Beldray products - opinions?

Rosa_Damascena

I bought a Beldray electrical item some time ago and it never actually functioned properly. I've offered to send it back to the engineers for R&D purposes (not to fix it)  and there is no interest. I've started this thread as I find this really odd - I know Beldray does not compete for the same customers, but I had visions of James Dyson sweating over thousands of iterations of his products to get them to perfection and this couldn't be more different. Has anyone experienced similar, or different with Beldray?

Do even that those brands at the basic end of a market not care when their products are not fit for purpose? I just cannot imagine having the same interaction with Tesco / Sainsburys / Asda on their equivalents etc. What I do know is that this was my first and last Beldray purchase, but I've bought countless items of homeware from supermarkets and they have all worked well and been durable.

Carrot007

You mean one of their vac's while on cheap at ASDA by any chance?

Did that as my last one packed in.

Yes is was utterly useless. The old non working one worked better. I just took it to the tip. (not worth the effort even to sell on!).

Bought a hoover stick in the next ASDA cheepie deal and has been great so far. Was £60 (usual around £100). THis was better than an dyson I previously had, so cost it not everything.

Though I suspect other beldray ones maybe better like you I shall never find out due to them selling something that was just a POS.

coffeehound

Is this one of those companies that was previously a trusted household name, but is now just another front for the usual cheapo crip-crap?

Rosa_Damascena

coffeehound said:

Is this one of those companies that was previously a trusted household name, but is now just another front for the usual cheapo crip-crap?

I don't know. I am starting to think that Beldray has no R&D interest, it just packages up stuff it orders from China but am trying to keep an open mind on this one. If I'd created a product that didn't do what it was supposed to I would be keen to get my hands on it to see where the design went wrong and this is what is confusing me.

It wasn't a vacuum cleaner FTR - had that experience with a Black & Decker stick which was dreadful and went straight back to Dyson. Yet B&D were a household name when I was growing up.

coffeehound

Rosa_Damascena said:

coffeehound said:

Is this one of those companies that was previously a trusted household name, but is now just another front for the usual cheapo crip-crap?

I don't know. I am starting to think that Beldray has no R&D interest, it just packages up stuff it orders from China ...

Bet you are right.  I had a similar issue with Betterware in 2014 after a product broke.  They used to sell really good quality UK-made fare, but are now just resellers of gimcrack tat and weren't interested in anything other than removing a bad product review.

mattyprice4004

You'll find this with most brands these days - it's just pile it high and sell it cheap. 
There's a % margin for failures built in, as long as the rate isn't ridiculously high they won't care.

They likely have no R&D staff here in the UK, and it'll cost them an arm and a leg to ship the product somewhere people know what they're looking at, when in fact they probably already know the product is crap and won't ever work properly. 

Rosa_Damascena

mattyprice4004 said:

You'll find this with most brands these days - it's just pile it high and sell it cheap. 
There's a % margin for failures built in, as long as the rate isn't ridiculously high they won't care.

They likely have no R&D staff here in the UK, and it'll cost them an arm and a leg to ship the product somewhere people know what they're looking at, when in fact they probably already know the product is crap and won't ever work properly. 

Is it legal to sell something that is not fit for its intended purpose?

Ditzy_Mitzy

Rosa_Damascena said:

mattyprice4004 said:

You'll find this with most brands these days - it's just pile it high and sell it cheap. 
There's a % margin for failures built in, as long as the rate isn't ridiculously high they won't care.

They likely have no R&D staff here in the UK, and it'll cost them an arm and a leg to ship the product somewhere people know what they're looking at, when in fact they probably already know the product is crap and won't ever work properly. 

Is it legal to sell something that is not fit for its intended purpose?

SOGA states 'reasonably fit for purpose'.  It's not acceptable to sell a knife with no blade i.e. just a handle as a 'knife'; it is acceptable to sell a really rubbish quality knife that goes blunt after slicing one carrot, if said knife is a complete outfit of handle and blade.  

Rosa_Damascena

Ditzy_Mitzy said:

Rosa_Damascena said:

mattyprice4004 said:

You'll find this with most brands these days - it's just pile it high and sell it cheap. 
There's a % margin for failures built in, as long as the rate isn't ridiculously high they won't care.

They likely have no R&D staff here in the UK, and it'll cost them an arm and a leg to ship the product somewhere people know what they're looking at, when in fact they probably already know the product is crap and won't ever work properly. 

Is it legal to sell something that is not fit for its intended purpose?

SOGA states 'reasonably fit for purpose'.  It's not acceptable to sell a knife with no blade i.e. just a handle as a 'knife'; it is acceptable to sell a really rubbish quality knife that goes blunt after slicing one carrot, if said knife is a complete outfit of handle and blade.  

It's not exactly a high burden on the manufacturer, is it? This item never actually worked properly. Used it once and was disappointed, tried again and was equally so.

greyteam1959

What's the great secrecy in not telling us what the item is ???