Yet, too often, manufacturers who oversell their products fail to deliver what is promised and are inevitably left with angry customers who want their money back.
Whether the merchandise was defective or ridiculously overpriced, strangers online shared some of their worst purchases when Redditor BooksMcGee asked:
"What is the worst product you ever paid money for?"
Short Life Span
"This NERF gun that's supposed to shoot tennis balls for your dog. I bought it cause I thought you could load 3 at a time and shoot them far, but it's just one and it's super loud and the gun broke after like 4 shots (reading reviews later, this was a common issue)."
Lame Pets
"There were these toys called squiggles when I was a kid and the commercials made it seem like the toy was alive. It looked like you would get this crazy little fuzzy worms as pets that would follow you around an so sick tricks and listen to your every command. It was really just a piece of fluffy string tied to another piece of string with googly eyes on it. People may say that it was supposed to be a magic trick but they should also explain that to a 5 year old who really wanted a pet."
Card Value
"Not their fault, but I paid $70 for a Yugioh card hours before it was limited to one copy. Probably dropped to $20 by the end of the day."
These purchases were bad for your bum.
"A bicycle that literally fell apart before I made it out of the parking lot."
Not Worth Sitting On
"Joybird brand couch. Was so terrible, we returned it. Still hard to believe, we returned a freaking couch."
Going Nowhere Fast
"A 2000 VW Beetle (used)."
"Biggest piece of sh*t that literally had to have just about everything replaced before 100k miles and would still break down every time you left the driveway to the point where the tow-truck driver knew us on a first-name basis."
Expensive Lemon
"An Oldsmobile Achieva from one of those buy here pay here places. I should have known better, but I was young and thought I was getting a good deal. I had the thing for about 5 months, I drove it for maybe 3 weeks. The rest of the time it was either in the shop, or in my driveway waiting until pay day so I could afford to fix whatever broke on it this week. Eventually told the dealer just take it, I'm not paying for it any more. He said nope, and I will make sure your credit is ruined. I said well you sold me a lemon, do you really want to go this route? He came and took it. Never reported anything to credit. I heard he got sued by several other people who sold sh**ty cars too and eventually went out of business."
"Always amazes me when I see them driving around still, I can only assume there's enthusiasts who just love repairing horribly designed cars."
– zerbey
These Redditors were not convinced what they ingested was edible.
Bad Cereal
"A box of plain Cheerios. Thought they were honey nut, poured a bowl, was very disappointed."
"If I wanted to taste cardboard, I'd just eat the box."
– gor8884
Space Pizza
"A burnt frozen pizza at the air and space museum cafe in DC. I Don't wish that experience on anyone. There are some amazing restaurants in DC, don't settle."
– Alseids
The following electronics just gave off a bad charge.
"Asus Transformer Pad TF700"
"This was one of those early 'high end' Android tablets that was grossly underpowered, and it showed. Thing was slow as sh!t in no time flat. Rookie mistake investing into shiny new tech while they were still working all the bugs out. Think I paid somewhere in the neighborhood of $350-400 for it..."
– Luke5119
Bad Apple
"macbook pro 2018 13" touchbar. 2 years old and dead (battery). they're asking $300-$400 to change the battery. malfunctioning keyboard with double presses and missing presses. that's a lot of money for bad design."
Chilly Reception
"Past winter my old room heater broke down and I had to buy a new one. Went to a store nearby and somehow got convinced to buy a very costly heating device.. It's also my fault, since there were some sligthly cheaper options around, but nope. I wanted the expensive one thinking it will make my small room a volcano with little to no effort/cost (that's also what the seller told me). Long story short the device wasn't doing ANYTHING. No significant temperature changes, too much space, a weird noise, and was doubling my previous device in utility cost. I still gloom over those 80 euros.."
Some of my disappointing purchases was clothing, but only because I purchased them online. Unless they are a brand I'm familiar with, I'm usually fine with buying new jeans off of their websites.
But when it comes to graphic tees only available on specialty shops, an M-size shirt is not necessarily the same size as those found in other reputable stores.
