Poor Quality

[Jollygoodfellow]

I had noticed that a lot of things in the Philippines were of poor quality like pots, pans and furniture.Just some feed back please,does anyone purchase Chinese made goods such as phones, TV's etc ?Any experience with these?

[Mike S]

Good question Tom ..... a lot of the stuff I buy here has no country of origin .... a microwave I have has no co. name or where it came from ...... name of microwave doesn't come up on Google ...... actually the native furniture is well made and fairly cheap ..... but prone to termites ..... and with cushions on them are quite comfortable ....... pots and pans are another story all together ..... haven't really see a real good set here yet ...... and if I did I couldn't afford it ...... good quality knives are another issue ...... I have bought 2 electrical items that only lasted 2 weeks each ...... warranty ..... 7 days for exchange not refund ..... hey it lasted 14 days ...... both were emergency lights ...... paid a bit more for the last one and it lasted 2 weeks before going totally out ...... the cheaper one still works but only lasts 20 mins. ....... but hey it does light up when the power goes out ....... Hummmmmmmmm ..... do I sould like a Filipino yet .........

[Mr Lee]

We bought a microwave, a toaster oven, a refrigerator, a rice cooker, a hot plate, 2 A/C units, 2 water heaters, and I am sure some other stuff as well and almost a whole household full of odds and ends stuff and furniture and so far we have been lucky and they all worked OK during our last stay and before we left earlier this year, of course we did not cook 3 or more times a day everyday, so the items would not get the workout that someone who lives there full time like Mike would give it, but we did use most items a few times a week and some at least once everyday while we were there and I guess we were just lucky. Of course at least one of the A/C's was used almost all the time and we switched off between them so that neither would go bad from lack of use. I had one coffee table delivered and the termite dust was dropping out, so I sent it right back, but so far the other stuff seems to be OK, yet I am very worried about termites and hope we do not see any when we get back. :th_thholysheep: I found it interesting when the workmen put up our ceiling trim, that they coated it with a termite preventative liquid and one can only hope that they would do the same thing with decent furniture before finishing it. :(

[Travis]

There is a lot of Chinese junk sold in the US and much of it falls apart.

[tom_shor]

The Chinese don't discriminate. They'll sell junk to anyone. :th_thholysheep: (Made in China. The quality comes out before the name goes on.) We bought a Samsung A/C and a refrigerator so far the A/C still works good after 1 year. Had the ref 9 months it still works well. The bamboo furniture is sturdy and looks good but without cushins it will have your behind begging for mercy in a matter of minutes. :(

Edited December 15, 2008 by tom_shor

[TheMason]

I had noticed that a lot of things in the Philippines were of poor quality like pots, pans and furniture.Just some feed back please,does anyone purchase Chinese made goods such as phones, TV's etc ?Any experience with these?

I think it's hit and miss, regardless of the country of origin. We have Chinese made telephone, rice cooker, and toaster oven. They're all about 3 months old and no problems with any of themThe Chinese mattress we bought was a real piece of crap and was ready for the junk heap after 2 months. We've replaced it with an Ambassador brand (made in RP I think) and that is holding up ok so far.The Sony Wega TV we bought broke after 1 day of use. On the positive side, the warranty service was excellent.I think a more important factor than where the item is made is the length of warranty and quality of merchant you buy it from. For any big ticket items (major appliances/ele3ctronics, furniture) I'll always pay the extra money and buy it at SM. I could save by buying elsewhere, but SM has been great to deal with when we did have problems. The peace of mind is worth a higher purchase price to me.

[johnrxx99]

It all comes down to price. Does one really expect a 600peso fan to work more than a few weeks?After receiving advise and personal experience I just don't buy local electrical goods at whatever price and ditto cheap Chinese. However, as most upmarket goods are actually made in China I don't think it is the country of origin that matters but the specification and cost of the bits that make it up.So, if no country of origin - dont touch it. If a named brand - the price will determine quality where ever you live