Product Quality deterioration...

[Phil McCracken]

So about 3 weeks ago, our kitchen faucet pull down wand (12 year old MOEN) developed a leak, so we decided to replace it.

Bought a MOEN "Alder" pull down, and replaced it. Not a day later, the faucet became loose at the top of the sink. So I crawled under, and tightened it. I noticed that the main nut was already starting to round up? I used the included plastic wrench that comes with it.

So another day goes by, and guess what...loose again. Took it out and returned it where I bought it (Home Hardware). No problems, got another one.

Reinstalled the new one...and guess what? Loosened up again a day later!

I took a look at the main nut and it is a cheap light pot metal type material. I kept the old pieces from the old one. The nut from the old one is made out of brass. So I put that one in as the size/thread pattern was the same.

No issues since.

Disappointing how some major brands are now cheaping out on materials they use...

[waldedw]

That goes for most everything you buy these day's the quality is down and the price is up,

[elkhunter11]

Unfortunately, this is what happens when many consumers are willing to accept lower quality, to keep prices lower. If a manufacturer charges more, because the quality is better, they will lose sales. It's unfortunate for those of us willing to pay for quality, but it's the way things are headed.

[Armorman]

Hahaha. You should see how poorly the million dollar combines are built today! But don't fret because at $200/hr plus service call fees you'll be back up and running as fast as you can say "A few thou$and dollar$".

[antlercarver]

Quality of products has definitely gone down in the last while. Years back I could easily buy a good looking mirror, but now just can`t find one.

[no-regard]

Agreed, most things are borderline junk these days.
We replaced our fridge last week, when we bought the old one the sales guy told us we'd be lucky to get 10 years from it, and we got exactly that - a few months shy of 10 years.

Same sales guy this year, now he says expect it to work anywhere from 3-7 years.

[W921]

What really gets me is how all these faucets have the water line pinched down to a quarter inch. Why? Makes no sense.
You can buy commercial faucets that are not pinched off but they cost well past $1000 last time I priced them.
This must be some type of stupid law so they think we will use less water or something?

[Smoky buck]

Yup quality has gone to crap with lots of products. I too have replaced too many faucets in the last few years with the last one being only a week ago

Here is a fun one I learned the hard way yesterday. Did you there is a difference between PYREX and Pyrex?

The lower case version is a lower grade of glass that can blow up at high temperatures cooking and as I learned yesterday pour plastisol.

Woke me right up have a cup full of 360 C plastisol blow up well pouring a mold. Also a good reminder why I wear gloves and a long sleeve shirt working with this




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[WayneChristie]

Originally Posted by antlercarver

Quality of products has definitely gone down in the last while. Years back I could easily buy a good looking mirror, but now just can`t find one.

I used to have a great mirror, always had a handsome looking fellow in it. now all I can find is one with some scary looking old fart in it!

[W921]

Originally Posted by Smoky buck

Yup quality has gone to crap with lots of products. I too have replaced too many faucets in the last few years with the last one being only a week ago

Here is a fun one I learned the hard way yesterday. Did you there is a difference between PYREX and Pyrex?

The lower case version is a lower grade of glass that can blow up at high temperatures cooking and as I learned yesterday pour plastisol.

Woke me right up have a cup full of 360 C plastisol blow up well pouring a mold. Also a good reminder why I wear gloves and a long sleeve shirt working with this

[IMG]https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20240304/2604a0f3adaf9f0b2195e65339a2e8d4.jpg[/IM
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Wife got burned from China stoneware pot that broke while carrying it from stove. Handle fell off and everything exploded when hit the floor

[bezzola]

I gave ip on moen and delta i only put GROHN in my house now

[58thecat]

And that is why we accumulate spare parts over the years.

Ya never know when you got to go back to an item that sits on the shelf for quality spare replacement parts.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[creeky]

+- $53k USD and front diff explodes (just because).

Guy explains the supply chain debacle and workers enmasse sucking at their jobs/explains really well (2mins in) whats occurring with all manufacturers (ford/chev/toyota).


https://youtu.be/awUeWsm7hbg


A wack of this began when general public started to accept Preordering products before they had been thoroughly tested.


Creeky....


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[HyperMOA]

MOEN has a lifetime guarantee. I just received a brand new pull down style kitchen faucet that was 14 years old free a few months ago. They even pay shipping. I have also replaced cartridges, valves and aerators in the past for free in my current home.

