[speaker001:] I know uh product quality first of all I have had to return products uh generally those products that I bought mail order recently
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] well I think that you know brand name products that we've become familiar with have in most cases you know gotten better I think that we have a problem in this country with consumer protection laws and the lack thereof
[speaker002:] yeah I agree with you yeah
[speaker001:] for for a lot of things there's some real junky mail order places out there um that we've ordered from in the past and ended up with not what we expected and having an absolute nightmare especially in dealing with a mail order in trying to return a product and get satisfaction I it it seems like every time I turn around I have to write one of my world famous complaint letters to try and resolve these situations with these kinds of mail order places
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] uh but you know generally speaking I think products in most cases have gotten better than they were in the in the past
[speaker002:] yeah yeah I agree with you there yeah um usually I think it's it's not even the manufacturer so much as it's where you yes well like like where with you buy your stuff I guess a lot of your stuff mail order but if you buy it like if you go to like a uh a retail place like I don't know uh uh uh Silo or one of these you know they're usually the ones that are giving you the you know they give you a hard time
[speaker001:] yeah oh yeah I'm not happy at all with Silo I we have every time you look around and there there's a price that's better somewhere else I there's a lot of rip-offs out there uh even in parts of the retail uh community as far as uh you know they there seems to be this real lack of ability in dealing well with customer service
[speaker002:] right
[speaker001:] with and product support for a lot of these products I remembered when I you know certain product names where you'd get the product and immediately there's a problem with it and it needs to be upgraded and suddenly it's your responsibility to pay all of this money to have it done when it was their fault to begin with
[speaker002:] right yeah yeah
[speaker001:] that that really irks me and I you know I'm not use to that and with technology you know I've had some answering machines here die very quickly yet other brand names you know Panasonic and that that little that I can drop on the floor and they still work
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] it you you really these days because we don't everything's been deregulated we don't seem to care as much about consumer protection if you aren't ultrawise uh in shopping and looking for products you're in real trouble
[speaker002:] uh yeah I agree with you
[speaker001:] I mean you have to have your consumer reports you got to have um you know David Horowitz and and all these things it's just to buy something I mean the the amount of money you have to spend on some of this high technology
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] today and then you have these brand names that attempt to mimic the the these brand names that we know
[speaker002:] right
[speaker001:] and then you're you're if you're not informed as a consumer you end up with absolute junk
[speaker002:] yeah it's it's true that's happened to me I'm I mean I've gone uh when when Walkman's first came out uh I I think I had I bought two when they first came out I just a radio one and then I had a radio and a cassette one and or just the cassette one
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] and uh the one was Panasonic and the other one was like not even a brand name but those both lasted me for like three years and then I mean then within the past year and a half two years I've probably gone through about six of them
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] you know and and I really don't think I'm abusive or any I'm not you know
[speaker001:] well yeah they do they wear out I we've just had an RCA television that we bought two years ago go up and just decide I'm not working anymore and you know before you buy TV it's like ten fifteen years
[speaker002:] they're just uh-huh  yeah yeah
[speaker001:] but now I mean two years we're having trouble excuse me
[speaker002:] yeah yeah I mean that's really um it's it's it's even with cars now too I mean it it in every area in every any kind of product
[speaker001:] oh yeah I mean we have a Buick uh eighty five Park Avenue that you know once you past the three year point everything just started falling apart
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] and and by the time we're done I mean we could've bought a whole new car for the amount of money
[speaker002:] yeah it's yeah it's true sad but it's yeah you know and uh how about these places where you go like out in Silo I think it's Silo no uh there is a store uh The Appliance Store I don't I don't think I think their local is just uh western Pennsylvania but uh whenever you go there they try to sell you the insurance you know
[speaker001:] oh yes
[speaker002:] you know where you want to extend your warranty of course I'm I know other places do this too you know
[speaker001:] oh yeah the the worst value is because if something goes wrong it's generally in the first thirty or sixty days that you own it
[speaker002:] right
[speaker001:] oh they do that on VCR and it's high pressure I mean it's like well you know you must be stupid if you're not going to buy this why
[speaker002:] right yeah yeah they really try to you know tack on another fifty sixty dollars
[speaker001:] we have