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Lemon thread.

rfuller

So I thought this would be a great place to tell everyone about crappy products to avoid. Please share any products you think are total crap.



I would love to begin with the Linksys Wireless-G Cable Gateway. It's a Modem. Its a Router. Its a piece of crap. Also known as the WCG200. Here's a picture:



You can buy it at Best Buy or Circuit City. Avoid it like the plague...unless you need the exercise.

That's right. You too can get up out of your chair to walk across the house and manually reset your modem 2-15 times/day! For the low, low price of only $150!

I hate you linksys. You used to be so faithful. Now all you do is give me freakin' lemons.


 
Nov 12, 07 10:16 pm
SDR

I'd consider not buying a HP (that's Hewlett-Packard) all-in-one printer. The install is dodgy, the software is kinky and cranky, the support -- whether online or built--in -- is semi-useless to non-existent -- and the hardware is odd. The printer-scanner mechanism does the boogie-woogie, and frequently goes into a don't-bother-me-I'm-eating protocol that involves at least three motors and outrageous sound effects.

My previous one broke an under-engineered plastic hinge and became inoperative -- completely. I threw it away and bought this one. Why ?

Nov 12, 07 10:26 pm  · 
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dia

This thread is an insult to lemons.

Nov 12, 07 10:30 pm  · 
 · 
some person

whada? whoada? It's like we're the same person, SDR.

As I sit here staring at our second HP all-in-one printer, I would have made the exact same post. Really...why did we buy a second one?? Madness.

Nov 12, 07 10:36 pm  · 
 · 
rfuller

ha! I just bought a new hp all in one that has been crashing me and my wife's computers. While the crashing computers are indeed a huge pain in the ass, they are nothing compared to the Wireless-G piece of SHIT.

I'm gonna go take my blood pressure meds now.

Nov 12, 07 10:39 pm  · 
 · 
SDR

It's bizarre. They invite you to use the online help pages, and when you go there there's no THERE there (as G Stein said about Oakland, unkindly).

Nov 12, 07 10:54 pm  · 
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Living in Gin


1995 Saturn SL-1. I knew the body was made of plastic, which is nice, but it turned out the engine block is apparently also made of plastic, which isn't nice. Three months after I bought it, it was burning two quarts of oil per week. The engine finally seized up one night on the Kennedy Expressway, while I still owed $4000 on the car.

Turns out the dealer (Saturn of Chicago) had mountains of maintenance records indicating the car was a lemon since the day it came off the assembly line, but that didn't stop them from selling it to me. And as I soon discovered, the Illinois lemon law only applies to new cars.

Yeah, I'm still bitter.

Nov 12, 07 11:22 pm  · 
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myriam

Actually, rfuller, I could have made the same post about that retarded router! Between roommates, family, and I, I've probably used 5 or 6 different ones--and every single one CONSTANTLY needed resetting. UGH!

I now have DSL, and my wireless DSL router came directly from AT&T (it is white and has the logo "2wire" on it) is a DREAM. I have yet to have a single blip in service, a single need to reset it. I turned it on when I moved in 7 months ago, shoved it in a corner, and haven't even looked at it since. In fact I just had to get up and go over to it to see what I even had.

Boy, do I not miss the days of those godawful Linksys routers! (And what do they need antenna for still, anyway? None of the other wireless routers need antennas nowadays. Retarded.)

Nov 12, 07 11:55 pm  · 
 · 
BabbleBeautiful


Sadly, I have one. This is my second one. This second one needs a new motherboard.

Nov 13, 07 12:12 am  · 
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binary

yeah.. that router sucks balls.... just had to reset it before i posted....


rule of thumb....NEVER get and all in 1 printer thingy.......


my lemon is my damn server people that stores my company emails/etc....... emails sent out can range from 5 minutes to 3 hours to receive...wtf....... thats regular with no attachments...... i'm looking for a new server thing-a-ca-bob...

b

Nov 13, 07 12:19 am  · 
 · 

anything with more than two wheels that is made by Suzuki.

I had a '97 Sidekick once... it ate through an alternator, THREE fuel pumps, two fan belts, one fan, two transmissions, and a very thick metal bracket that the dealership did not consider to be a normally replaceable part.

"It's not a car, it's a Suzuki!"

Nov 13, 07 1:10 am  · 
 · 
manamana

some of the older linksys routers are actually pretty good. I had one (wrt54g) that could run a hacked firmware that opened up a bunch of usually very expensive features (it used the same chip as some of the midrange cisco gear)

That thing was awesome till it died.

my lemon: Dewalt sucks now. I bought a new 18v cordless drill at home depot, opened it up and the shaft was bent. took it back and exchanged, same thing. third one was better, but still a tad off, and I was just sick of driving to home depot.

Nov 13, 07 1:33 am  · 
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BabbleBeautiful

nice lemons btw

Nov 13, 07 1:35 am  · 
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WonderK

I'm knocking on wood as I write this but.....

