An epidemic of broken and newly purchased devices is spreading massively on the Macedonian market. Citizens cannot be happy about the freshly paid off washing machine, the stove with an induction plate, or the boiler, and they already have to argue with the merchants or turn to service centers. What will come out of the package is like bingo. In recent years, the poor quality of white goods crosses all borders, because despite the high prices, almost every second dishwasher or dryer, refrigerator, stove and hob, not to mention laptop computers, televisions and mobile phones, are brought home. with some defect.

And then comes the second stage – problem solving, which will wear your nerves until you get things right. On social networks and in the media, you can hear and read such complaints that the laptop broke down due to the wrong insertion of the power jack! Or that the aggressive rubbing with abrasives is to blame for the ceramic plate on the stove cracking!

- I bought a new washing machine and then the problems started. When it spins it's like grinding stones. The device is under warranty, and the service technicians are joking, it was not properly centered, I have washed less clothes, I have put sports shoes on you... They will come and give me a lecture, and the shaking and ugly noises do not stop us. I am so desperate that I even recorded the machine, but they make a fool of me again - Ana from Skopje is outraged.

An earlier report by the European Consumer Centre, conveyed the view of their researchers that today's white goods, or electronic devices, are purposely made to have a shorter lifespan. The report "Programmed obsolescence, a product of the consumer society" cites numerous examples of how consumers receive a final product that already knows in advance when it will expire. As stated, one of the cases is new washing machines, which are programmed to last from 2.000 to 2.500 washes!

The statistics of the Consumers' Organization, which last year received as many as 822 complaints about the purchase of home appliances, out of a total of 1.523 reported problems in trade, also show that citizens do not speak by heart.

- The largest number of complaints related to problems with exercising warranty rights and product servicing, especially white goods and other technical devices. The revolt is present, because consumers are waiting for a long time for the product to be serviced and repaired. Not to mention the increasingly intensive sale of products with factory defects and damage - the Consumers' Organization of Macedonia (OPM) points out to "Sloboden Pechat".

- We decided on a refrigerator from one of the most expensive European brands and it broke after a short time. Now it is sitting like a decoration, because we were told that the authorized service in the country has closed. They jokingly recommend us to look for a service somewhere in the nearby neighborhood - says another woman from Skopje.

And in some of the leading service centers in the country, of course, they anonymously brief us that the issue of the quality of technical devices is more focused on the global economy and production than on them.

- What we can confirm for sure is that customers rarely decide to repair after the warranty period expires than before. The possible reason is that the technical devices are no longer so expensive, but the most essential thing is that there are neither masters nor spare parts - say experts for "Sloboden Pechat".

What is an "expertly programmed error"?

In the research of the "European Consumer Center", doubts have been expressed that the wear and tear of products in Europe is deliberately planned, so that consumers are forced to buy more often. Most often it is a "functional error" of a product. When only one part fails, the entire dishwasher, washing machine or, say, iron stops working. This also applies to almost all electrical or electronic products - televisions, mobile phones, computers...

Experts claim that this phenomenon is called "expertly programmed error" and has been around for years. Each product is tested for durability, if it is a mechanical product, for a precisely determined number of working hours and which must correspond to the warranty period. It's the same with electronics, where (it's an open secret) bugs are often introduced by software. As foreign media write, mobile phones (the "smart" ones) are a special story, as they often suffer from a "functional error". Additional equipment is almost impossible to get after a while because it is no longer produced, and for the latest applications you also need the latest smartphone model.