This page is reserved for stuff I really hate!

Following is opinion, it may not be accurate, others may have a far different opinion. Two complaints during my 57 years of living, that's not much...

We had a really good coffee pot, it made great coffee; but it was getting older and didn't look shiny and new anymore. One morning I walked in and found this Kitchen Aid Pro 12. It has an advanced display that tells you how long it's been since the Coffee was brewed, the Wife loves this feature because I can no longer lie to Her about when I made it. If the telltale says it was made 1 1/2 hours ago; it gets dumped  when she makes her way into the kitchen.

Having a Coffee Pot  'RAT' on you is not the problem, having a coffee pot that has a defective valve on it is. Sharon took the first one back to the store for a replacement, but the second one is no better.

But this is not the real problem. 

This coffee pot works like it was designed to spill or drip coffee from both the basket and the coffee pot itself! The problem is the connection between the glass pot and the piece of plastic that forms the rim and handle.  As amazing as it seems, the rim is designed with small ribs that create a small air space between the glass pot and the rim. This routes the coffee between the rim and glass; down the outside of the pot as effectively as if the designers intended it to work that way. If they had a product test team, I hope they hunt them down and shoot them all. 

So here's my  thought..... if you hate your Father-in-law, buy one of these for your Mother-in-law for Christmas, she'll be telling him to wipe off the kitchen counter and be asking him to chase spills all over the house till they both get smart and throw the dammed thing away.

I'm left wondering..."who's coffee pot they have in the Boardroom of Kitchen Aid?".... I bet it isn't a Kitchen Aid Pro12.

Follow up (honest to goodness truth) 6/05

Sharon had filled out the warranty slip, and we received a notice that this unit is also a suspected fire hazard! Sharon filled out a simple form, cut the cord off the unit an mailed it to them in exchange for money to buy a new coffee pot! Sharon selected a Mr. Coffee, of course she found one with the timer feature that tells here how long ago it was brewed. I'm still reaching for the rag to wipe up anticipated spills, but there are none! Might take me a year to break the habit...

As for the product design team? Total losers, they probably all drank soda pop for breakfast.. 

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Here's the second item I've owned during my 57 years of living that I hate! The Epson Stylus Photo 820 Printer is truly the worst printer I have ever owned or used. Keep in mind my first printer was an ASR33!,  I would have placed a picture of the 820 here, but I had tolerated this piece of junk all too long, and it went directly into the trash this A.M.. This printer is so bad I am ashamed to have bought it. The Epson 820 was designed with one mission, and that is to use as much ink as possible, and to make it as unpleasant as possible for the user to configure the printer for a more economical print. An example is when you wish to print black only, the software warns you that you are messing with advanced settings, and you may be screwing up! Printing out a color picture leaves the paper so wet, you can't believe you just shot that much ink onto one piece of paper, you'll be looking for a clothes pin to hang up the print to dry, and you'll be recalling the high price you paid for the cartridge.... you will be in shock!

The girls that created the 820 software thought they were clever, you get warned if you put a so called compatible print cartridge in this printer, yes, they'll tell you that you may have troubles and I did.  Maybe you are in a hurry to printout a document and the cartridge runs out of ink? This printer knows you have broken the design team's rules, and you are going to be punished! You will get messages as to how one orders a proper ink cartridge, and they'll even take you there 'on line!". Pull the plug, reset your printer, and it still knows that you filled that cartridge, and you'll be stuck till you comply. Could you figure out what they did to detect this? I'm sure, but who has the time? Best to just toss it in the garbage and head for the nearest department store.

Being an average Male shopper, I figured the odds in my favor that no one could have made a printer as bad as the Epson 820, I would exclude Epson and grab a cheap printer with a name I recognized and I couldn't but help end up better off.

When I walked into Target Store, I quickly found the electronic section, I saw Lexmark, then HP printers, I thought about that old HP500 I once had, I printed about a ton of paper thru that ole thing with zero troubles. I saw an HP3745 for $49, that's less than the new cartridges for the piece of crap 820. I looked at the recommended print cartridges and noted they were far less than the Epson820's, I then looked at the cheater ink packages and saw claims that it worked in this HP cartridge.. could be, maybe not, but at least there is a claim, and I took the time to note it..

I grabbed the printer, the ink, and looked for the quickest way to check out.. I figured I could maneuver my way past the fat gal looking at undergarments and be there in about 90 seconds, it worked just that way, but I couldn't get the image of that 'isle wide' lady in those red panties out of my head all the way home. 

