Why are German products so substandard?

Question

Like the German brand washing machines. Why in this day and age does a washing machine take one hour or more to clean the clothes? It doesn't seem to make any sense. I'm European as well and have notices that Japanese or American brands are faster and clean better.

Answer 1

Why don't you get an American brand washer machine and then you won't have that problem anymore.  By the way, I am far from dumb.  I began college at the age of 15, thank you very much and I wasn't the one who wanted to know the answer to that question.  I specifically said my friend was asking that.  You need open your eyes and read.   Also, it seems like you are dumb because all you have to do is buy a washer that is not a german brand washer and then you won't have to fuss about how long it takes to wash your clothes.

Answer 2

For all electrical goods I rather buy Germany than any other make. My mum had her German washing machine for 18 yrs, beat that!! And yes I do like my clothes properly washed and cleaned. For lightly spoiled clothes I choose a short washing program.

Funny you say German products are sub-standard. Every American (and other Nationals for that matter) tries to safe up enough money to buy a German car.  

Answer 3

it is all relative. here in Canada, we have access to what the world has to offer. I can't think of a reliable canadian product (other than myself) but I LOVE German prods (cars. xxxmovies(lol)) , American prods (phones, ipods, movies), Japanese tech prods (TVs, cameras), European prods (clothing) etc etc. You have to ask yourself, how are the German importing standards ?

Answer 4

My is a Siemens and the short program takes 30 minutes. Do you think all German products are substandard????????? Wouldn't say that about American products either. Compare American and German chocolate (example.....).

@Henni hast natürlich Recht was die Waschmaschinen angeht, die anderen scheinen die jeweiligen Kurzprogamme bei Ihren Waschmaschinen nicht gefunden zu haben aber das mit den Grundstücken-stimmt so nicht wirklich, die USA sind riesig und dementsprechend viel Land für Grundstücke ist vorhanden mit den dementsprechend grossen Häusern (ausser du meinst New York oder so..). Schrebergärten kennen die Amerikaner einfach nicht, deswegen werden sie das falsch eingeschätzt haben.

@MReichley: Had the same problem with Etta (car radio)- wouldn't buy again. But I'm not sure if they still exist....No, I don't think so... Was Etta really a German company??????

And how you have to clean away ice at least once a week? Where did you buy your products - and how old (sounds like a very old one) is your fridge or your freezer?

Your question was: Why are German products so substandard?

@frackledjj und Henni:

Do Germans mind being being called "Krauts"?  

Jasper: Yes, just call them human grizzly bears since they have no manners.

Question (Jasper) The English?

Why on average are ethnic English people so unattractive? We Europeans all know this, but I do not know why. Is it the bad food, bad attitudes all the time, drinking too much, or the bad weather? Just wondering.

Jasper: Sorry to disappoint YOU, but I am European and would say that more of us dislike the English because of the way they behave on vacation than we do Americans. Thanks for answering.

@frackledjj: My comment was just ironie but if you don't understand that its not my fault.....und was soll das mit echten deutschen Rezepten und so ein Zeug, verstehe ich nicht so ganz worauf du da hinaus willst....finde es aber schade, dass du dich anscheinend durch meinen Kommentar irgendwie angegriffen fühlst. Im übrigen esse ich auch kein Sauerkraut, das nur so am Rande....

Answer 5

seems like you dont know what your talking about - ....there are short programms too, but for that - germans prefer their clothes clean, not just steamed with soap water!

plus: germans prefer absolute low energie machines and they must be silent and need to last long.

  

Answer 6

I don't have German washers and dryers since the apartment I live in is equipped with enough room and hot/cold taps to accommodate American style washers.  I have used European washing machines before and of course it does take a while for it to complete a wash cycle.  I thought the European ones cleaned better since all the American washer seems to just agitate clothes.  

I don't think all German products are substandard.  The only German brand I have a problem with is Etta.  When ever I use their products I am not satisfied.  My Etta iron leaks, the cord is too short, and sometimes their are sparks when turned on.  My Etta toaster (which I got rid of) would burn toast even on the lowest setting and would also spark.  