Weiser also has a lifetime warranty and sent me a brand new door set as mine is obsolete. They also paid the shipping.

I have nothing bad to say about MOEN or Weiser.

I call in for parts and just ask what the warranty is each time.

[Grizzly Adams1]

No different than Boeing, the worst example, Venture capital and maximizing the bottom line, screw the guy that has to use it.

[Au revoir, Gopher]

Originally Posted by HyperMOA

MOEN has a lifetime guarantee. I just received a brand new pull down style kitchen faucet that was 14 years old free a few months ago. They even pay shipping. I have also replaced cartridges, valves and aerators in the past for free in my current home.

Weiser also has a lifetime warranty and sent me a brand new door set as mine is obsolete. They also paid the shipping.

I have nothing bad to say about MOEN or Weiser.

I call in for parts and just ask what the warranty is each time.

I also have replaced parts from both Moen and Weiser and really like their warranty. The one thing I have noticed is that the new Moen products are a lot more plastic where they used to be metal.

ARG

[ATF]

Originally Posted by Au revoir, Gopher

I also have replaced parts from both Moen and Weiser and really like their warranty. The one thing I have noticed is that the new Moen products are a lot more plastic where they used to be metal.

ARG

Thank California for that. I read plumbing fixtures had to go away from actual metal to plastic as part of their banning of possible cancer causing chemicals law.

But I too found Moens lifetime warranty to be awesome. 20 years in on some of their stuff and they still will replace it.

[trailraat]

Originally Posted by elkhunter11

Unfortunately, this is what happens when many consumers are willing to accept lower quality, to keep prices lower. If a manufacturer charges more, because the quality is better, they will lose sales. It's unfortunate for those of us willing to pay for quality, but it's the way things are headed.

Partly - but it is also difficult to find quality products in some categories now because there are so few manufacturers anymore. There isn't even really choice in something like appliances. 4 companies build most of the worlds appliances.

We have been deceived into thinking our purchasing power has been maintained - but with lower quality min/maxing we can actually afford less now.

[Sledhead71]

Our government should take a hard line approach on this subject. The disposable environment that has been accepted has created unbelievable waste and costs associated with replacing things before a typical end of cycle is reached.

Mandate end of life cycle and hold manufacturer's accountable to the consumers for reasonable terms. We would all benefit from some quality products returning to the consumer market.

[Grizzly Adams1]

Originally Posted by Sledhead71

Our government should take a hard line approach on this subject. The disposable environment that has been accepted has created unbelievable waste and costs associated with replacing things before a typical end of cycle is reached.

Mandate end of life cycle and hold manufacturer's accountable to the consumers for reasonable terms. We would all benefit from some quality products returning to the consumer market.

X2 and that goes for maintainability on vehicles as well. They've become essentially disposable.

[HVA7mm]

I think that it's simply that people have been conditioned to want and need more "stuff". Unfortunately quality "stuff" costs a lot to manufacture, hence has a higher price and people can't afford to buy very much quality "stuff", so they settle to consume more and more inferior products which they inevitably need to throw out and replace more often with more crappy "stuff". Don't even get me started on the over packaging and use of clam shell packaging for all of the cheap "stuff".

I don't know about others but as I've gotten older my desire for "stuff" has waned more and more every year. I'm only 54, but stuff that I thought that I wanted to do or buy five or six years ago isn't even on the radar anymore. On the rare occasion that I go shopping I often find myself taking something off of the shelf and thinking "this would be cool", only to give my head a shake and think "nope". I guess that I'm not a very good consumer anymore.

[lmtada]

Originally Posted by Sledhead71

Our government should take a hard line approach on this subject. The disposable environment that has been accepted has created unbelievable waste and costs associated with replacing things before a typical end of cycle is reached.

Mandate end of life cycle and hold manufacturer's accountable to the consumers for reasonable terms. We would all benefit from some quality products returning to the consumer market.

That is the current business model. Make it obsolete as fast as possible. Look at all the accounting programs, always have to upgrade. Original Accounting program would likely still work. Even the iPad I am typing this comment on. Becomes slower with updates.

[Dynamic]

In the EU they are trying to get “right to repair” laws in place to combat this utter wasteland of crap being produced. Will it help, I don’t know. But some responsibility also lies on general public to be informed and quit buying garbage quality products.

