Consumer NZ unveils a plethora of poor-performing products

Our team of expert testers put hundreds of products through their paces every year.

“The products we are naming here are best avoided, even if they are being sold at a knock-down price,” said James le Page, Consumer test team leader.

Kitchen appliances

Our testers give products an overall score out of 100. Of the 54 fridges they’ve tested, only two scored 50 or less.

“We are singling out a Haier model as particularly bad. It scored a measly 50, and cost $1,309,” said le Page.

“In fact, the top-performing fridge was almost $100 cheaper.”

The test experts found the Haier fridge-freezer was poor at minimising temperature fluctuations.

Meanwhile, our annual reliability and satisfaction survey found that owners of Haier fridges are the least happy with their appliance.

The poorest-performing espresso machine fared even worse, receiving a score of just 38 for its coffee-making abilities.

“A Sunbeam Café Barista model received the dubious pleasure of lowest-scoring espresso machine. We found it made a terrible tasting brew.”

Cleaning appliances

The right gadget can lighten the load when it comes to household chores. Yet,our testers have named a washing machine, a heat-pump dryer and a carpet shampooer that all fall firmly into the do-not-buy category.

“A Westinghouse top-loader we tested was poor at dirt removal, which let’s face it, is problematic,” said le Page.

We found people who own Westinghouse appliances report more faults than average, which has led to Westinghouse washing machines receiving terrible reliability ratings.

And although we are a general fan of heat-pump dryers, a Beko model had the worst drying performance of the 21 machines tested.

“The Beko dryer had a very long dry cycle time, and our surveying revealed that owners of Beko dryers were not satisfied with their choice,” said le Page.

Finally, it’s the carpet washer. A good carpet washer will breathe new life into your carpet. However, a poor performer can make your carpet too wet, leaving it vulnerable to mould.

“The worst carpet washer we tested, a Sauber model, didn’t clean or remove stains well, and left the carpet damp for a long time too.

“Although it was easy to use, and one of the cheapest models we tested, it was a poor performer.”

You can find out more about these best-avoided products on our website.