Spare parts - exorbitant prices

Thumbs down to Brevilles Rice box. A great appliance recommended by Choice however to buy a new non stick bowl costs more than a complete new appliance. Spare part also only available from one store in Australia.

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That seriously sucks.

However, I did find a genuine Breville bowl on eBay for $19.99 plus $9.99 postage if not collecting in person.

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Unfortunately like many products, they typically donā€™t stock parts as the product value is deemed to be low and the cost to stock replacements exceeds the cost of the appliance (esp. When labour for repair is also considered).

It is a shame particularly since some parts can be easily replaced to prolong a products life and also reduce the amount of waste generated. Replacement/spares shouldnā€™t be news to a company because if their products are good quality and have potentally long working lives, replacement would be needed due to normal wear and tear or through accidential damage.

A non-stick bowls like that in the BRC460 is not expensive to make and one would think would be available as a cost effective replacement part compared to buying a new appliance.

I have had similar experiences with microwave (told to buy a new one by Panasonic as the cost to replace a synchronised motor would be more than a new oneā€¦even though the motor replacement is straight forward), rubber seals on stick blenders (which have a finite life and Sunbeam saying to buy a new one and offered a 30% discount if I bought it from their online store), rubber seals on sink waste traps (whereby Carona said to buy a whole new trap rather than just the washer) and the list goes on. Many of these parts should have replacements/spares available as they are the weakest link in the products and are likely to fail/need replacement before the while product reaches its end of life.

Have you tried contacting Breville directly?

See if they can do something for you. If the cooker is not too old and bowl has say lost its non-stick coating through normal use, one might be able to argue that it should be covered by the Australian Consumer Law.

If say the bowl was dropped and now damaged rendering it unusable, maybe Breville is willing to provide a replacement at a reasonable cost to keep a customer happy.

When making contact with Breville, indicate how much you like the product and how disappointed it is not to be able to readily find a spare bowl for it to allow you to have a long and enjoy future service life with it.

Let us know how you get on.

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Breville will probably classify the bowl as an expendable as they did when I called them some years ago regarding a stuck folding mixing paddle in a breadmaker.

However, the lady did provide some helpful advice on how to free the paddle up.

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Hi. Thanks for reply.
The ebay one is used and am a bit suss about buying a used one sight unseen.
Breville spare parts section donā€™t have any for the Rice box.

Shame that manufacturers donā€™t supply spare parts as it is bad for the planet.

Samsung are also just as bad. We live in regional town and local repair people wonā€™t repair Samsung products such as washing machines because Samsung take months to send parts. To repair a Samsung washing machine we would have to hire a van and take it over 100 kms to nearest repair place that has all parts in stock. We ended up ditching the machine and buying a brand that can be repaired here.

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The other option is to see if there is another make or model which a comparable with the Breville one. Maybe (fingers crossed), there is one that will work as a replacement.

This might require some hunting and also guess work as well.

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Many of these products are made by using JIT principles (Just In Time) ie the parts are supplied/created just before needed to manufacture the final goods. This saves the manufacturer from having huge stocks of parts on hand to make their products, thus economy for them eg saves on space requirements, no large stocks of later redundant parts when new models are created. For the user however this can be a situation of what you are suffering ie a lack of spares. The cost to the manufacturer to keep large stocks of redundant/un-needed parts is such that they would rather replace or refund the goods if faulty within the guarantee/warranty period. I know it isnā€™t a satisfactory answer for many of us but the issue here is that many of these items have little margin between cost and profit and are meant to be sold in such quantities that it is volume of sales rather than lasting quality of goods the manufacturer is after ie disposable goods syndrome.

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I have been buying various items on eBay for the past 20 years and have never had a problem as I always look at the sellerā€™s rating and their returns policy.

This seller has a very high rating for some 941 sales and offers a free 30 day returns policy.

The images clearly show some minor scratches inside the bowl.

If it was me, I would buy it so as to keep the appliance operational for a fraction of the price of a new appliance or new bowl.

What is the problem with your existing bowl?

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Given the bowl coatings in cheap rice cookers always seem to have a short life:

1/ Breville and others could include a spare bowl with each product at minimal extra cost. Better for the planet, but not Breville share holders, perhaps?

2/ The other option is to splurge on a ā€˜realā€™ rice cooker. Stainless steel bowl, auto cook function optional.

Tefal, Panasonic, Toshiba etc there is a long list.
The fancier Japanese products can do a lot more than just rice, for a price. (From a few hundred dollars and up.)

Perhaps the $25 supermarket rice cooker doesnā€™t seem such a bad buy in comparison. We found the cheap bowls damaged too easily and the simple temperature control often produced inconsistent results.

We now use a good quality heavy base SS pot and the absorption method. Only one small extra step required, to turn the pot off halfway thru. More than just a rice cooker, it also works great on the gas when the power goes off.

