Cheapism / Amazon
Sometimes, we can all marvel at the ingenuity of a product's design. More often, we can marvel the clunker ever went into production. We checked a Reddit thread that asked, "What product was so poorly designed that you suspect the team that made it never used the product?" and discovered everything from vacuums to airbags were enormous customer fails. We also learned that product testers aren't female often enough.
After a Redditor added "Software drivers for basically any HP printer made in the last three decades" to the list of garbage products, another added to this complaint.
"I work in IT and I hate how bloated those stupid drivers are. No, I don't want "HP Device Experience" or whatever the hell that is, and I don't want to have to download a 300MB bloated pile of steaming c*** when all I need is for Joe Q. Employee to send documents through to the printer on his desk."
One Redditor said their dishwasher chimes without reason, making for a frustrating intrusion into their day. "The chime I hear is a three tone “doot-doot-doot” in ascending pitch when the machine is not running. It happens if the door is both open (to let out heat or allow a few dishes to air dry) and closed. There doesn’t seem to be any noticeable frequency or pattern to it. I’ll just be watching TV or playing video games and hear dootdootdoot in the background maybe once or twice an hour."
Think Dyson is a maker of style over substance? This Redditor agrees. "They may be great if you live in a pristine, lovely house - but when it's an old house and you add 4 cats, a dog and 2 children it's a useless piece of c*** where the cleaning head needs to be de-clogged every 10 minutes. And you almost need to be an engineer to disassemble, clean, and reassemble it... I am positive that Dyson and whoever else was involved in creating this masterpiece has never actually had to clean a house. Sucking up pieces of styrofoam at the testing clinics is not a real world example." Other Redditors complained about frequent breakdowns and expensive repairs.
Apparently a trash can made by a trash bag company is trash, according to a Redditor. "It looks good, but the design of it is what you might expect if you told aliens what a trash can is and they designed one without ever seeing it. How it holds the bag basically causes you to lose 4 gallons of capacity and have to risk tearing the bag or spilling its contents every time you go to remove it. It also has a trash bag holder that is so narrow, you have to feed it trash bags one at a time, completely defeating the point. And if you try to compact the trash a bit, you're almost guaranteed to tear the 'tear resistant' bag." Proceed with all trashy trash can jokes. They're deserved.
These fans were well-loved as quiet, powerful air movers – until the company was bought in 2018. Then the 10-year warranty was slashed and the product wasn't exclusively made in the U.S. Not surprisingly, one Redditor wasn't happy with the new product. "Saw all the great reviews for Vornado. I ordered one from Amazon and it was loud as hell. Bearings were messed up right out the box. I received a replacement. It was quiet for about 4 days and then the bearings malfunctioned. It made the same terrible noise the first one did. I got a refund and bought a different brand. Not entirely happy with its replacement but it is a lot quieter than the malfunctioning Vornado."
Craftsman hoses are well-loved by gardeners — or were until they were redesigned. "I'm pretty unhappy with the newer Craftsman hoses I got," one Redditor complained. "The rubber is thinner so they kink easier." If you can, get old ones second-hand.
While many Redditors sing the brand's praises, not all of them do.
"I bought an OXO can opener and it’s cheap c*** just like all the others — except at a high price. It routinely loses its grip on the can and stops cutting," says one Redditor
This is a car that one Redditor said made changing the battery a bigger chore than you'd think. "To get to the battery, you have to either remove the air filter, which barely gives access to the battery, so the real way of doing it is to remove the tire." Uh, okay. "Auto designers are cracked," the Redditor added, after inserting a choice word we can't reprint here.
When one person tried to get a faulty washing machine fixed, it wasn't long after puchase. "Dear god, avoid anything GE," this Redditor warned. ""Just had my GE washer die at approximately 2 years and 2 months after purchasing it. :( They discontinued the machine shortly after making it. " The "fix" was a fail, too. "They offered to let me purchase a different GE at a "discount" (spoiler alert: the discounted price was still $150 more than the same model at Lowe's lol). They gave me 3 models as options. While they were calculating the "discount", I looked up the reviews on all 3 of the models; filled with complaints."
