My power devil electric lawn rake is in need of some repair after most
of its tines snapped during a run over my compacted lawn.

I have had a look online & the nearest i can get are a pack of 8 bosh
tines costing £5 plus £3 !!!! p&p

Now my power devil has 80 so this will cost about £60 for a few pieces
of springy metal.

TESCO sell the rake for £40.

Now there is nothing wrong with the rake other than its broken tines
but I cant beleive its cheaper for me to chuck it away & buy NEW :-(

No wonder all the landfill sites are full.

I cant beleive it costs £60 for a few pieces of springy metal but thus
far they are the only company i can find who sell them.

The man at B&Q just said chuck it away & buy a new one.

It seems crazy that I can buy a whole bBRAND NEW machine including the
tines much less than I can replace the tines :-(

"tina" wrote in message
...
Now there is nothing wrong with the rake...

There is - it only cost £40 new - that's the problem.

Tesco might have paid £25-30 or less for it. Then it's been shipped all the
way from china or somewhere. The manufacturer probably makes it for £20 of
which the parts cost £10... and you expect it to last?

How much would a professional charge to dethatch your lawn? Probably more
than the cost of your machine :-)

The problem is these days nobody wants to pay for decent machines that are
designed to last. When faced with one half the price they buy it without
thinking about why it's cheaper. This has forced many companies to stop
production and switch to importing the same crap as their competitors.

In some cases the difference between a cheap throw away and a professional
bit of kit is so great that its cheaper to buy several cheap ones and throw
them out if they break.

"CWatters" wrote in message
...
In some cases the difference between a cheap throw away and a
professional
bit of kit is so great that its cheaper to buy several cheap ones and
throw
them out if they break.

here is an example...

http://www.mowers-online.co.uk/itm01496.htm

John Deere D38R Scarifier £664.00

Even the optional grass collector costs more than your whole machine (£51)

You could buy SEVENTEEN of your machines for one of these.

take it back under warranty if its within 1 year old.
Most suppliers of this sort of kit are fine with warranty claims.
regards
Cineman


"tina" wrote in message
...
My power devil electric lawn rake is in need of some repair after most
of its tines snapped during a run over my compacted lawn.

I have had a look online & the nearest i can get are a pack of 8 bosh
tines costing £5 plus £3 !!!! p&p

Now my power devil has 80 so this will cost about £60 for a few pieces
of springy metal.

TESCO sell the rake for £40.

Now there is nothing wrong with the rake other than its broken tines
but I cant beleive its cheaper for me to chuck it away & buy NEW :-(

No wonder all the landfill sites are full.

I cant beleive it costs £60 for a few pieces of springy metal but thus
far they are the only company i can find who sell them.

The man at B&Q just said chuck it away & buy a new one.

It seems crazy that I can buy a whole bBRAND NEW machine including the
tines much less than I can replace the tines :-(

On Fri, 7 Sep 2007 20:03:02 +0100, "CWatters"
wrote:


The problem is these days nobody wants to pay for decent machines that are
designed to last. When faced with one half the price they buy it without
thinking about why it's cheaper.

No these little pieces of springy metal that are called tines. Cannot
be worth £60. Yes i do agree that I have bought a relatively cheap
one, BUT the company that are selling the replacement tines must be
making a bomb.

So much so that I am forced to chuck it away & buy a replacement.

I agree i bought the cheepest, because our lawn isnt worth spending a
load of money buying an expensive one although I guess that the
replacement parts for the expensive machines follow the same rip off
mark up.

My only gripe is that were forced down the chuck it away & buy new
route.

My local lawnmower repair shop have just quoted me £85 for its first
service!!!! That only includes them changing the oil & filters......I
did buy a decent mower, but there is no way I'm paying £85 for a
service. When my local shops are selling decent mowers for less money.

On Fri, 7 Sep 2007 20:30:10 +0100, "CWatters"
wrote:


http://www.mowers-online.co.uk/itm01496.htm

John Deere D38R Scarifier £664.00

Even the optional grass collector costs more than your whole machine (£51)

You could buy SEVENTEEN of your machines for one of these.

I must say that the power devil rake for £35 gets a great review. Last
year (first time I used it it did 5 lawns & got tonnes of moss &
thatch out.) so I must say its been great & i would recommend anyone
buying one.

This year to be honest I think we broke it due to abuse rather than
poor kit as my son may have strayed off the lawn onto the flagstones,
but I cant be sure.

My point is 80 little bits of springy metal (tines) cant be worth
anything £60?

To me it doesnt make sense that I can go to my local shop buy 20 lawn
rakes, take out the tines & chuck the machines away & double my money
on ebay re-selling the metal tines??

"tina" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 7 Sep 2007 20:03:02 +0100, "CWatters"
wrote:

My local lawnmower repair shop have just quoted me £85 for its first
service!!!! That only includes them changing the oil & filters......I
did buy a decent mower, but there is no way I'm paying £85 for a
service. When my local shops are selling decent mowers for less money.



As a matter of interest, does that include picking it up and returning it
after? If so, what sort of mileage are we talking about?