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Another option is to put an add on Gumtree, Facebook etc for a bowl. It is possible there may be someone newrby that has the same rice cooker than has died recently (say heating element or circuit board failure) but still has it with the bowl. The bowl may be in very good condition and be given away/bought for a small price.

This may be also a good option as it takes someone elseā€™s waste, allows its reuse and gives it a new home.

The other otopin is to ring up a few of themajor appliance retailers to see if they have had any returns under warranty to see if you can buy the bowl/get from them. I expect that once the return appliance is processed for refund from the manufacturer, it is binned.

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Where does our obsession for single use appliances come from? I am just as guilty as everyone else. We need a rice cooker, bread maker, slow cooker, pressure cooker, stand mixer, hand mixer, stick blender, toaster oven, steam oven and the list goes on and on. I have reverted to my days as a caterer and now mainly use good knives, good pots, a wok, a blender, a food processor and my stand mixer. The microwave cooks the best rice, I make bread, biscuits and cakes in my stand mixer (KitchenAid) and all the other tasks are completed either in the oven or in a saucepan, frying pan or the wok.

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Convenience or cookery inexperience we all fall for one or both. Rice cookers, if you eat lots every night make sense if there is limited kitchen space, and only one or two burners/coils - as for many Asian house holds.

Of course a good Rice Cooker in Japan will cost a small fortune. Doubtless spare parts exist and they are repaired.

Any hints for cooking rice in the MW?

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Stir a couple of times during the cooking cycle to evenly distribute the heat throughout so the rice cooks evenly, we try to finish the cooking cycle a few minutes early and let the heat finish the cooking. Fluff with a fork so no clumping, and we like to rinse the rice before cooking.

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Rice cookers are more versatile than what one may initially think. They can cook rice, rice dishes (e.g. risotto type meals), meat dishes, casseroles, cakes and the list goes on.

We have two rice cookers, one for rice and one for other recipes. We are concerned that cooking other recipes may taint the rice cooker bowl and affect the taste of future cooked rice.

We also use the rice, rice cooker about 3-4 times a week and prefer rice cooked this way to MW, evaporation on stove or boiled.

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Itā€™s easy. Just wash the rice and place in a large microwave safe bowl. Boil the kettle and fill the bowl to 2cm above the level of the rice. cover with cling film, puch one or two small holes in it and place in the microwave on full power for 14 minutes (white rice) or 25 minutes (brown rice). Allow to stand for a couple of minutes to settle.

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I have one of the very popular Bosch Athlet stick vacuum cleaners and the charger has stopped working. I still donā€™t understand how a completely sealed no moving parts charger can just stop working but this is not my problem. I rang Bosch and they told me that a new one costs about $60 dollars. Thinking I may as well refresh the batteries while Iā€™m at it, I asked about new batteries. I was told it was over $400 for the batteries !! I know the argument in the past has been the cost of carrying spare parts but this is a very popular item still in use today so there must be a demand for spare batteries. Why throw away a perfectly good vacuum cleaner because if the batteries. This is a perfect example of inbuilt obsolescence.

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It may or may not be your problem. I could be a faulty charger unit or it may have been subject to something which caused its failure which isnā€™t the fault of the manufacturer. For example water incursion causing a short, lightning strike or voltage spike frying the circuitry, wires which have been pulled and disconnected internally etc.

This is one of the challenges when products move towards being driven by electrical energy, including batteries for convenience. The cost of battery replacement can be more than buying a new product which creates enormous eWaste.

The other challenge with many products is the batteries canā€™t be changed (are sealed within the device) or are very difficult to change without specialist tools. When a battery say fails/no longer keeps adequate charge, the whole product becomes eWaste.

With more an more importance on waste minimisation and recyclability to reduce depletion of the worldā€™s finite resources, manufacturers should be required to make products which can be readily serviced and repaired (this is a subject of another thread, the right to repair).

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This is a challenge of how businesses operate, more than a challenge of electric technology. We only need to look to printer ink to see a similar pattern

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On the charger, it was not subject to any water incursion but there may have been a spike which I cannot control. It was about 3 years old so whatever happened was something out of the ordinary or maybe faulty cheap wiring that just reached its use by date. 3 years and you have to throw away the whole vacuum cleaner. No wonder weā€™r are drowning in waste.

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I own a Belling 4 oven/5 gas burner stove. Recently, a globe in one of the ovens failed. I contacted Glen Dimplex, the agents, and was told that I could not just buy a replacement globe but had to purchase the cover as well. The cost was over $30 for a 40W globe, plus a $20+ delivery fee. What a rip off! I have since discovered that I can purchase a suitable globe for $10 through a local lighting retailer. Anyone out there have a similar experience?
Paul

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