When home, I took the HP3745 out of the box, and found everything to be as logical and usable as other HP printers I've owned. I recovered some desk top space, as this printer has a far smaller foot print. I noted just how quiet the HP is. You will have to experience an 820 to believe the high frequency noises it can make, and it seems to go on for 30 seconds or more after printing. When I first got the 820, my wife came into the room wanting to know the source of that new annoying sound, and it happened all the time I had it.

I loaded the new cartridges into the HP, far easier and more logical than the 820. When I printed the first color picture, I was plenty pleased, and this was plain ole ink jet paper, I noted how dry it was, and I felt instantly relieved.

If there's an especially Bad person on your shopping list, see if you can find an Epson 820 Printer and make a gift of it to them. You'll be giving them a slice of Hell!

All the best,

George B.

OK, it's July 2008, I'm 60 now.. Yikes!

I have another product to complain about.

Here's the VECTOR battery charger, promises to charge at rates as high as 50 amps, and even has a 150 amp auto start feature.

They offer a five year warranty! WOW!

One day, I was charging on the 50 amp rate, the battery did not get charged, and the charger 'timed out'. I found the connections at the 10 gauge wire going to the battery clips was hot! Looking at the connection, I see they used a rivet through the wire connector end, and then thru the battery alligator clip.

As we all know, when you need something done, you don't have time to call in the warranty and find out if it's any good, you fix it yourself to get the job done.. rivets were drilled out, connectors were soldered, quality screw fastener used, and that was the end of the HOT connection.

Next problem was the little 12 volt cooling fan, this is a 'run all the time design', and the quality of the fan is not all that good (my opinion). As with all so many cooling fans of this type (same as computer power supplies) they either get dry and need a drop of oil, or they rapidly wear out, makes no difference what it needs, if it stops working your charger over heats and shuts down!

Now to tell you what I don't like.  In my mind, there are certain basic principles a decent engineer sticks too. One example, if you are offering a warranty, it's really a good idea to build the product to last that long or maybe even a little longer. If the product makes use of mechanical devices (like a fan), make it easy to get at these devices for service or replacement. A smart engineer who has any life experience will consider designing a cover you can quickly pull to access a part as problematic as a fan! For the engineer who runs up against a bean counter who wants to save a few cents per unit, the idea of one more part (access cover) may get the Axe, when this happens, he will then consider designing easy access into the case, and making it easy to get at the fan for replacement or oiling..

Getting into this case to service this FAN is going to cost you time you may not have. In my opinion, this case was likely designed by some Kids right out of school, there's several different sizes of screws (for no good reason), seasoned design teams learn the value of designing a case with one size screw as this makes money on the production line. I think this unit is a product of three or more design teams, there's the telescoping handle, the charging unit at the top of the case (Fairly compact) and this big clunky case made to look like the old heavy duty charger often seen in gas stations or repairs shops of years past. Figuring out (from the outside) just which screws you need to remove in order to get at that fan is going to cost you more in labor hours than the $175-$200 or so that some people paid for this unit. Once in, you might struggle to align the clam shell case, and get the thing put back together. If you actually own this unit, beware that some screws are black, and may have stayed in their holes, if you forget, and put a brightly plated screw on top, the point will 'wedge in' the first screw, and you'll make yourself more work to remove both of them and start over. These are Long screw holes, and you'll need a long shank phillips to get to them, use a flash light and prove the screw is out of the hole, or count holes and screws.

10 gauge wire to the battery clips? I guess I'll leave that to you to decide if they 'cut corners' here..

Bottom line, to bury a problematic fan so deep in a product like this, and to make some really poor connections in such a (KNOWN) problem area sure doesn't help to add value to the product. If I were the CEO of this company, I'd make every person on this design team replace a couple of FANS in this unit so they can be thinking about how they'll do it differently next time. Yes I know, it's a disposable 'throw away' world, but I don't think this was a 'throw away' price.

Practical experience is something that upper management often discounts, and I sometimes think Wall Street doesn't know the difference between a seasoned Rocket Scientist, and a kid out of school with a 4 year degree, sure they know the difference in their wages, but since they themselves are usually inept when it comes to electrical or mechanical ability, they discount the value of knowledge and experience in this area, just how hard could it be??

Reminds me of how Mechanical Engineers are perceived by society today..  "just another greasy mechanic".  

End of my rant ....

George B.