Function over form

! This post hasn't been updated in over a year. A lot can change in a year including my opinion and the amount of naughty words I use. There's a good chance that there's something in what's written below that someone will find objectionable. That's fine, if I tried to please everybody all of the time then I'd be a Lib Dem (remember them?) and I'm certainly not one of those. The point is, I'm not the kind of person to try and alter history in case I said something in the past that someone can use against me in the future but just remember that the person I was then isn't the person I am now nor the person I'll be in a year's time.

Quite often companies favour form over function – they design something to look good rather than work well.  A bit like Cat Deeley – looks great but then she opens her mouth and she sounds like Ozzie Osbourne.

Our tumble drier broke on Friday which is a bit inconvenient because, with two adults and four kids in the house, it takes the whole weekend to do the weeks washing.  So I nipped up to Curry’s yesterday and bought a new one.

I pushed the boat out and went for the second cheapest drier available (I don’t like spending money) which is made by a company I’ve never heard of called Beko and it’s great.  The door isn’t round like they usually are on tumble driers and washing machines, nor is it a tiny porthole through which you have to surgically extract anything larger than a sock.  The door takes up nearly half of the front of the machine and it’s a square hole (with rounded corners of course) so the clothes don’t get wedged at the bottom as you’re pulling them out.

All in all, it’s a very well designed tumble drier and at £149 it’s a bargain as well.

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12 comments

  1. Karl (40 comments) says:

    BEKO? Argh.

    Keep your receipt, for goodness sakes. They’ve not got a stunning rep..

    I do believe this is one of the parent companies…Arcelik. Oh, how I laughed..:)

  2. Jeff (4 comments) says:

    How disappointing that you’ve bought a Beko.

    Considering the general tone of your site, one would have assumed that you would actualy have half an interest in where your English/British money is spent.

    You could have bought a Hotpoint or Hoover which would have half a chance of actually having been made in the UK.

    Sadly you threw your sterling down the tubes.

    Hypocrite.

  3. wonkotsane (1133 comments) says:

    If there was a tumble drier in the shops that said it was made in England and was affordable then I’d have bought it.

    And just so you know, Hotpoint is owned by Indesit and Hoover UK is owned by Candy – both Italian companies. Muppet.

  4. Jeff (4 comments) says:

    In these days of globalisation it is less important who owns a company that it used to be. Sure the profits may be filtered off BUT part of the money you spend will go back into the UK economy via the wages and parts manufacture.

    As for “affordable”, well that’s a nice get out for any navel gazingblogger

  5. wonkotsane (1133 comments) says:

    “Affordable” is a useful get out for any blogger with a wife and four kids to support.

  6. jerry (78 comments) says:

    This is addressed to Jeff Does really everything that you buy have to be english only because you are patriotic?
    Im german but I dont buy a german car only because it may help the economy, I buy the product that fullfills my requirements and that I can afford no matter where it comes from.
    That doesn’t make me unpatriotic,it only means I watch my money and also use my money wisely.
    (current car is a Volvo)

  7. wonkotsane (1133 comments) says:

    Guten abend Jerry. I also buy what I can afford and whatever fits my needs. That said, I would pay an affordable premium if I knew it was made in England. I paid £149 for the tumble drier but if there was one the same that said it was made in England and cost, say, £10 extra I would have bought that one. The average wage here in Telford is pretty low and even though my salary is reasonable compared to similar jobs in Telford, it’s a few grand below the national average wage.

  8. Charlie Marks (365 comments) says:

    I bought a TV the other week. Bloke assured me it was made here.

    I’m not stupid though, I brought it back the next day.

    It said on the box, “built-in antenna”…

  9. axel (1214 comments) says:

    I think when it comes to it, if presented with 2 similair products, we will choose based on a bizarre tie breaker.

    For some of us it might be a ‘Made in England’ tag, for others it might one has a cooler name, anything really.

    If i am buying ‘cheap’ bacon, i tend to go for Ayrshire, which i think is non specific and oki and I would rather some of the money stayed here.

    However, If i am buying ‘good’ bacon, I always go for Wiltshire.

    When it comes to it, it all just dead pig.

    hopefully 😉

  10. wonkotsane (1133 comments) says:

    Those antennans, coming over her taking our jobs.

  11. wonkotsane (1133 comments) says:

    I noticed last night that our fridge is also made by Beko.

  12. axel (1214 comments) says:

    Was it always made by Beko? Or has your new drier converted it?

    Today, what is the brand of your cooker and washing machine?

    Tomorrow you might come down and they will be Beko too!

    Maybe it is a hardware virus? Maybe the embedded C on the control boards has been ripped?

    Maybe the wife will wake up one morning and instead of boring old Wonko it will be new improved Beko Winko!

    Ask her, does she think that would be an improvement?

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