....I have that exact same LinkSys Wireless router, and it works like a charm. It's the superfast kind, is that the kind you have? I don't know.....I've never really had problems with it at all. I take that back....I did have problems with it at first, when we had a PC on our network. Now we have two Macs, and no problems. Weird, right?

Nov 13, 07 3:04 am  · 
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b3tadine[sutures]

avoid this like the plague...

http://www.archinect.com/forum/threads.php?id=65054_0_42_0_C

and any other having to do with this product.

Nov 13, 07 5:07 am  · 
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psycho-mullet

[img]http://www.xtremenotebooks.com/images/nova906v/906v350x350.jpg
[/img]

So I needed a super badass desktop replacement notebook (i do 3d work). I was looking at Voodoo and BOXX. I then discovered that their machines were the same so I realized neither of them manf. it so I tracked down the manf. who happens to be a Chinese company named Clevo. I found a local retailer and was able to purchase it from them for $4000 vs. $6000 from the name brand companies who simply re-badge the computer and sell it as their own.

From day one it had problems and I had to send it back, they found nothing wrong so they formatted, reinstalled and sent it back to me and told me it was fine. It still had problems. I took it to an independent shop. They fixed it. A few months later I had new problems. They're very inconsistent so it never acts up when I take it to a tech so they can't diagnose it. Then the backlight on the screen died 1 day after the warranty expired and now it wont even start up.

I called the company I purchased it from http://www.xtremenotebooks.com/ and told them what happened. They asked me when I purchased it (just over a year ago) and their response was "Oh that's pretty normal, notebooks generally start to have problems after about a year."

Needless to say I will never buy anything made by Clevo ever again nor purchase from the above vendor.

Worst $4000 dollars I ever spent.

Nov 13, 07 5:50 am  · 
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le bossman

i thought this was going to be a thread about crappy threads to avoid.

Nov 13, 07 10:16 am  · 
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postal

'94 dodge intrepid... 3 siezed transmissions... (luckily i didn't own it! my parents did!)

Nov 13, 07 10:50 am  · 
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aquapura


My most recent expensive dissapointment, the Michelin Pilot Sport tire.

Replaced a virtual flawless set of Yokohama AVID and went with the "premium" Michelin tire since the Yoko's were on back order. Soft sidewalls giving me body roll on a low profile tire. They don't stay balanced. Ton of road noise. And all for more money! Can't wait to put on the snow tires.

Nov 13, 07 10:51 am  · 
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lletdownl

i too have that router BUT

i havent had many problems with it...

my problems are with

COMCAST!!!!!! THE SINGLE MOST DESPICABLE AND CRAPPILY RUN COMPANY ON THE FACE OF THE PLANET.

ok, perhaps an exaggeration, but they really, really, really suck. they charge outrageous amounts of money for internet that works MAYBE 75% of the time in my neighborhood. 50$ a month for basic cable whos picture quality is often so bad, its unbearable to even watch it. Plus hardware that we have already had to replace 2 times in the year we've had it.
If there were another option, there is no way on f*cking earth i would use comcast again... unfortunately, like many neighborhoods, im stuck with this one option.

in conclusion... comcast sucks

Nov 13, 07 10:55 am  · 
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Living in Gin

I guess it depends on your area. I've had Comcast in Chicago, Philly, and Oregon and had generally good service. In Chicago, I had RCN at first, and found them to be horribly unreliable with crappy customer service. I switched to Comcast (luckily I had a choice) and found it to be about a million times better.

Unfortunately I'm stuck with Cablevision in Brooklyn, which is an absolute joke.

Nov 13, 07 11:10 am  · 
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Dapper Napper

I concur on the AT&T DSL, it's made think a little better of the company that can't decide what it wanst to be called. I also had the router from hell, but hadn't realized how bad it was until we got a new one.

Nov 13, 07 12:00 pm  · 
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dml955i

Comcast blows ass... After your low introductory rate and three months of HBO for free, they start jacking your rates and charging you huge amounts of money for HBO. It took about 3 months of calling them to cancel HBO before it was actually taken off our bill. The key to Comcast is to call every three months and threaten to cancel and they will lower your rates to whatever deal they happen to be offering at the moment...

We swore off of Comcast when we moved. We're waiting for Verizon's FIOS TV to make it to our neighborhood. My sister down in DC has it and loves it. Of course, Comcast is fighting it...

Nov 13, 07 12:09 pm  · 
 · 

I laughed out loud when I read about the lynksis router, I had an apple airport that died in an electrical storm and had to get the lynksis. It didn't work for 3 full days...now I randomly walk in my bedroom and reset it. I think its absolutely useless. and warrants plugging in most times.

I would add my crv at the moment, brilliant vehicle but mine is having issues with the shocks, etc. And I've spend about $2g without any luck, sigh....I think i want to sink it and make a reef out of it.

