Great 'disguised Own Brand' Hunt.

rikgear

I worked for a company that x-rayed food after a machine went ka-put to see if there were any bits of machinery in there instead of having to throw the whole lot. sainsbury's jumbo nuts came in on a KP lorry and we had a batch of home pride cook in sauces delivered with a batch of, i think, Netto's own brand. (could have been one of the other cheaper stores)

I also worked in a meat packing factory & half way through the day we changed the packing from an own brand budget mince to ASDA extra lean mince, when i asked how they get away with it the supervisor said "they will just say its all extra lean" Though there was plenty of fat going in the mincer as it was never trimmed from the meat.

3710jack

spinybif wrote: »

I have seen a Freezer in John Lewis which states it is made by a top German manufacturer. Haven't been able to spot the same model elsewhere, does anyone know who makes their freezers.

if you look at the back of the fridge/ freezer there is a black sphre(ish) shape called a compressor. this is the mechanical part of the fridge and will have a manufacturers name on. this is who makes the important bit

dustme

I use Boots Advanced Gas Permeable contact lens solutions. If you look at the formulation, they are identical to the top brand: Bausch and Lomb 'Boston', but are about 50p cheaper per bottle.

RSteve

enmasser wrote: »

My mum lives in Holland and works in one of the greenhouses and the flowers get bunched up and then ADSA, Morrison's, Tesco and M&S stickers put on them. I couldn't believe it...

But why were you surprised? Flowers are flowers - most flowers sold here are grown in the Netherlands. They cannot really differ in quality - they are simply grown using the same seeds/bulbs in the same country.

The difference may come in what happens to them when you get them to the UK - some supermarkets may allow them to sit on the shelf for longer for example. However it's easy - just look at the flowers before you buy them - you can tell how fresh they are and how much life they have left in them.

The problem with brands getting away with charging too much is that people put too much faith in brands. Often they simply buy the same brand they grew up with, saying it is the best when they haven't even ever tried another brand. I remember years ago Which? magazine did a blind test taste and Heinz beans consistently came last for taste, even with people who swore they only liked Heinz beans!

Look at the product and assess it yourself for quality. Sometimes you don't even have to taste it - for example I found some cheaper brands of tomato sauce contained a higher proportion of tomatoes in the ingredients list than big name brands, and sure enough they tasted much better. Just look at the ingredients list.

DCFC79

RSteve wrote: »

Look at the product and assess it yourself for quality. Sometimes you don't even have to taste it - for example I found some cheaper brands of tomato sauce contained a higher proportion of tomatoes in the ingredients list than big name brands, and sure enough they tasted much better. Just look at the ingredients list.

which brands of tomato sauce were they then,

pilgrim*uk

garyclay wrote: »

I recently had a repair man to my AEG dishwasher. "I've got the same model at home" he told me "But mine's Zannussi"

After a little confussion on my part he explained that there are very few individual manufacturers left. The badge is just a front. My AEG is exactly the same as his Zanussi but the external fascia is altered so that they look different so the consumer doesn't realise.

After a little research I found the following on the web

"Many appliances are no longer made by the companies shown on the logo. Successful brand name companies go bust or are taken over by bigger companies but they usually keep the "old" name for various tactical marketing reasons. In a way, it shouldn't matter who makes which brand, but a couple of concerns should be considered.

Firstly, if a customer is very unhappy with a product, or the service provided by a manufacturer, they are likely to avoid purchasing from that company again. They may well end up purchasing virtually the exact same machine with a different logo complete with the same company service engineers as well as the same company ethos.

Secondly, there are sometimes differences between brands made by the same company - even when the machines are virtually the same. An example of this is with Creda and Hotpoint, both of which are now made by the same company. Hotpoint machines have a free five year parts guarantee but Creda machines don't. There is little difference between the two makes inside, but they are priced differently too. A similar thing occurs with Hoover and Candy who are both owned by Candy. Hoover have a free 5-year parts guarantee, but Candy's don't.

Eventually, all washing machines are likely to be made by just a handful of companies and in fact we aren't that far off from this scenario already. Note that some brands retain all their original differences but are just owned by a rival company and some are virtually the same machine inside with different logos and trimmings. Here is a sample of some of the household names who are owned or made by the same company.

Electrolux: own well over 50 brand names (though not all of them washing machines) Among the more well known ones are AEG, Tricity Bendix, Zanussi.

GDA: manufacture Hotpoint, Creda, Cannon and GE, English Electric,

Candy: own Hoover, Zerowatt and Kelvinator among others.

Merloni: own Ariston, Indesit, New World, Philco, and have just bought a large interest in GDA (who make Hotpoint and Creda)."

So next time I'll be going for the cheap option!!!


If anybody out there is an appliance repair man, or married to one, do you know which models are the same under the different badges?

Hope you find this useful.

Useful way to save money for now but not in the long term i have sold these things for nigh on 25 years now and apart from misuse i can assure you you get what you pay for in most cases.

I know you may not like this but with electrical goods " Buy cheap buy twice" seems to work well

pilgrim*uk

lic wrote: »

I recently bought a GORENJE washing machine from an independent supplier. The prorietor informed me that GORENJE were in fact BOSCH.
The only diffence between the GORENJE machine and a BOSCH one, was the name on the front, as both were manufactured in a former eastern Block Country.

The salesman lied or was misinformed Gorenje are not bosch although they do make some product for them , and many others.

pilgrim*uk

Seimens and neff are also bosch owned .As are gagganau (who probably don't belong on this website)

pilgrim*uk

3710jack wrote: »

if you look at the back of the fridge/ freezer there is a black sphre(ish) shape called a compressor. this is the mechanical part of the fridge and will have a manufacturers name on. this is who makes the important bit

I can't answer that for you but i can quote from a local (to me) retailer and repair agent I dealt with earlier this year:-

The only korean refrigeration we will sell now is the Bosch and Siemens.

Fifer

kazza2 wrote: »

It is worth pointing out that 5 year guarantees (or any guarantee for that matter) are irrelevant because consumer law states that for all items purchased "It must be as described. It must be of satisfactory quality, sufficiently durable, free from any defects"

Also, your contract is with the person you purchased the item from, not the manufacturer.

This law stands for up to 6 years after purchase in England and Wales and 5 years in Scotland.

That's not quite right. The 6 years mentioned is from the date of purchase to make a claim under SOGA in England and Wales, and 5 years from discovery of defect in Scotland.