dpb

Are we paying more now for this privilege than say twenty years ago

gfriend bought me half reasonable priced plain black wallet xmas to replace one given by my step mother at least 25 years ago. Now i dont go thro a lot of cash nowadays but ffs this ones showing signs of giving up all ready

is it just the cost of globalisation .

All this whilst we pay much less proportionally for a pint of beer

RobsyUK

iTrader: (2)

Sadly people live the disposable way now and very few things are made to last. Sadly...

bigsinky

my toaster blew up on thursday last. guess how long i have had it. 14 feckin months. nothing lasts forever, not even my marriage

ScoobyWon't

Why did you marry a toaster?

DYK

I don't think things are built to last now a days,no pride taken in making things,a bit like newly built houses.

David Lock

Babies last longer but not much else......

dl

oldsplice

And bloody pensioners........

Chip

GlesgaKiss

Did you buy it off a bloke that began with, "Eye tell ya whut eye gunna do fur ya"?

JackClark

That's why I buy Apple, reassuringly expensive and great after sales service.

Buy Cheap, Buy Twice.

bigsinky

yep. it came with a free dag.

bigsinky

get back under your bridge, troll

Lydia72

I think the middle-ground has gone. You can either buy cheap rubbish or decent but expensive and there doesn't seem to be much in-between. I've really noticed it with clothes and blame it on Primark and Matalan etc. because it seems as though the other retailers have had to bring their prices down to compete but then the quality has dived too.

David Lock

I've only bought one Apple product and when battery needed replacing I had to break the bloody thing open to replace it. I bust it - perhaps I should have used Apple's great after sales service and paid them £50 to put a new £6 battery in

Reassuringly stupid design. Never again.

dl

JackClark

Sausage Fingers.

dpb

about 1 in 200 David would look upon the 50 quid as extraordinary good value lol

and thus apple are allowed to continue

boxst

It is a struggle with price against quality.

I bought a desk from IKEA 12 years ago and it is extremely sturdy (Still using it now) solid pine. A great desk.

You go there today and it is generally rubbish in comparision.

lordharding

iTrader: (1)

Everything is getting cheaper now
I've been in the furniture trade 30 years and we can still have a sofa for £399
In 1990 I used to retail a pine wardrobe cost £68 retail £149 17 years ago I could retail a wardrobe chest and bedside cost £62 still at £149

My first washing machine in 1985 was £399 got one last year for £180

What ever. There is out there some firm in china will do a copy for less
Quality doesn't matter as we are led my the consumer who want as much as he can for less

So he can spend more on gas & electric & petrol

dpb

haha what's a reasonable priced leather 3 piece btw.
And how much to ship to bulawayo lol


We couldn't find one under a grand in SA when we were there couple weeks ago

dpb

Your not wrong, nowadays it takes forever to find something you like and is worth the money , I give up to be honest

albob

something to remember about prices ----

in 1960 a HOOVER vacuum cleaner cost a months wages !!!! (but it would last 30 Years).

in 1967 a colour TV cost £300 (but you could buy a plot of land for that price !!) - and today a colour TV is still, roughly, the same price - the plot of land is a 'bit' more....

ditchmyster

iTrader: (7)

The iron i learned to iron with when i were a lad was about 25yrs old and still working when my mother threw it out in favour of an all singing and dancing modern replacement.

In the 15yrs since that fatefull day she has had around half a dozen, and not cheapo ones either.

Things are built to last, for exactly 3 months after the warranty runs out.

Leslie

In the good old days you used to be able to buy things of good quality and not only that, if you did have a problem they were easily repairable.

Les

GlesgaKiss

Different mindset in those days, Les. My grandparents had good furniture and other things they'd looked after from the start of their marriage right up to the late 90s/00s. These days, people expect to be able to buy and throw away endless things, but oddly, they play the victim when their finances aren't in order further down the line.

Lisawrx

iTrader: (1)

I don't think that is entirely fair. Yes, there are people like that, but there are alot of people out there that can't afford to spend a huge amount of money on furniture etc. they have to work within a budget, that doesn't mean they don't look after the stuff. Unfortunately alot of stuff (even more expensive) is poor quality these days, not made to last.

Turbohot

TBH, I wouldn't sell good quality stuff for pennies to cater for the budget buyers, as it would cost me enough to produce that long lasting stuff. If one buys for less, one needs to be prepared for it to be short-lived. Or, one can buy long lasting good quality things in sale. For example, £180 NEXT jacket for £60 in sale will last much longer than £20 similar design jacket from Primark, which one may grab for as little as £10 in their sale. But Primark one won't bleddy last for as long as the NEXT one, you see. These cheap stores are good for buying everchanging fashions, as once thing is out of fashion e.g. summer tops, dresses or sandals, it needs to be packed for Oxfam, anyway.

Duncan, where did your missus buy that wallet? Can't she take it back under consumer's rights, as it has only been 3 months, and the wallet is showing its true colours? I took all my 47 leylandii trees back to Woolworths 10 years ago, as the packaging said- "Guaranteed to grow". Bull ******* ****. They didn't take on in my garden. I remember my senior citizen neighbour smiling over my uprooting of those pathetic trees for taking them back to Woolies. but I didn't care. They were about 47 of them at £3.99, and I deserved my refund. No wonder Woolworth went bust.

Turbohot

Just to add, if your missus does decide to take that wallet back, make sure you take everything out of it before she does so. Otherwise, they'll refund her the tenner, and keep your old one with your 50 quid and your boat pass in it. Then they will be laughing. You don't want that.

paulr

We dont always want stuff to last. In 1982 i paid £500 for a top of the range VHS recorder, a fortune in those days, and on my wage. It still works, but technology has rendered it obsolete. Never again will i pay top dollar for technology.