Can an appliance be cheap as chips and reliable?

24 May 2016

Can an appliance be cheap as chips and reliable?

How much do you need to spend to get a reliable dishwasher? $1000, $2000, even more? It might not be as much as you think, according to the latest appliance reliability survey from Consumer NZ.

The most reliable dishwasher brands in our 2016 survey were Bosch and Miele: more than 90 percent of their dishwashers bought in the past five years did not need repair. But with average (median) prices of $1700 and $2000, you’d hope their products would be trouble-free for many years.

But two brands that don’t command a premium price also returned strong reliability results: Haier and Simpson. Their most expensive dishwashers cost less than $1000 – cheaper than the least expensive models from Miele and Bosch.

However, when it comes to owner satisfaction, the extra features and performance of the premium brands shines through. Miele topped the rankings of all dishwasher brands with 86 percent of owners “very satisfied”, while Bosch wasn’t far behind (83 percent). Only 67 percent of Simpson owners and 47 percent of Haier owners were “very satisfied”.

This year, Consumer surveyed 14 types of products, including small kitchen appliances such as toasters and blenders, whiteware, heaters and lawnmowers. We received responses from 8714 members about more than 31,000 products. Members can access the full results atconsumer.org.nz.

ends

© Scoop Media