Duration of Appliances

More and more users are corroborating that today’s appliances last less than those that were manufactured before. No matter the type of appliance, its useful life decreases over the years. Behind this greater frequency of breakdowns and shortening of the useful life of appliances, many experts see intentionality on the part of companies, which is known as planned obsolescence.

This has been verified by the Organization of Consumers and Users (OCU) in a survey of more than 18,000 people, which highlights that in recent years there has been a significant increase in breakdowns and incidents three and four years after purchase. The survey includes the assessment of users in Spain, Belgium, Italy, and Portugal. The objective was to analyze the degree of satisfaction and reliability that buyers give to several brands of appliances.

According to this study, these devices would “break down more and earlier than expected”, because the premature aging of certain products, with the intention of being replaced by new ones, is one of the reasons that explained the spectacular increase in technological and electronic waste that has been registered in recent years in Spain

The Miele, Siemens, and Bosch brands hold the highest ratings of all appliances combined. Other companies also well-known and sold as LG, Balay, or Fagor move in the middle part of the classification, and some of them with very different scores depending on the device

In addition, the organization recalled that, due to the sales, in January it is common for consumers to choose to purchase a device of this type during these dates since they involve a significant outlay. In this sense, he recalled the usefulness of consulting the energy label of the devices before buying them in order to make a decision that helps save energy, now that the price of electricity is very high.