Have you tried an Aldi or Lidl ‘special buy’ appliance?

The same standards will continue to apply.

Malcolm r.
Will they?

Yes they will, Sandy. It will be essential to maintain existing standards and not remove or lower them if we are to be able to compete with European manufacturers and trade around the world. Many British Standards are superior to other international standards. I dispute that low price UK-manufactured goods are worse than low price imported goods. Are Nissan and Toyota cars inferior in quality to equivalent French or Italian ones?

In the context of appliances and household articles on spot sale in Aldi and Lidl stores, the picture emerging through this Conversation is mixed; there are some good quality items as well as some bad ones. Both stores have a good reputation for refunding or substituting in the case of recently-purchased defective products but many just wear out prematurely; other major retailers have similar policies but possibly less need to exercise them so evidence is not forthcoming.

Currently most British Standards are simply the implementation of international standards – usually Euro Norms. Hence they are numbered BS EN ######. This arose from the harmonisation of standards so we all work on the same basis. This allows us to trade – sell products and services – with other countries without having to assess products against individual countries standards with their own peculiarities, as used to be the case.

You have to be careful when you introduce “quality” into standards. Many standards lay down the minimum safety that products, for example, must achieve. Quality, in the standards sense, then means ensuring that those minimum standards continue to be maintained. This involves assessing producers systems, from design and development, production, to after sales to ensure that the production continues to produce products consistently that will meet the safety standards (and performance where that is a standards issue).

So, for the UK to sell to other countries will require us to adhere to existing and updated standards.

I agree with you David. Aldi and Lidl seem to be able to offer reasonable products at good prices which overall represents very good value for money. In this instance, being largely unbranded can be an advantage because it does not raise unrealistic expectations.

I agree that this would help establish the credibility of vendors offering what seem to be bargains. I am a bit of a believer in getting what you pay for – at least at the bottom end. If something is particularly cheap against its competitors then there may be a reason; cheap components, poor manufacture and materials, very basic features. Not all bad, and some may just want this. I’ve an electric chop saw that cost £20 bought for a particular job that did not demand great accuracy; I would not (could not) use it for decent joinery but it worked.

You can learn a lot (Which?) by simply taking a product to bits and looking at the construction and components – quality of motor, bearings, robustness, for example. It is not always necessary to do full testing to get a good idea as to how good or bad a product might be.

I had a look at the steam generator after having just bought a Philips replacement. The constant steam output was only 40 gm. Very low. I would be interested to know how it stands up to review.

As an alternative to a steam iron you could iron clothes etc. straight from the washing machine. I started doing this when I had extremely hard water and the steam iron had to be descaled regularly. I would never go back to using a steam iron.

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Sorry Duncan on appliances that is an incorrect assumption to make, they are not most often German at all. Not even slightly.

Spares and accessory support is something from abysmal to non-existent and I know, I get asked for parts for the stuff they’ve sold all the time. Virtually all of it has zero support.

Cheap, nasty, throwaway gear.

K.

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Computer equipment maybe, don’t know a thing about what Lidl or Aldi sell in that regard.

Appliances, I do.

K.

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I think Medion is a genuine manufacturer, not an Aldi “own brand”.

None of the Medion PCs that I’ve bought down the years came from Aldi – they came from a variety of other shops, including Sainsburys, Argos and Woolworths.

Its been a few years since I last bought a new Medion. When I did, I was always impressed to find they they came with a full set of optical disc recovery media, thus sparing me the long slow burning of backup media to DVD-ROM (or USB stick) that I’d have got with the likes of Acer, eMachines and HP.

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Duncan,

My Medion akoya E1210 Notebook PC carries a Medion address in Essen, Germany but is clearly marked “Made in China”. I believe that model is simply a re-badged MSI-Wind.

My Medion akoya E5211 Notebook PC also carries a Medion address in Essen, Germany but, again, is clearly marked “Made in China”. I have a mechanically identical laptop that was sold as a Fujitsu-Siemens.

Those machines date from 7 or more years ago – but even then it was pretty much the case that almost all PC components like motherboards were made in China and a very high percentage of assembled PCs and Laptops were also made there.

Currently, the very best laptop I own is a business-grade Lenovo X201 – it is also marked “Made in China”.

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Duncan, in your old HDD was the hard drive itself made by Medion – or by a major drive manufacturer?

In other news, during a visit to B&Q on Sunday , I was pleased to discover that the vast majority of wheelbarrows in their garden centre are made in the UK, by the Walsall Wheelbarrow Company.

I have a B&Q wheelbarrow and its very good, except the tyre keeps deflating. I can’t find any puncture, abrasion or other damage and have come to the conclusion that the tyrewall is not maintaining good contact all round the wheel rim so it lets the air out. It doesn’t take long to re-inflate the tyre and then it lasts for some time. Obviously, the amount of weight on the wheel will affect the deflation rate but I always stand the barrow upright on the frame when not in use with no pressure on the tyre.

As a wheelbarrow it is well-proportioned has the right balance, the right handle design, angle, length and spread, and a sturdy frame. The wheel runs well on its axle and when fully inflated copes well over rough ground as well as up and down low steps. It also corners well even if the load is a bit lop-sided. When tipping, the barrow goes up easily on its forward frame and enables you to turn it left and right for spreading the load.

Bets consumer analysis of wheelbarrows I have seen for a long time : )

It is one of those things where you sometimes suspect human height ought to be important in choosing the right one. I bought one with a solid tyre.

Reference special products, and I have no idea if this has bee planned for the UK or has happened but an Aldi special on kitchen sink tap is under special investigation in Oz for too much lead being added to water passing through it. Around 12,000 have beeen sold and presumably installed.

John – I suspect that your wheelbarrow tyre has a tube rather than being tubeless like a car. It’s easy to check by looking to see if the valve simply passes through a hole in the rim.

Thanks, Wavechange. That’s probably right. Perhaps the tyre inflation valve is defective and not shutting off fully in the closed position. I always give it a few more PSI than recommended when I re-inflate the tyre to allow for some leakage; maybe I have blown the valve.

I had similar problems, caused by rose thorns penetrating the casing and causing a leak in the inner tube. If you can get the inner tube out, inflate it in water to see where it leaks and use a cycle repair outfit. If you can’t extract it try a tyre sealant – worked with mine for quite a long time. Otherwise if it is a standard wheel, you can buy a complete one from Screwfix for about £14.