I do agree with the walk in closets though but from what I heard it has to do with taxes on every room and you can technically count a closet a room.  

Answer 7

Well, as for washing machines: All the washing machines I used while living in the US were top-loaders, and I tried using their 30-minute programs to get my clothes clean, but that wouldn't work, so I tried the longer programs, and I still didn't get my clothes all that clean (They were ok, but coffee-stains or something I just couldn't get completely out, no matter what I did), whereas the first wash in a German washing machine took care of those old stains once and for all when I was back in Germany. That was a German brand machine, front loader, and yes, I admit, it was the long program that takes an hour. However, German machines are engineered to use less water and little energy. And they generally are front loaders. I like to wash with German brand machines better than with the American brands. I love American brand dryers, though. I don't know if it's true, or if I was just always standing by to wait for the dryer to be done over in the US, whereas here I sometimes miss the end and than of course my clothes are not all fluffy and warm and ready to fold without being ironed. Though right now I can use a commercial style dryer, and it comes scary close to the results I am used to get from American brand dryers.

But, on the contrary to what you say, I think American brands are not all that good, sorry. Take kitchen aids, for instance. The households in which I lived in the US had one kitchen aid for every task in the kitchen (one for stirring, one for mixing, one for grinding...), which all had low power (~300W) and a design from the 50s, whereas German brands such as Bosch offer combination machines that are able to perform all those tasks, have a motor with more power (~800W), and come at a price equal to the famous "KitchenAid" stirrer. My immersion blender (which is something I have never seen in the States, by the way, though I never actually looked for one over there, either, knowing I would move back to Germany) alone has 500W! Does the blending job in whatever bowl or pot the stuff I want blended is in without me having to worry about volume and how to get the stuff I want blended into the blender (in case one has to use one of the table top blenders that are the only ones I have seen in the US) and the blended stuff out, and having to wash two things (blender and original bowl, if the volume you wanted to blend was bigger than what your table top blender would hold)...

As for other products: What about Porsche, BMW, Mercedes, VW? They don't seem to be that substandard that Americans don't want to by them! Eppendorf, a maker of pipettes, is German, and everyone I know working in labs is either a fan of the Eppendorfs, or of their French concurrent, but even in the US, I've seen people in labs fight about whose Eppendorfs the pipettes were, whereas the pipettes from the American company were mainly ignored.

What about Aspirin? That's a German product, too, and it seems to help a lot of people. Just as a lot of other medication from the Bayer company, which is German. Just as BASF, which produces chemicals, fertilizers, plastics, paper additives... Or what about Merck? (ha! Even the spell check on the American yahoo page knows how to correctly spell that company!) Also a German company whose products can be found everywhere around the world.

All in all, though I am German and might be biased, I don't think Germany can't have been the worlds top export country for a couple of years in a row for nothing, can it?

So, since you have lived all over the world... Ever checked the labels?

EDIT: I'm sorry, but what? Siemens is a German company, and while the production sites are in Japan, the engineering is done in Germany. German schooled Engineers are among the best. And you said: PRODUCTS in your question, and that, by definition, is anything and everything that is produced in Germany. If we wanted to, the way you phrased your question, we could argue your socks off about the quality of German-grown mushrooms versus Japanese-grown mushrooms. Go rant somewhere else!

@JW: Well, I mind being called a "k***t", because it is a prejudice. I can't remember the last time I ate Sauerkraut, and the way some people on here talk about Germany, you might think we ate it for breakfast and every other meal, every day and double that on sunday. Funnily enough, those people are the first to offer "genuine" German recipies to everyone who asks, and a German just knows they have no clue whatsoever about Germany. So yes, it bugs me if people like that call me a "k***t". I'm not calling US-Americans "Yank" or, worse yet, "burger", am I?

Answer 8

Mine does take about an hour and it's not very old. It's a Bosch. German brand. The ones back home only take half an hour...

Answer 9

An hour it only takes 30 min to wash mine my is an American brand

Answer 10

Henni, don't get nasty because you disagree. Just admit that German brands are not as good as others. I live in France and can admit that I had the same problem with washers all the time when I studied in Germany for one year. They are difficult to operate and they take forever!