[32-40win]

I think between the Blackrock type investors, the cost analysis engineers that have to answer to the BOD's profitwise, the gov't regulations that force a builder or mfgr to build something that requires all the extra materials to build whatever it takes, to meet the gov't regs in order to be able to sell a product.
Look at the wiring and electrical componentry that is in a vehicle now to meet safety and emissions requirements that did not use to be there even 25 yrs ago, alone 50 yrs ago.
The investors tell the politicians they can create an industry, fund a study to support it, lobby the gov't with their biased studies, and voila, a new industry is born, and the gov't requires it to be included in whatever the mfgr is building. Mfgr's have to pass on the costs, and what adds on, has to be reduced a little here or there elsewhere, as a compensation to the price point. They do it in the cost analysis engineering dept as cutbacks, in the products used to see what they can get away with where they can. Many cases where the assembly mfgr isn't really where the blame shud be entirely put, they are stuck in the middle. It's not all about the product either, it's also about what it takes to invest in the plant that builds it, safety regs, emissons and disposal and processing regs within the plants themselves. Bureaucracies like the EPA, Worker's Comp, NIMBY"s, lawsuits, warranties,etc.
We don't want to give up a lot of it, don't want to pay for it either, but, we do.

[glen moa]

Originally Posted by HVA7mm

I think that it's simply that people have been conditioned to want and need more "stuff". Unfortunately quality "stuff" costs a lot to manufacture, hence has a higher price and people can't afford to buy very much quality "stuff", so they settle to consume more and more inferior products which they inevitably need to throw out and replace more often with more crappy "stuff". Don't even get me started on the over packaging and use of clam shell packaging for all of the cheap "stuff".

I don't know about others but as I've gotten older my desire for "stuff" has waned more and more every year. I'm only 54, but stuff that I thought that I wanted to do or buy five or six years ago isn't even on the radar anymore. On the rare occasion that I go shopping I often find myself taking something off of the shelf and thinking "this would be cool", only to give my head a shake and think "nope". I guess that I'm not a very good consumer anymore.

I’m with you on that.

[Sundancefisher]

Vehicles are getting more plasticized

Major appliances are built to last two years whereas my parents old Maytag washer and dryer lasted 40 years.

Spinning reels are mostly plastics now

It’s never ending.

It’s a disposal economy now. Consumers are not demanding quality and any quality companies were bought up and getting diluted.

Sage once had a great warranty. Now they have move distinctly towards disposable making older rods after shipping less desirable to fix than just replace.

[32-40win]

Originally Posted by Sundancefisher

Vehicles are getting more plasticized

Major appliances are built to last two years whereas my parents old Maytag washer and dryer lasted 40 years.

Spinning reels are mostly plastics now

It’s never ending.

It’s a disposal economy now. Consumers are not demanding quality and any quality companies were bought up and getting diluted.

Sage once had a great warranty. Now they have move distinctly towards disposable making older rods after shipping less desirable to fix than just replace.

Plastics do enable styling that metals don't, and in a lot of cases are a better or at least adequate product for the purpose, and save weight in many areas. They do have to make up for the extra weight of the added wiring and emissions and safety components and bling options built into a vehicle now, and the effects on performance on higher performance cars.

I think the Samsung TV power board issues from 15 yrs ago illustrate the issues mfgrs face and make with choices, sure there are others just like it, trying to save 5.00 on the total, add 0.5% to the bottom line profits, and big bucks to an exec's bonuses.

[Grizzly Adams1]

Originally Posted by 32-40win

Plastics do enable styling that metals don't, and in a lot of cases are a better or at least adequate product for the purpose, and save weight in many areas. They do have to make up for the extra weight of the added wiring and emissions and safety components and bling options built into a vehicle now, and the effects on performance on higher performance cars.

I think the Samsung TV power board issues from 15 yrs ago illustrate the issues mfgrs face and make with choices, sure there are others just like it, trying to save 5.00 on the total, add 0.5% to the bottom line profits, and big bucks to an exec's bonuses.

Can't get around the fact that most plastics recycle poorly and take forever to degrade in the natural environment.

[Phil McCracken]

I realize that Moen and others have a pretty good lifetime warranty.

But I assume you would probably get the same crappy parts that wear down very quickly. Please correct me if I am wrong.

All I said was my old Moen faucet had a brass nut holding everything together, and lasted 10 years plus. New ones have cheap unknown metal ones...

[Bushrat]

My fridge is 44 years old. People ask me why I don't update because it doesn't look fashionable. I say I'm into antiques.