something for that long, and it only costs a few hundred bucks to begin with, you should toss it and be thankful for the value it brought you. Instead, some people feel Costco's other customers owe them the newest model, for free. For some reason, I just can't get my arms around that kind of mentality.