Hoover HNMF2605A

I have owned this product for five years. My parents had their freezer for 30 years and it still worked. It also didn't break down in this period. This product broke down twice in the first year, with me needing to call an engineer and new parts being fitted. Finally, it has now given up the ghost. I had a look at its components and they seem to be quite lightweight, with some plastic packaging type material covering its rear and some blu-tack like stuff filling a hole behind the freezer compartment.

I'm pretty certain that this product wasn't designed to last, with the idea that you buy a new one after a few years. This isn't acceptable, either in cost terms - it still cost £350 GBP or environmentally as it now needs to be thrown away.

I'm also sceptical about the frost free design. This seems to me to be unreliable technology, for instance my machine was laterlly creating something like ice crystals in the freezer compartment. Does it really take so long to defrost a freezer every once in a while - you could listen to the radio while doing this.

However, what does cheap mean when you buy something. I thought £350 was cheap but I'd rather pay £550 for one that would last me fifteen years and not five.