That clear cover is all the wrong kinds of sticky. While one Redditor says, "It clings to everything except what you want it to," another chimes in, "It only clings on itself. At least in my experience." A third says, "Saran Wrap brand specifically [expletive]. I just smashed a plate because i got so frustrated."
You would think a kid-friendly meal you can zap in the microwave would be great. You would be wrong. "The water bubbles over every single time, leaving a goopy, starchy water mixture all over the microwave plate. Why not design the cup walls just slightly taller?"
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Well, this may come as a shock to men, but panties don't do the one job they've been given, according to women — and Jockey brand has gone noticeably downhill. "Really terrible quality and not worth the price anymore," one Redditor complained.
This fridge got a serious thumbs-down from one Redditor. "This KitchenAid is the worst piece of s*** I’ve ever owned. It was the top of the line fridge at my local Best Buy, and it’s been nothing but trouble. One year in and we’re constantly having GeekSquad out to fix it - until they flat out gave up. Freezer cutting off randomly, the water never works. It hasn’t made ice consistently in a year. The best the supervisor at Whirlpool could offer was 15% off a new one! Like I’d ever buy from these guys again." The Redditor even had a suggestion for another brand to buy. "As an engineer - I’m incredibly sad that the design team at KitchenAid sucks this bad. Outsourced Chinese components on a cheap frame & terrible design. 0/10 please avoid at all costs!!! Go LG instead!"
This sounds like a fire waiting to happen. One Redditor said her new iron smelled like burning plastic. "The Singer iron smelled like burning plastic even after running water through the tank and releasing it all as steam, leaving it on for a long time under the stove hood, etc." Might be time to get a new, new iron.
If you're in the market for a microwave, you might want to skip the one that a Redditor calls the worst. "I have the RCA brand of microwave and so far it has been giving me so much problems, like lighting up without any metal."
It turns out Costco isn't good for everything, according to one Redditor. "I recently got a big box of Kirkland brand from Costco and decided to try them, and I didn't have any issues with them on my bum, but I used a baby wipe to take some of my makeup off like I do sometimes, and it burned the heck out of my skin." Needless to say, it's not getting used on that person's baby.
While there's plenty to poke fun at (the faux Whoopee cushion you can digitally place under anyone's seat), the big complaint on Reddit is the enormous screen popping out of the dashboard. "The whole screen in the dashboard thing is baffling to me. Its illegal where I live to be using your phone when driving, like even glancing at it. How is the tablet dashboard not the same level of distraction. You cant use [the car] without looking at it. You know what you're not looking at? The road."
While Redditors had the same complaint about the Toyota Prius, on Redditor said, "The shift on a Nissan Pathfinder. Trying to get it into neutral is like a carnival game. Almost destroyed it trying to enter a car wash."
Not just any toys. As a Redditor put it, these creepy robotic monsters are loud and even worse, they're hard to turn off. "Those things turn themselves on at night and it is an absolute mission to get the batteries out of them. Cold sweat to be woken by ‘wakey wakey eggs and bakey’ and glowing eyes at 2:00am."
It shouldn't be a challenge to find a TV show to watch, but more than one Redditor says it is. "You can literally have 10,000 to 50,000 things to watch, but there is absolutely no way to do an in-depth search.
As another Redditor joked, "Because you watched: 'Step Brothers,' You May Also Like: 'Schindler's List,' 'The Crying Game,' 'A Walk to Remember.'"
Apparently it tastes like Robitussin or paint to more people than you know. "Whoever invented imitation grape flavor has obviously never eaten a grape or drank grape juice. It's just it's own flavor now and I only refer to it as purple." Another singled out a grape soda flavor for yuck factor (along with other things). "Whether it's Fanta soda, lollipops, skittles, Starburst, jelly beans, anything with artificial grape flavoring is so gross. It tastes like sugary mop water." Sounds about right.
Again, this one isn't designed for the ladies. As one Redditor pointed out, I risk decapitation every time I drive because my seatbelt sits against my neck." The problem is that seatbelts are usually fit for taller (on average) men and don't acommodate female anatomy.
The caveat here is "new" parking lots. "I am convinced their designers have never even seen a car, let alone driven one."
Another Redditor added that parking garages are just as bad. "Very tight lanes, tighter turns, awkward layouts, etc. All likely to fit into ever-increasingly weird infill lots or over-maximizing a space."