I bought a medium sized T-shirt from a boutique store online because I loved the look of the design. But when it arrived, the supposed medium fit me like an XL.
At least I gained a fierce cleaning rag from this impulsive purchase.
Thankfully, it's not just us with bad luck. When Redditor jab116 asked “What is the most overrated product you've purchased?" people were glad to share all the times they'd been duped by clever marketing.
Biggest lie of the millennial childhood...not capitalism, the other one...
lil yachty kyle GIF by stalebagelGiphySea Monkeys. When I was little, I ordered some from the back of a comic book. I thought they would look like the picture, a nuclear family who would interact and talk to me. Unfortunately, they were turned out to be very nonsentient brine shrimp. It was very anticlimactic.”
“The caked on makeup just isn't necessary...”
“Jeffery stars liquid lipstick. It dried the sh*t outta my lips and felt Hella uncomfortable. I only wore it once. It was so hyped up a couple years ago. Also tarte eyeshadow pallets are acceptable for the price. I bought a couple and was like....eh. I just buy colourpop now.”
“Also any foundation feels bad on my skin. I have spent hundreds on so many different foundations. Beauty filters on YouTube need to stop.”
“I don't wear foundation now. The caked on makeup just isn't necessary for 90% of people, and is a way to sell way too much makeup by making you feel bad about how your skin looks, with texture etc.”
“...had to nearly rip my nipple off to get the bra off of me.”
“Anyone remember those sticky cup strapless-backless bras? The ads were all over Facebook and Instagram for a while. I eventually gave in and bought one.”
“The whole point of them in the ads was like pull the string in the middle to give yourself instant mega cleavage, and you can wear it under strapless/ backless clothes. Unfortunately, pulling your boobs together into ultra mega cleavage just means it makes the volume of your boobs flatter to pull them closer together, and since all it had was skin to stick to, and nothing but stickiness to hold it up, it was not very supportive.”
“It was sticky enough for one proper use, but even still, the edges peeled away from my skin pretty quickly. There is a little cutout in the middle that's not sticky. That's where the nipple is meant to go.”
“My nipples did not naturally or comfortably line up with those holes, so I had this incredibly sticky bra suction cupped to my tit, and had to nearly rip my nipple off to get the bra off of me.”
“After that, it is impossible to wash and store anywhere. The sticky surface becomes slick when wet, but goes back to sticky when it gets dry (but never as sticky as the first time).”
“It has to air dry because towel fibres will get stuck on it, and it wouldn't survive a trip through the washer and dryer. It cannot be stored in a drawer, or touching any material because fibres will get stuck on it, and it cannot be stored face up with nothing covering it because dust will get stuck on it, thereby rendering it un-sticky until you wash it again, and air dry it again, and store it wrong again, rinse and repeat until you throw it in the garbage.”
It wasn’t any better for the next person...
#teamscorpion dancing GIF by CBSGiphy“I wore one clubbing once and let me tell you, worst decision ever. One minute I'm dancing on a podium with a couple of friends, then I just feel it unstick all at once and drop out the bottom of my dress.”
“I subtly kick it off the podium hoping nobody noticed and then 30 seconds later I turn around to a group of 18 year old guys holding it up to their chests and dancing, absolutely losing it. Thankfully I don't think they knew it was mine.”
Are they still around?
“Sears ‘best"’canister vacuum cleaner. It was expensive, but lasted a few days over one year and quit (with only light household use).”
“Sears wouldn't stand behind it. The cost of parts and repair was greater than the cost of the vacuum cleaner. No wonder Sears is in trouble.”
People Explain The Worst Thing That's Ever Happened To Them On Their Birthday
“Your house will smell like sh*t.”
“Cloth diapers. My god some of these parents have to stop raving about how amazing cloth diapers are. They are at best an ok alternative to disposable diapers."
“Things I was told about cloth diapers. Less blowouts, less rashes, better for the environment, cheaper. Most of these just depend on your child. And honestly I found most of these false."