Nov 13, 07 2:38 pm  · 
 · 
AbrahamNR
The key to Comcast is to call every three months and threaten to cancel and they will lower your rates to whatever deal they happen to be offering at the moment...

That is sooo true.
Nov 13, 07 2:38 pm  · 
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funkitecture

Krups juicer
like an uncleanable volcano of juice that yielded nothing but pulp and a messing kithcen

i dont remember exactly what model it was but it inspired some limericks:

the juicer designer from krups
must have been deep in his cups
for only a drunk
ever would thunk
to invent a machine that erupts

if i ever find out
who brought this juicer about
i will feather and tar him
pickle and jar him
turn him into some fine sauerkraut

(and there was another limerick i cant remember but it ended like this...)
...now i have this feeling
that the juice on my ceiling
is worth more than the swill in my cup

Nov 13, 07 3:15 pm  · 
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postal

comcast:

(lletdownl knows this story)

granted all the techs are supposedly independent contractors, the whol system is ef'd up.

so, we have a problem at our house with the cable. turns out they need to upgrade the little booster box. but the box is located on a line that goes from the ground to the pole and they can't put their ladder on it (the ladder hooks on the cable which necessitates a horizontal wire)... first guy comes out, thinks he figured out the problem, says he can't fix it now, but will order the part and schedule the install, second guy comes out, sees he can't get a ladder to it, tells me he can't do it cause of the wire, calls and schedules another meeting, third guy comes out, says shit you need a treepicker truck to get that, i don't have one of those, tells me to call, set up the meeting, and specifically request a treepicker, fourth guy comes out, says, shit, you need a treepicker truck to get that, i say i know, i requested one, i look at his work order its written in three places... i gave up... we had most channels, just not abc, nbc, cbs, etc.... so we just lived with it.

end rant, sorry i wasted 30 seconds of your life. but comcast does suck, and it's seriously a 50-50 chance i think whether or not your service will work.

at my new place, they really just transferred my service to my neighbors apartment, and now my tv hums real loud... but i ain't even gonna deal with it.

i agree about calling every 3 months though, complaining will get your service comp'ed.

Nov 13, 07 5:06 pm  · 
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myriam

I never, ever thought I'd say this, but the AT&T DSL combo package w/ Dish TV has been a dream. I pay $60 a month for phone line, internet (not the cheapest speed package, either), and basic dish cable that comes with some awesome perks on the remote dealio. My cable went out 1x so far, for like half an hour during a severe electrical storm this summer. My internet has never even BLIPPED and like I said, the router is a dream, first one I've owned that I've never, not ONCE, even during electrical storms, had to restart. Never.

WK, that linksys router failed me in apartments with all macs on the network, with mixed pcs and macs, and is now failing my parents who have all macs. They actually DROVE to linksys headquarters (happens to be 15mins from their house), bothered the receptionist there till they got a replacement router, and the new one is just as shitty. They literally can't spend 15 mintues ont he internet without restarting the router.

Nov 13, 07 8:50 pm  · 
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mdler
Nov 13, 07 8:54 pm  · 
 · 
Living in Gin

I've been getting daily use out of the exact same iPod for almost three years now, and it still works like new. I don't plan to replace it until Apple rolls out a 32 GB iPhone.

If you want a real lemon:



Windows is like a 3-year-old child: They both ask lots of pointless questions, they both have a habit of stating the obvious, they're both incredibly vulnerable to the outside world, and they both occasionally shit themselves for no apparent reason.

Nov 13, 07 9:14 pm  · 
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bowling_ball

I have:

an HP all-in-one. Never had a problem until two days ago when I really needed to scan something. It ignored all my commands. That was really fun.

I also own (I think) a Linksys WRT54G and while my gf's computer can use the wireless signal, my computer simply won't. Everything's compatible, both our computers and modem are but 2 months old. Yet the damn thing won't work for me, so I'm still on wired internet. (I get the wireless signal at school, so....)

I also run Vista. No problems except that I think it's overkill for my needs. It's too bad I don't know much more about other OS's, or maybe I'd switch.

Nov 13, 07 9:35 pm  · 
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SDR

I blame Carly Fiorina.

Nov 13, 07 10:54 pm  · 
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Medusa

I love you, mdler. I thought I was the only one who thought iPods are crap. My friend bought her third one last night. Why? Because she's used to Apple's shitty iTunes software.

Nov 13, 07 11:29 pm  · 
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mightylittle™
Nov 14, 07 12:35 am  · 
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aquapura

Another vote for the ipod...especially this little one.



Have had two shuffles completely quit on me. Each lasted less than a year. They are total crap.

Also had a 30gb ipod which also quit on me. Battery died. Apple doesn't trust anyone else to fix it either. Their cost of replacing the battery was more than it was worth. Off the the landfill it went, along with the other disposable ipods I had. Outside of looking cool and trendy I see nothing redeeming of the ipod....unless you own apple stock.

Nov 14, 07 9:18 am  · 
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