Okay to some this may be seen as a bit of a rant but in my view to improve my life in 2009, I would really like to be able to buy some household appliances that are not going to give up the ghost at the first sign of difficulty.....to date and please read today’s date 13/1/09 ....we have lost as in expired - not carelessly displaced, a most unfortunate number of electrical appliances that really help my world operate effectively....

Our LG dishwasher, laughingly known as Life's Good, was the first to go last Easter at the youthful age of three, 2008 while the other appliance bought on the very same day, a Sharpe microwave, took another seven months to give up the ghost in October 2008 and, as we all know misery loves company it decided to take my fridge with it, a little stainless steel Westinghouse Freestyle (known as the new fridge as it had only attained five years of age) on the very same afternoon. Nothing could be done to save them – the electrical technician tried to give all three of them the kiss of life but to no avail! There was a small chance that the dishwasher could have been saved however after waiting for literally 10 months-March to December- for the ordered parts to arrive from Korea we told our appliance technician to just turf it - the parts are probably still back in Korea awaiting shipment...why would you bother with this brand I ask you! And today - as in 11/12/09 the parts have still not arrived from Korea!!! Iask you?

Shortly after this my computer tower decided to give up its life for the greater good – well maybe for my hub page writing, but it seemed to take an awfully long time for the new one to arrive from Retravision but in the end truth and my Retravision friend Eddie won out, and I was able to get back on line to hub.

To really upset me the washing machine made an enormous decision to go to God on Christmas Eve. At this time I had 9 people staying in this little cottage and I had to be quite disciplined not to let my true feelings regarding this momentous “petite mort” all hang out.....after all I didn’t want to frighten anyone!

By now I had a pile of sheets and towels I could not jump over, so after a couple of days of the washing machine being set in the off position the electrical technician again called inand he pronounced that nothing could be done to save this machine nor even to prolong its life, in fact as far as he was concerned rigour mortis had set in. Well my husband being of a curious nature decided to turn it back on to just to see what would happen....and guess what it went and is still going – talk about temperamental - not that I am complaining as this was a definite win. Seems that somehow it had re-set itself and is now chugging along beautifully.

Then as a great start to 2009 on January 12^th the Wertheim Vacuum cleaner also five years young, managed to clean 90% of the house before groaning and gasping in its' extremis, in our sitting room. OK I say what is going on here? nothing else can go wrong - but wait for it, naturally I was again quite wrong – today my big old G.E.fridge and freezer decided to pack it in – thankfully it is the fusion type of breakdown- not the electrical nor the mechanical – so I can at last claim something from the insurance company (from whom I have never made a claim - despite paying them for aeons) so I aim to claim the food and what I can of the aging fridge freezer. But naturally what I cannot claim is all the time and effort I have taken in the past weeks getting ready for my son’s engagement party next month – all that effort for naught one might say....

I even got somewhat hysterical at one point and said that someone was pointing the bone at us for some reason, that there were curses flying around and landing indiscriminately on our doorstep – all rubbish of course, but on a more practical level and this is a big but: what if the local electrical company is suffering from “brown outs” and not advertising this fact so that they do not get sued by people like me needing new appliances – and I have heard that brown outs are far worse than electrical spikes. Now I am not in any shape or form erudite on the matter of provisioning electricity to householders, but if this is the case don’t these people have a duty of care? – shouldn’t a natural justice be warranted? However what one cannot prove one just cannot prove – enough said!

So with the death ratio of appliances standing at 6 to 1 in their expiration stakes by either brown out or old age, again I say to improve my life in 2009 I would like to be able to buy non- threatening electrical appliances that actually work and do not suffer premature deaths at our expense....

copyright: a.a.gallagher

an addendum to ratio in the "death ratio of appliances standing at 6 to one in their expiration stakes by either brown out or old age the Wertheim Vacuum has been resurrected by the clever husband - so the ratio now stands at 5 to 2.

further addendum to the above hub on appliances - in July 2007 for my birthday my husband ( and I) bought me a beautiful, red, Sunbeam Cafe Series mixmaster which turned out to be a dud as the button on the side was too stiff to press in so that the head could lifted up and my mixers inserted into it in order to make it do what it was designed to do (laugh!) after much frustration I eventually spoke with Sunbeam in Sydney who advised me to return the mixmaster to their contracted repairers in Canberra for a new one. I was thrilled with this bit of news. But what I got was in fact worse than the previous one. This meant that they exchanged the 2007 model for a 2008 model - which turned out to be yet another dud because once plugged in and switched on it caused took the whole house to black out!. Thinking that because our house was built in the 1830's maybe this electrical fault could have been something to do with our electrical system we took it into my sister's house which is quite modern and also three times the size of ours. Here it behaved in exactly the same way - also closed their house down electrically. Not a good look really. So I rang Sunbeam who told me that there was nothing they would or indeed could do as my warranty period for both mixmasters started in at th eoriginal purchase date in July 2007. What a crock this is - all my/our money expended in a worthless item - as indeed it is - because no matter how pretty this now made in China piece of machinery is - if i cannot use it then it is worthless to me! I literally had about ten uses out of it which makes the cakes I cooked using it most expensive; so on this basis think I will stick with Breville for my next purchase as I have usually bought from Breville and they seem to be able to last the distance i.e. I had a Breville food processor that has and still is working after approximately 38 years... Quite different in both quality and working processes.... Latest update to the Sunbeam saga - the technician now tells us that the this piece of machinery has two motors and that the motor that works the bowl is the problem child and that the malfunction was possibly caused by a fault in the manufacture. he also said that my Sunbeam was in prime condition - looked almost new - well no wonder I said never used because it wouldn't work! So now we are waiting on parts from China which should arrive mid November...for which we will pay again.......

further news on the parts front for my "as new Sunbeam " arriving from China by mid-November - no go still not here as at 11/12/09!!! again I ask you what is going on? where are the good old days when firms like Sunbeam stood by their products and replaced faulty machines with a smile on their faces - not so now - in my personal experience (2 machines) their quality of product seems to have fallen so far they probably cannot afford to have the old fashioned fair warranties of the past!