Crap quality dimmer switches, door handles etc.

No doubt I'll get flak just for having bought such items from DIY sheds, bu t I'm getting seriously pissed-off with the low quality and short service l ife of certain goods. A couple of years back, I replaced various light swit ches and dimmers in my house, opting for B&Q's nickel/satin finish items. I also replaced various door handles, opting for Wickes nickel/satin somethi ng-or-others. One of the dimmers (2-way, dual) I fitted in the kitchen didn't work proper ly from day 1. The lights flickered on any dimmed setting (the wiring was s ecure- I checked). After a few months and coinciding with a bulb blowing, t he dim function for one of the two knobs quit working altogether (becoming, in effect, an on/off switch only). I took it back, got a replacement and f itted it. All fine for 6 months or so, then the same thing happens. Took it back, got a replacement again and fitted it. Well, this third one causes t he lights to flicker on dimmed settings, just like the original did, so I s uspect it's only a matter of time before it, too, fails. The power being dr awn is within the specified limit for the dimmer, so is this just an exampl e of crap components? On the handle front, the ones I bought from Wickes had a "10 year handle gu arantee". Actually, it might have been "Lifetime handle guarantee". Regardl ess, the kitchen door handle (most frequently used one in the house) failed after about a year. The spring busted. I took it back for a replacement, a t which point, the sales droid tried to fob me off: "Well, you see, the gua rantee applies to the handle, not the mechanism". I pointed out that the pa ckage describes the product as "Door handle", not as "Door handle, face pla tes and mechanism" and that any normal person would regard the guarantee as applying to the whole unit. After a bit of an argument, I got a replacemen t. Well, said replacement has now failed, in exactly the same way, a furthe r 6 months or so down the line. Is my kitchen cursed, or are there simply lots of shoddy products out there ? I suspect the latter because the examples I have given here are the tip o f the iceberg. I seem to spend my life taking things back to shops. It isn' t that I buy budget-priced items, either. Almost everything is just shit, i t seems. Do others have similar problems? Regards, Terry.

Reply to
terry.shitcrumbs
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What kind of lamps is it dimming?

When you say flicker - what kind of flicker? (i.e. regular strobe, random changes in brightness etc)

Yup

Having said that, even in a good handle the spring will fail in the end, and they can be replaced without replacing the who handle.

Many don't - hence they get away with it.

Not with those particular items.

Reply to
John Rumm

In article , snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com writes

+1.

I installed three external 120W PIR halogen floods for a neighbour, bought from B&Q. All failed shortly after the year's warranty expired. When I came to replace them (with a different make) I was shocked at their condition. The screws had already rusted so badly as to be undoable, and the black paint was flaking off the lamp body.

Yes. Made in China, built down to a price. To an extent, you get what you pay for.

Reply to
Mike Tomlinson

there are. To pick decent ones it seems there's no way around needing to know enough about the producet to assess it fully. Magazines like Which, buyers guides etc are, IMLE, useless

NT

Reply to
meow2222

Well its just that nobody tests anything any more. They take it at face value and the end user suffers. Look at the recent debacle over so called fire proof furnishings and beds. the source is traced through many hands and usually ends in China with some money saving droid there using less of the expensive fire retardant than is supposed to be there. Nobody tries testing them until there is an accident, then the whole stock has to be traced, people are wrapped over the knuckles and its all back to normal for while. I suspect the dimmers are using cheap triacs with poor protection, cos they are available and in spec for the most part until something shorts the output. The wobbly output is usually due to a leakage current in a component making the duty cycle change randomly in the control circuit A lot of these are inside ICs these days. Life was much easier when diacs and triacs were all separate components. Door handle springs I have no idea about, but I'd suggest cheap spring material is in use in the design which will fracture early in life, It usually occurs if their is a sharp bend. One you have not mentioned is those zig zag springs in the base of mode sofas and chairs these days. These seem far less reliable than they used to be. I had a sofa for 20 years and never had one break, yet, a DFS sofa had to have five replaced within 4 years, due to them basically fracturing at a bend. Crap material, and you cannot tell by looking at them of course! Brian

Reply to
Brian Gaff

I will say this though some batches of old fashioned filament lamps blow short and others do not. How you can tell which is which I do not know. It never used to happen when companies like Mazda and Osram, phillips etc, made them themselves, but as most are badge engi neered in eastern Europe now, who knows. Brian

Reply to
Brian Gaff

Got some stainless door handles from Screwfix three years ago. Brilliant. Feel nice and solid. Reasonable price. Made in Germany by a company that specialises in door handles.

Reply to
Peter Johnson

Crap foam in these sofas as well.

Soon begins to sag

Reply to
harryagain

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