“Things they don't tell you. Your house will smell like sh*t. You will constantly be doing laundry. When you're out of the house you'll be carrying around a dirty diaper. If the baby hates being wet you'll constantly be changing them. Daycares don't take them. Babysitters hate them. Diaper changes take way longer!"
“More power to any parent who uses. Like seriously god bless you. But they have some major downsides and I'll happily take Pampers over cloth."
Kinky.
Hose Clog GIF by DrSquatchSoapCoGiphy“A garden hose that was ‘unkinkable’, I paid extra for the guaranteed kink free feature. It kinked up like a motherfugger.”
Not always a great investment...
“Nearly everything i bought on Kickstarter/Indiegogo. if i got the product at all, they're almost always low quality and don't do what they said they would. some products would ship but the company goes under within a year or two so no more support or replacement parts.“
Nearly finished him!
“When I was around 9, I got really convinced by their $5m marketing campaign with Mortal Kombat that the Aura Interactor was going to be awesome. It was basically a haptic feedback backpack that converted bass sounds to rumbles and was supposed to make video games super immersive.”
“I was actually nervous that it was going to hurt me, like actually feel like I was being punched. I (somehow) convinced my mom to buy it, set the thing up, and ten minutes later I smelled smoke and then saw the smoke coming from the Interactor on my back.”
Why didn't I know this as a broke college student!?
GIF by QueenGiphy“Most of my academic books. All the pdfs are available online“
“Coach refused to fix it...”
“Coach handbag. The strap broke after a few months and Coach refused to fix it (after I brought it back and the receipt to the store where I had purchased it). I bought an inexpensive replacement strap that lasted longer. After less than a year, there was evident wear at the seams. I have not purchased anything from Coach again.“
Pay-to-win MMOs!
“ArcheAge. I remember it being marketed as "sandbox MMO with realistic player-driven economy". There was a pack that let you into alpha, a pack that let you into beta, and a pack that let you into few days of early access.”
“All of the packs contained nothing but some cosmetic items irrelevant to the economy. The alpha was good. The beta was good. But with the final release, they fired up the cash store with such extreme pay-to-win...”
You mean infomercials lied to us?
“I bought the slap chop, pure garbage. It literally exploded upon use as directed. No flames or anything, but all the parts came apart and went flying."
“I saw the commercials for it once and got all excited telling my SO about it. She, the person that actually cooks, informed me that you still had to cut everything small enough to fit in the thing plus that you now have a bunch more sh!t to clean after you're done cutting vegetables."
.lAnd now you're telling me there's also shrapnel to worry about. Good thing I didn't buy it."
About the grossest thing on this thread.
“Ear Wax candles. After laying on the floor like an idiot with a flaming burning candle in my ear, I took a minute to actually think about the process...fools gold.”
“I had to return the first one I bought...”
“I bought a platform bed on the recommendation of the Wirecutter. They had this whole big spiel about how they test sh*t, this is the best affordable option, blah blah blah. I had to return the first one I bought because it came scratched up.”
“The second one is just a plain, cheap platform bed. I don't think there's anything about it different from what I could have gotten from just hunting down the cheapest version of the product.”
“An ‘indestructible’ dog bed. Even claimed it could withstand bulldogs. Well, my bulldog tore out the rod that propped it open, which turned out to be flimsy plastic. Within a week, she had torn off a zipper, and ripped the filling out. I was more angry at the company for making such false claims than my under one year old dog.”
“Cable TV. More of a service than a product. Spent the past 5 years without it. Had it for 2 months and there is nothing worth watching.“
“I had cable tv for a couple of years. Then I'd turn on the TV and within 5 seconds I recognize the episode as one I'd already seen which, of course, is followed up over the next few hours with ones I'd already seen. Travel channel isn't even about travel anymore and there are a lot of shows on Animal Planet that aren't even about animals. It is like every channel specialized and then changed direction.”
Should have known not to trust that guy...
My Pillow Snl GIF by Saturday Night LiveGiphy“My Pillow. It's the worst pillow I've ever used, it is a cotton bag of these foam tetris type blocks, there are 3 levels of firmness based on how many blocks the pillow has. I ordered the firmest level and the pillow was like 1/3 full. It was a totally useless pillow.”
