Same Product, Possible Different Country of Manufacture Inferiority?

anthony t on 30/10/2022 - 13:04
Last edited 30/10/2022 - 14:23 by 1 other user

I bought a new Breville toaster after finding the one with the best reviews (from a few sites, almost all Australian) that met my needs. I was very surprised by the diversity of reviews. About 70% were 4 or 5 star, the rest were mostly 1 or 2 star, and pretty scathing. My niece loved hers, so I bought it.

I'm wondering if the poor reviews resulted from some toasters coming from a different country to mine, as I love it too and haven't had the problems others report too often to be ignored.

I am not singling our Breville, toasters or particular countries as I don't even know if my conjecture is true or possible.
Also, could this quality problem be a result of some sellers (mostly on-line, but reputable names, and not just 'chancers') 'direct importing', and so buying from a 'level 2 or below' manufacturer/country?

Can any OzBargainers comment on this - as to whether it is true and proven, or maybe, for example, the old 'don't buy a car that was built on a Monday (Friday - whatever)' - that is, across the board Quality Assurance problems?

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  sjj89 on 30/10/2022 - 13:31

  +6

  There’s always a bias towards negative reviews of products online.
  It’s human nature to point out negatives

  • 

    GordonD on 30/10/2022 - 19:05

    There's always a bias towards those who have a grievance in all opt-in surveys. People who are unhappy about something that has happened to them or might happen and they don't want it to happen are motivated to take the trouble to express a view. People who are happy aren't motivated to take the trouble.

    Remember that whenever the media reports some survey or other. Like the ones we've in seen in recent years about things like how much sexual harassment and abuse, and bullying, there is in Parliament House or Rio Tinto or amongst uni students, or how unhappy teachers are. If its an opt-in poll - one that rather than getting a response either from everyone or from a representative sample, it leaves it to people to decide for themselves depending on whether they are motivated to or not - then extrapolates the responses they got to everyone they invited to respond, it inevitably massively overstates how big the problem is. The results of opt-in surveys are total crap.

    This is the case for consumer reviews. It is the case for letters to the editor in newspapers. It is the case for complaints to politicians. It is the case for demonstrations and protest marches. It is the case for Royal Commissions. They only tell you that some people believe they have a grievance. Sometimes that's important to know. But they don't give you any idea how big the problem is.

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  Mechz on 30/10/2022 - 13:36

  Doesn't make economic sense to set up 2 manufacturing facilities in separate countries for the exact same toaster. Are you sure they weren't just assembled in different places?

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  Muzeeb on 30/10/2022 - 13:55

  +1

  So many reviews are made by Muppets who have no idea.

  I recently replaced a dodgy 24v HVAC thermostat at home. It had mostly great reviews on the manufacturers website but there were also a lot of 1 star reviews. When you read the reviews you realised that there were complaints about a feature that doesn't exist on that model or they have the wrong settings in the setup.

  Eg. My heat comes on when I select cool.

  Take reviews with a very large grain of salt. There is a lot of blame shifting going on in negative reviews. They want to blame the manufacturer because they didn't do any research or have NFI.

  • 

    Gunnar on 30/10/2022 - 23:17

    So true on reviews about anything. It’s pretty to work out when the review is because of an issue with the product / service/ business or if the issue is the idiot who is writing it

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  wert120 on 30/10/2022 - 14:14

  Not entirely on topic, but what toaster did you go with? I’m looking for one preferably from Breville to replace my old Kmart $15 toaster.

  • 

    Islund on 30/10/2022 - 14:48

    +1

    I went for the Sunbeam New York. It was around 45% off at HN.

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  anthony t on 30/10/2022 - 15:01

  -1

  Mechz: You may be onto something. Good thought.
  As to 'mostly negative reviews', though I agree with you on all points, most of these were positive which made the negatives weirder.
  I went with the Breville model BTA830 - 'the smart toast' with the '4-slice long slot'. These extra notes are because I went to buy it for $20 less than DJ's at Amazon, and after a 15 minute chat, gave them up. Their detailed description didn't mention either of these, and all the dimensions and the weight were incorrectly specified. They said 'just buy it, and if it's wrong, we'll refund'. 'Not good enough' I replied. Too much packaging/shipping/repackaging and reshipping for me. I paid $199, but $179 may be possible (but watch out for the 'assembled in a different place' possibility). It's early days, but I'd give it 5 stars - if not for 'durability' (too soon) but for the usefulness of its features and evenness of toasting lots of different stuff.

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  BobD on 31/10/2022 - 08:26

  Over the years (very few) I had several of the Breville 2 slice smart toasters. The one with the powered toast lower and lift. I persisted too long with them because I liked them and they did specialist stuff, like fruit bread and crumpets, very well. After too short a time they seemed to lose cooking capability and the cook control was always maxed out and still did a spotty job.

  Fast forward and I now have another Breville toaster. This one is a 4 slice job but you have lower the bread yourself and obviously it pops up at the end of the cycle. This one works well. Having a 4 slice toaster is a bit of overkill as we never put 4 slices in it but the bread we use was a bit too big for a 2 slice toaster.

  TL, DR. I'll never buy one of their powered lift toasters again but the manual down one we currently have is OK.