crappy, horrible, down-right deplorable products

[Brooklyn-Brewtality]

I just don't get it. How often do you buy something and it ends up being as crappily made as if you had just asked your toddler to make it? I am so damn sick of products that are just crap, pure and simple. the companies making it in asia know they are crap, the companies that import it and sell it here know it's crap. but they do it, and it SELLS! they make a bajillion dollars selling this horrible horrible crap.

here is what started this:
i needed some shelves for the home office i share with my wife. 4 for books, 1 to go above my kegerator for some glasses. simple enough. wife wants to get them off of container store. ok. i buy metro shelving from them, the deliver in NYC, not bad place. and really, how can you mess up a shelf? 1 piece wood, a few brackets, some screws and anchors. man, i wish i was right.

they come today. i start putting them up. measure it all out, mark out holes, drill pilot holes, start putting up anchors and brackets. i can tell by now that these are some flimsy brackets and anchors, but i forge ahead. i have all the anchors in, brackets up, screws in. pick up the first shelf, put it on the first set of brackets, and see the whole damn thing just tilt forward.

at a good 25 degree angle. THESE SHELVES CANNOT EVEN HOLD UP THEIR OWN WEIGHT?! THE PACKAGING SAYS 33 POUNDS PER SHELF. THEY DON'T SAY "NOTICE: SHELVES FOR DECORATION ONLY. THEY CANNOT HOLD ****, NOT EVEN THEMSELVES"



GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!
















i need a drink

 

[annasdadhockey]

You should get that drink..., just don't set it on any of those shelves.

Sorry, i coouldn't resist.

 

[CodeRage]

I had bought some 3 position panel switches and noticed the bases looked like metalized plastic, paper thin stuff.

I go to install them and tighten the thing to the panel face and the bases just shattered into little razor blades. There is no way these things would ever work.

 

[Ashz]

I feel your pain. Too many times I have had this type of thing happen. Unfortunately I blame us. The consumer. For not demanding better. Just look at Walmart. Wasn't this companies big draw originally MADE in USA? Now I am not claiming to think everything made here is high quality. We have manufacturers that are just as at fault as those in china. But why do we keep swallowing this stuff? We are now a throw away society. If it don't work buy another.

Remember when you used to take a TV to get fixed at a TV repair shop? Why is it cheaper to just buy a new one now? And where do they come from? Sure it's cheaper to manufacture them now but come on. It literally took me almost a year to decide on an LCD to buy simply because I want to do research on the best. By the time I decide there is better.

I have gone off topic but it is still true for many of the things we buy at Walmart, Target, bestbuy, you name it. Something as simple as a shelf can drive us bonkers. So I urge you to not just go buy another one but send it back with feedback. Then go buy another one.

Sorry for rambling.

 

[the_bird]

Crappy products suck, that's why I won't buy tools from Harbor Freight

Get yerself to any big-box home improvement store, good wall anchors aren't much more than a couple dollars; unless the brackets themselves were giving way, I'd wager that just using some heavy-duty drywall anchors will make the shelves work fine.

 

[ChshreCat]

SnapToggles FTW! I love those things!

 

[MikeFlynn74]

Walmart hasnt had made in America products in a decade. Hell most everyhting in there is designed to be boken in a year so you can come back to buy more.

 

[Ashz]

Walmart hasnt had made in America products in a decade. Hell most everyhting in there is designed to be boken in a year so you can come back to buy more.

My point exactly. It's harder and harder to find anything that doesn't have MADE in China on it. There is a reason for it. Big business see's the $'s to be saved with manufacturing done there. To hell with quality. Regardless the products really. Whether your talking Tv's, sneakers, or shelves. Throw it away and buy a new one, that's probably made in china. Sad really. We are the country of excess and waste at the moment, and other countries are cashing in on it. While we gnash our teeth and shake our fists at it, but in the end we continue doing what we do.

No offense meant at all to the OP by the way. Your post just struck a nerve with me. I am just as guilty as the rest of us. And I sit here shaking my fist futilely.

 

[conpewter]

I hate all that crap too. I hardly buy anything new anymore. I'd rather search garage sales etc. and find something made of real honest to goodness wood and strip/stain/paint whatever. I can at least know I have something strong and well made.

Even the couches I bought a few years ago are built of a few sticks of wood and cardboard! I had to tear them apart and repair them since the cardboard broke inside.

I love that my house was built in 1957, the sheathing is real wood boards (not OSB or plywood), the joists are real wood, the floors are hardwood. When I buy something I want it to last until I'm dead!

 

[dhacker]

What timing!

Just today I took back a phone I bought to replace what I had in my office. Went to Wally World of course. Bought what I thought was a decent AT&T model with large buttons, built in speaker phone and caller ID. Thing was pretty much screwed out of the box. Handset was intermittent, the thing would arbitrarily start redialing and would make funny noises with flashing light accompaniment in the middle of the night.

Care to guess where it was made?

 

[Brooklyn-Brewtality]

My point exactly. It's harder and harder to find anything that doesn't have MADE in China on it. There is a reason for it. Big business see's the $'s to be saved with manufacturing done there. To hell with quality. Regardless the products really. Whether your talking Tv's, sneakers, or shelves. Throw it away and buy a new one, that's probably made in china. Sad really. We are the country of excess and waste at the moment, and other countries are cashing in on it. While we gnash our teeth and shake our fists at it, but in the end we continue doing what we do.

No offense meant at all to the OP by the way. Your post just struck a nerve with me. I am just as guilty as the rest of us. And I sit here shaking my fist futilely.

I take no offense, you are making my point.
I went to the hardware store, got the crap to make these work. And tomorrow, I am getting on the phone with them and not getting off till I get some money back. They might get away with this crap, but not with my money

 

[bradjoiner]

this is the exact reason i stoped buying thngs new. i igure if someone else used it nd it is still ingood shape hent will work good enough for me. plus it is alot cheaper to buy stuff used

 

[Ksosh]

Two things:
1. Walmart forces suppliers to provide their products as such steep wholesale discounts (and large quantities) that many manufacturers specifically make crappier versions of their products for Walmart (i.e. Levi's jeans, hardware/lawnmower companies, etc). This not only causes a decrease in quality, but many US companies are virtually forced to outsource their production in order to keep the prices low enough for Walmart to buy. That said, I enjoy being able to buy popcorn chicken, band-aids, a package of underware, a hammer, and 5 gallons of water for under $10 total and all under the same roof.
2. What I hate more is good products that are discontinued or otherwise made unavailable. For instance, the Renolds Vacuum Food Saver is a great product IMO, but they stopped making it (and the associated vacuum bags) about a month ago. Now, the alternative is a hand-pump from ziplock or a $150 food saver. Thank god the ziplock bags work with the renolds vac! Same goes for McEwans Scotch Ale, stupid fing Heinasskin bought the brewery and now won't import it into the US anymore... fukin' A.

 

[pnj]

If people would stop buying crap, they would stop selling crap.

There is some truth to the saying, "you get what you pay for."