“The return process requires an RMA and they take 20% or something for "restocking". So obviously that's their business plan, sell a cheap overpriced product w heavy advertising, make it hard to return so most people don't bother and charge a restocking fee even if they do return it.”
The most useless of them all...
Dumpster Fire GIF by MOODMANGiphy“I bought my first planner ever in January 2020. I was going to start school again and thought ‘yea I'll get a planner to really get my life together’. Little did I know the universe had other plans so now it's just a book full of scribbled out meetings and cancelled conferences.”
A great rule of thumb—if it sounds too good to be true it probably is.
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One Reddit user asked:
What common product has a feature you're not sure everyone is aware of?
and honestly, we know we normally do a whole big long intro, but we're all over here so annoyed at all the stuff we didn't know that we're gonna go try things out. We're pretty sure we have quite a few of these things laying around here somewhere...
Microsoft Whaaaaaaaaat
shocked kimmy schmidt GIF by Unbreakable Kimmy SchmidtGiphyWhen you are writing in Microsoft word or Outlook and accidentally leave caps lock on, select the text and press Shift F3. It will change the text between upper and lower case, and there's a third option to make the first letter of each word upper case too.
Always seems to blow peoples minds when I tell them.
- graeuk
The other one along with this I love to tell people about is windows key + period which opens an Emoji keyboard on your pc.
- Chimie45
The Windows
With many car key remotes, you can make all the windows go down at once by pushing the "unlock" button 3 times.I learned this the hard way, sat on my keys, all my windows and sunroof opened.. in the middle of a snowstorm
- stixyBW
On our car remote it's press and hold unlock to lower all windows. Great, until I sat on the key in the house whilst it was raining outside. It still smells a bit musty months later.
- xylose
During the summer it routinely hits 100F during the summer. My car is parked in direct sunlight from the time I get to work until the time I leave.
I can literally bake cookies in my car in the summer. Being able to let the windows down from a distance like that would be a god send.
Move That Cursor
If you hold down the space bar on your iPhone (and some androids) it allows you to move the cursor anywhere in the text.
Woah. You have saved a lot of my time in future. Thanks
Most of the time the cursor defaults to the beginning or end of the word I tapped. Using the space bar is wayyyy faster for very quickly place the cursor EXACTLY where I want.
Also, a key component to this trick is that you can re-tap the space bar (while doing the cursor movement) to switch to highlight mode. Highlighting shit on iOS is hard AF to get it precisely where you want. This solves that.
- 1saltyMF
Switch It Up
Most ceiling fans have a switch to reverse direction of the blades.
Set to clockwise at low speed in winter for an updraft that redistributes warmed air at the ceiling downward, and then switch to counter-clockwise at higher speed in summer to create a cooling downdraft.
If you're gonna use that switch, before you turn the fan back on, make sure you dust the blades! You will get a nice snowfall of dust on your head and in your eyes otherwise.
The Most Magical Mute
You can mute many microwaves.
Holy shot I need to figure this one out. I always set it for more time than I need so I can open it before it runs out of time, otherwise,
BEEEEEEEEP......
BEEEEEEEEP......
BEEEEEEEEP......
BEEEEEEEEP......
BEEEEEEEEP......
And there's nothing you can do until the 5 excruciatingly long beeps.
I would absolutely buy the first microwave that gives the user control over beeping volume, or has an abbreviated beep mode. It's fascinating how manufacturers put so much attention on aesthetics, but in terms of acoustics they have no issues with making their products ugly as f*ck.
Staple Shenanigans
office space stapler GIF by 20th Century Fox Home EntertainmentGiphyStaplers have a spring loaded base plate that can be popped up and rotated, which will make the staples splay outward as opposed to inward.
The rub is that nobody wants that so as a practical joke I flip them for everyone's stapler and watch as then go f*cking batsh*t crazy.
- kdubstep
I noticed that at work one day and looked up why that is.
A staple that points outward is far easier to remove. So if only want to staple some documents temporarily, that's what that setting is for.
