Fake Admiral

[bigjoe]

Has anyone ever seen a Fake Refrigerator ? Well! I think I have.

In 2001 my daughter gave me a brand new [Admiral] 12 cub ft ..no frost ..top mount
refrigerator with no clean condenser ..made in Mexico. Same was bought from the expatriate
appliance store COURTS and up to now it works well....'Knock on wood'.

A few months ago a neighbour of mine called me over to have a look at her frost free..top
mount Admiral that had the timer replaced by a local tech only to find that it still
produced no cooling effect. I traced the leak to the copper suction line where it meets
the aluminium cooling coil. I was amazed to find lots of cigarette butts and match sticks
just under the styrofoam on which the cooling coil sits. She vowed that since purchasing
the fridge ..brand new from COURTS.. it was never repaired .???From where did the butts and
sticks originate?

The schematic was barely visible and so I downloaded same from the Net. This prompted me
to have a look at my own schematic. Oops! there was none. So I took off the model number
ART 360 [ all it had was ART 360]and tried searching through several Search engines..No luck.
Got a friendly forum moderator to send me ART Nos. from his appliance CD Rom. There were over
100..all relate to Maytag Stoves and Refrigerators made by Maytag.

Now Maytag is the owner of Admiral and repeated Emails to the customer dept. giving all
info requested by them failed to find Admiral ART 360. At first glance the model No . is
short ..generally quite a few digits would follow.

This is a far cry from the false Seiko , Gucci Bags , Armani Suits and prescription drugs...
etc, etc. Next,cars and Planes ? Or are we there already ?

[Peter Croxall]

Hi Big Joe
I guess anything is possible in this consumer world in which we live. If a buck can be made by making a forgery, then someone will be willing to do it.

[Peter Croxall]

Hi Big Joe,
Just another thought. The very fact that the fridge broke down in the first place, proves that it couldn't be a Maytag.
After all, wasn't their advert all about a poor service engineer, desperately waiting by the phone and hoping against hope, for a call out, only to be dissapointed, AS MAYTAG'S DO NOT BREAK DOWN

[bigjoe]

Hi Big Joe
I guess anything is possible in this consumer world in which we live. If a buck can be made by making a forgery, then someone will be willing to do it.

Reminds me of something that happened in the early sixties

at the Old Bailey. In the case of a bank note forger the

Governor of the Bank of England was called in to testify

on this brazen forgery. He looked and looked , cleaned his

glasses and looked again ,then took out his pen and wrote

across the note " Genuine Counterfeit"
.

[bigjoe]

Ran into this article and thought of posting same. Makes
good reading for those of us who take 'Comfort' in buying
Brand Name Appliances.

Extracted from:

http://www4.wcwood.com/webinfo.nsf/0...6?OpenDocument
...................................................

Mr. Wood said few manufacturers build an entire line of
products nowadays. They fill the gaps in their line by
what's dubbed "co-branding"; they buy from outside
contractors -- even competitors -- who will build appliances
under any brand the buyer wants to use. The practice is
usually kept secret, making it difficult for consumers
to tell which company or which country made the appliance.

"Very few appliance makers make everything they sell," Mr. Wood said.
"They buy from competitors. They buy from third parties. It allows
them to complete their line."

He said he builds under the brand names W.C. Wood and Danby. He
also builds under the Kenmore brand and, like Camco, under a
variety of department store, private-label and no-name brands.

Mr. Wood said he has survived in the Canadian market by building
a mix of brands, for himself and other companies. He said he has
a good, stable work force of 1,000, and, as a family-owned company,
plows profits back into the business.

Heartland Appliances Inc. of Cambridge, Ont., a tiny operation
with 80 employees, has a different strategy.

It buys refrigerators from major manufacturers, then upgrades
them in a retro style that suits many aging baby boomers.

[chemi-cool]

Hi Bigjoe.

Its all over the world. Even in a small country like mine, where we used to have a few refrigerators manufacturers and air-conditioners.

Now a days, they have changed the lines and no one make a comlete machine.
Tha strange thing is that if you you want your own name on any refrigerator or ac, all you have to do is order more then 50 units and they sell in the market with your brand name.

The new game is, just sell.

Chemi

[Peter Croxall]

Hi Chemi,
This isn't a new thing, when I worked in Saudi, 30 yrs ago, the cookers and appliances from the States all had the same part numbers, but were badged differently. i.e. Kenwood, Admiral etc.