Microwave Ovens

[mike]

Given the unpredictable quality of expensive brands, you could buy from Lidl / Aldi knowing you at least have a three-year guarantee. Just remember where you put the receipt.

[harry]

We have a "Sharp" microwave. We have had it for almost forty years, still working used twice a day.. Occasional all day use for when we freezer stuff from the garden. Only ever needed lamps.

[PeterC]

Snag: I bought electronic bathroom scales from Aldi for about £7 - 8 and they gave up after about 10 months. Got in touch re, guarantee and was told to send them back. Too much trouble and cost for the money, so got out the old Krupps spring balance and no longer have to suffer the ludicrous operation of the modern ones.

[stuart noble]

Yep, I have the Sharp Carousel II. Second hand when I bought it a couple of decades ago. Big bugger though.

[DerbyBorn]

hat they

The fan running on is a good feature - it cools everthing down and disperses condensation. A lot of people refer to rusting. Perhaps the Panasonic feature would have prevented it.

[harry]

Hey, that's completely wrong. They should deal wih the matter. Your contract is with Aldi.

[John Williamson]

He didn't say *where* Aldi said to send them back to. A lot of retail chains have a central office which deals with all such problems. Your contract is with Aldi, not with Aldi shop xxxx.

[polygonum]

In terms of function, I totally agree. If only they had done it quietly...

[Andy Dingley]

Get a _cheap_ one with a stainless steel inside and ideally a clockwork runback timer (a knob that you turn).

There's no discernible quality difference between them (other than stainless vs.paint) and at least "cheap" is something real and quantifiable.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

It's not the m'wave guts themselves that die, it's the bits that are added on - like the turntable motor, or casing rusting through the bottom, or the stupid design that lets spills short out something vital underneath (cracking design, Gromit).

Decent quality, good name ones have taken their place in the skip along with cheapy shit. Time/currency ratio total winner is still held by a Zanussi simple m'wave (not even a turntable in it) that's at least 20 years old and still works perfectly (apart from an unreliable door switch).

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

Eh? I just take any item back to the Aldidl store (or any branch) I bought it from, wave my rcpt under the till-keeper's nose and get a refund.

On the matter of keeping reciepts - I always store the flatpacked box with receipts inside, in the corner of the workshop. Even up to three years, no problem. I know the game they play; they know most will have lost the rcpt by then.

[PeterC]

ICBA for 8 quids - and I've gorn orff the 'tronic type anyway as they have good precision, dubious accuracy and poor repeatability.

[sweetheart]

Coming back to this, does anyone know who makes ( manufacturer) Asda microwaves? I am sure they do not have their own production plant!

I guess therefore that some big firm makes one of their own models and brands them for Asda ( like some firm I worked for made pies and cakes for Tesco , co-op, asda, morrisons and every other supermarket you can think of)

[Bob Eager]

Could even be different for each model. One manufacturer might be Wing Weng, and another might be Weng Wong. But probably Chinese. Just as with most of the big manufacturers you think of as 'British'.

[Huge]

Or even for the same model from month to month.

[sweetheart]

I am sure they are all made in China but so are many of the big names. Weng probably makes most of them I thought someone might know who " weng" was.. I dont think it was unreasonable to ask - after all Merloni make many different badges of washing machine and even Bosch is rebadged on some of them.

I know from working in a pie factory we made the same pies under our own brand name and the same pies were packaged for most of the supermarkets too. You would be surprised whose stuff you are buying.

[Bob Eager]

It still doesn't help. Chinese manufacturing is geared to making products down to whatever price the customer specifies. So, Weng might make superficially similar microwave ovens for a big manufacturer and also for Asda - but the build quality, longevity etc. could be different on each.

It's like asking 'who makes Bosch' - it depends on the particular range. The most expensive ones are made by Bosch. The others may not be.

So, knowing the manufacturer tells you nothing at all.

[whisky-dave]

It's 'cos the use teh IEC-705 formula for calculating, it seems.

You can always check the real power of your own oven.

[John Rumm]

Even then, you have to wonder which dribble'esque universe we are in where they can get more power out than they put in (by getting on for double in some cases it seems!)

(not to mention the inability to move a decimal point correctly when slating figures - i.e. they claim 1025W = 1.25kW!)