Great 'disguised Own Brand' Hunt.

before_hollywood

mavis_muriel wrote:

I use to work in Burton's Biscuits in Edinburgh. It was a real eye opener to brand labels. You used to get moved around to different production belts depending where help was needed.
One time I remember I was working on the rich tea line where biscuits were being wrapped in M&S packaging. When the order had been completed, the packaging was changed to the Happy Shopper brand which would more than likely cost half the price of M&S.
In fairness, if quality was not to standard, M&S would refuse the order. So there is no need to be snobbish about your biscuit any more

led by my stomach where biccys are concerned.
quick tip netto 34p choccy ones are delicious- not sure who makes 'em but they get the thumbs up from me

before_hollywood

zappomatic wrote:

Stuff like Matsui can be made by anyone and everyone, usually anonymous Asian or eastern European companies. A lot of cheap no-name TVs and DVD players are made by Turkish company Vestel, for example.

it's just that my matsui freeview box has the same case as a goodmans one, and a few others, but apparently different software?
mine is the dtr2 if anyone has any ideas?

pinkvixen

mavis_muriel wrote:

I use to work in Burton's Biscuits in Edinburgh. It was a real eye opener to brand labels. You used to get moved around to different production belts depending where help was needed.
One time I remember I was working on the rich tea line where biscuits were being wrapped in M&S packaging. When the order had been completed, the packaging was changed to the Happy Shopper brand which would more than likely cost half the price of M&S.
In fairness, if quality was not to standard, M&S would refuse the order. So there is no need to be snobbish about your biscuit any more

As I said in post #118, the biscuits are made on the same plant as other brands, the difference with M&S is the sell by and use by dates, so the freshness is a factor but the quality is exactly the same.

bagpuss

zappomatic wrote:

Easy to tell this, but John Lewis washing machines, dishwashers etc are AEG with a different badge and a lower price tag, plus better guaruntee.

In my time at Waitrose we would frequently receive cases of chilled juice branded for other shops, usually Marks & Spencer, Somerfield and Safeway. Also we'd sometimes get bottles of milk with Waitrose AND Tesco labels on them (ie. on the same bottle!).

Just looked on their website and there are no John Lewis branded washing machines????

Fortunecooky

Bit confused by gary's statement, if for AEG and Zanussi are made by the same people and are really the same machines, then how come different machines are rated differently by Which and other consumer surveys ? In their survey of washer driers for example, the Zanussi was better than the AEG. Was is a sort of pot luck with the machine they chose ? But Zanussi has consistently come out better than AEG in past surveys...

Thanks

confused of Kensington

Mikiec

In my days working as an EPOS repair man (fixing tills!), I found out a few things from the various shops I went to...

Matsui VCRs are made by Sony! Dixons employees will deny this if you ask them because they've been told they'll be fired if they admit it! Not sure about other Matsui products but other posts seem to point to a whole load of companies. (As an aside, the name 'Matsui' was chosen because it sounds Japanese and this apparently inspires confidence when it comes to electronics!)

If you buy flowers from a supermarket, depending on the season, they all come from the same farms. I used to fix the barcode printers at Varfell Farm in Cornwall and they would package the same flowers for every supermarket. They had blank stick on labels preprinted for Tesco, Waitrose, ASDA, Somerfield, etc. There's probably not much difference in price when it comes to flowers though.

The own brand paint from Do It All was definitely made by crown, as mentioned in a previous post. Not sure about the situation now that they're part of the Focus/Wicks group, though.

Lastly, if you see any Sky branded blank videos around, these are made by Memorex I believe, or was it Sony. Can't remember exactly who, but I do remember being amazed that the same videos can cost four times the amount with a different name printed on the front!

Sofa_Sogood

Funkylilac wrote:

Hi All! Excuse me if I don't quite do this right as it is my first post ever on any website!

So, next time you pay the extra for a John Roche, Jasper Conran or any of those Designers at Debenhams - Ask yourself... "Am I really getting what I think I'm buying?!"

:T

Thanks for that. It explains why a lot of designer label stuff on eBay stresses that it's NOT Debenhams. I often wondered why and now I know

If that makes sense

charlieheard

As well as cars being similar under the skin (Bentley Continental or VW Phaeton anyone?), there is a whole can of worms with replacement parts for cars. Once a car is out of warranty (and no MoneySavers buy new cars, do they?), you can save huge amounts by buying "pattern" instead of manufacturer's own.

You do have to be careful, as the parts may have been shoddily made to make them cheap, but then again many pattern parts are made by the people who made the originals.

As an extreme example, I needed 8 new sparkplugs for an old Ferrari (No, I'm not just name-dropping. It was cheap with 100,000 miles on the clock and I sold it for more than I paid for it. Just don't ask about running costs...)
Anyway, the spark plugs were over £30 each :eek: (Cheaper in packs of 4, but even so). I checked the originals, and they were regular Champion plugs, but with a Prancing Horse lovingly stamped onto each one. Bought the most expensive Champions at a tenth the cost.

allthatmularky

Yep - have to agree on the Ferrari - friend has a Fiat Panda and its simply a rebadged Ferrari 355, since Ferrari are owned by Fiat. However, I have noticed that the acceleration seems to be slightly slower on the Panda.

barginqueen

I can tell you that Brita make and supply Boots with the water filter cartridges which Boots sell as there own make.