Mike


--
www.rneba.org.uk for the latest pictures of the very first reunion and
Inaugural General Meeting. Nothing less than a fantastic success.
The Royal Naval Electrical Branch Association.
'THE' Association if you served in the Electrical Branch of the Royal Navy
www.rneba.org.uk to find your ex-Greenie mess mates
www.iowtours.com for all ex-Service Reunions. More being added regularly
"Navy Days" Portsmouth 25th - 27th July 2008. RN Shipmates will have a Stand

On Fri, 7 Sep 2007 22:17:11 +0100, "'Mike'" wrote:


As a matter of interest, does that include picking it up and returning it
after? If so, what sort of mileage are we talking about?

Mike
No we have to drop it off & pick it back up.

On Fri, 7 Sep 2007 20:30:10 +0100, "CWatters"
wrote:


In some cases the difference between a cheap throw away and a
professional bit of kit is so great that its cheaper to buy several cheap ones and
throw them out if they break.

Colin, Just so you dont think bad of me. We bought a top of the range
eco friendly, low use leccy, low detergent, low water SMEG dishwasher.

Worked great for 12 months 9 days !! & broke. The repair man wants £50
before he'll get in his van & come & look at it. The part that we
think is broke is a tiny circuit board that tells the dishwasher to
empty. The man thinks that this is £150. Its about the size of a
credit card (he thinks)

I can buy an A rated whirlpool dishwasher from costco for £209. I feel
bad about the landfill sites filling up but why would I have it
repaired when I can get a brand new one for £9 more which includes a
12 month guarantee.

I'd gladly pay double for a new machine provided it could be repaired
cheaply & economically.

"tina" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 7 Sep 2007 20:03:02 +0100, "CWatters"
wrote:


The problem is these days nobody wants to pay for decent machines that
are
designed to last. When faced with one half the price they buy it without
thinking about why it's cheaper.

No these little pieces of springy metal that are called tines. Cannot
be worth £60.


To be honest most shops don't want to stock spares. Too many makes, models
and parts. Not enough demand. Problems with obsolete stock etc. They may
well need to charge that much to justify using the space on the shelf.

Worked great for 12 months 9 days !! & broke. The repair man wants £50
before he'll get in his van & come & look at it.


Unfortunately, obsolescence is built into most electrical goods nowadays. In
the past if a company made a product that lasted 5 or 10 years (or more)
they got a good reputation but no more sales to the same customer for
several years. While the cheaper goods that failed after twelve months had a
faster turn around, more sales, more profit for the manufacturers. Many
don't care if they get a bad name as they are effectively "sock puppet"
companies anyway. Many have the same factories and owners whatever brand
badge is stuck on the front. This is especially true of white goods.

A design engineer once told me that all the components within a machine are
designed to have the same lifetime, typically just longer than the length of
the warranty. One of the reasons for this was: If you expect the most
expensive or major component in a machine to last twelve months then why use
more expensive components for other parts of the machine that would have say
2 or 5 years lifetime? The lifetime of the machine is decided at the outset
and the components sourced to fit that lifetime. So typically when one thing
starts to go wrong, expect others to follow.

Not good for the environment or the customers pocket, but an unfortunate
consequence of a competitive industry.

David.

"tina" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 7 Sep 2007 22:17:11 +0100, "'Mike'" wrote:


As a matter of interest, does that include picking it up and returning it
after? If so, what sort of mileage are we talking about?

Mike
No we have to drop it off & pick it back up.


Somewhat excessive I would say :-(

Mike



--
www.rneba.org.uk for the latest pictures of the very first reunion and
Inaugural General Meeting. Nothing less than a fantastic success.
The Royal Naval Electrical Branch Association.
'THE' Association if you served in the Electrical Branch of the Royal Navy
www.rneba.org.uk to find your ex-Greenie mess mates
www.iowtours.com for all ex-Service Reunions. More being added regularly
"Navy Days" Portsmouth 25th - 27th July 2008. RN Shipmates will have a Stand

"CWatters" wrote in message
...

"tina" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 7 Sep 2007 20:30:10 +0100, "CWatters"
wrote:


In some cases the difference between a cheap throw away and a
professional bit of kit is so great that its cheaper to buy several
cheap ones and
throw them out if they break.

Colin, Just so you dont think bad of me.

Sorry if I gave you that impresion. I buy cheap stuff as well.

I try to buy good things at cheap prices. Thats my pommy heritage coming
through.

rob

"tina" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 7 Sep 2007 20:30:10 +0100, "CWatters"
wrote:


In some cases the difference between a cheap throw away and a
professional bit of kit is so great that its cheaper to buy several
cheap ones and
throw them out if they break.

Colin, Just so you dont think bad of me.

Sorry if I gave you that impresion. I buy cheap stuff as well.

"Martin" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 8 Sep 2007 11:54:05 +0200, "David \(Normandy\)"
wrote:

Worked great for 12 months 9 days !! & broke. The repair man wants £50
before he'll get in his van & come & look at it.


Unfortunately, obsolescence is built into most electrical goods nowadays.
In
the past if a company made a product that lasted 5 or 10 years (or more)
they got a good reputation but no more sales to the same customer for
several years.

German electrical goods almost last most forever.
Anything from Bosch, Miele or AEG has a life of decades.

We've allways had reasonably good life out of Bosh appliances.