Basically bend it in the middle and the staple comes right out, no fancy stop remover necessary.
Stop Stretching
Oven doors come off. just open till the first stop and pull straight up. i don't know how many people i've seen stretching to clean the back.
And stove tops lift up and can be locked like a car hood!
So you get everything under/around the coils
I remember when I did that in college and my roommates were absolutely floored that it did that. I'm just like... I've always known this and your kitchen at home must be NASTY.
That Overlap Is There For A Reason
Baby onesies have the overlap at the shoulders so you can pull it down the kids and off if they have a diaper blow out.
So much better than trying to get a sh*t-covered onesie over their head. I'm so annoyed that I found out about this after I was done with the baby stage.
Man, this tip would have been nice when my kids were babies and regularly getting those up-to-the-neck poop explosions when they were in their jumper seats.
When You're Not Carrying Quarters
Most gas station coin operated air compressors have a button on the back. Press this button three times and the pump starts automatically.
Parking Problems
Find parking function on Google Maps.
When you park in a stadium or airport parking lot or a city you unfamiliar with: Open Google Maps, hit bullseye (location) then the blue dot. Pinpoints location and gives option to add notes to remind yourself of things like garage level etc.
Not Sure, But It Works
The metal part inside the handles of meat scissors (that gap left inside when they are closed which often has metal or a round cut out with ridges) is extremely useful for opening stuck lids on soda bottles and such.
I'm not sure it's supposed to be a bottle opener, but it works really well as one.
A Tab And Seagull Necks
You know those plastic rings for six-packs? They have a little tab that if you pull on it, they're much easier to tear. I've been using that for ages. It's really useful if you're worried your trash is gonna end up around a seagull's neck.
All This Paint Wisdom
painter GIFGiphyI am trained in house paint (the things I know, wow)
ALWAYS when buying paint, ask for the MSDS sheet... (material safety data sheet)... think of it like this. You buy a bottle of Tylenol and the short instructions are on the box. But, if you ask the pharmacy they can print you the long version that tells you all the crap you didn't know, you needed to know... well same with a can of paint.
The MSDS will tell you how to prep your surface, that type of hair brush you need or roller, how many coats at what thickness the paint and primer should be, for the paint to live up to its warranty.
If you spill house paint on a solid surface... leave it, let it dry a few hours (but don't leave it for days, cause then it will cure), spray Windex on it and grab a knife, peels right up.
Also, if you have peeling paint that you need to remove, instead of spending hours in the sun scrapping paint, get one of those Windex power washers, that hook on a hose... loosens up all the paint so it comes off easy... less work.
Also, exterior paint has a min/max surface temp. Most brands, if the surface temp us below 65 or over 80, paint could fail like peel off, not dry right, pin point, and various other things.
Some paint brands can go higher then or lower then the average. That goes for ALL exterior paint /stain products, the surface temp of the item your painting matters.
So, if its 70 degrees out, pain the area in the sun not the shade, you need the surface temp to not fall below the product specifications. That even goes for safety paint that's on curbs and the lines in a parking lot. If you paint those and they are always peeling up... that's why.
A Safety Feature
Most in-sink garbage disposals have a reset button on them. If the disposal stops working completely (will not turn on at all) try pushing that button.
Mine stopped dead once after it got hung up on a piece of silverware. I figured it would at least make noise if broken and it might have been a safety feature. Felt around on it and there was a little button.
Pencil Lube
You can use a pencil to make zippers open & close more smoothly.
The "lead" in a pencil is actually graphite, which is a lubricant. If you have a pair of jeans or whatever with a pesky zipper that catches or gets stuck, just run a pencil along it a few times. It will work great!
You can also use a pencil on a freshly cut key.
Just Add Water
Your Vitamix or high speed blender will clean itself.
All you have to do is rinse it, fill it up halfway with warm water, add a few squirts of dish soap, and run it, gradually increasing the speed to full power.
Let it run on full power for 60 seconds then rise it out. Works great and makes some amazing soap foam for washing other dishes as well!
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