DON'T Buy a TOASTEC!!! (Russell Hobbs Classic 2 Slice Toaster)

Member Name: sidneygee

Product:	Russell Hobbs Classic 2 Slice Toaster
Date:	31/10/02 (1243 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Bought from John Lewis, 'Correct' Matte-Steel finish, Warms your buns

Disadvantages: Heap of ****

I am rather fond of a spot of toast in the morning for my breakfast, so a toaster rarely lasts more than 4 or 5 years in the Gee household. I have also bought toasters for the 3 children whilst they have been off at University and, in general, I have been happy with my purchases.

Morphy Richards/Tefal/Hinari/Russell Hobbs are all names that have graced our breakfast bars and, in March this year, the three years' old Hinari that was at our son's flat finally gave up the holy ghost and expired (no-power-no-pop-up syndrome).

Since we were just having our kitchen refitted, the white Tefal long-slot toaster that we had had for the past 3 years was passed on to son, the Hinari slung 'in the bucket' (as we call the dust bin, up here in bonny Edimbro'), and I was 'in the market' again.

So I was given a strict set of requirements for the replacement - "matte stainless steel finish, and not too large", to fit in with the stainless steel appliance set-up we were having installed in the kitchen That put paid to my desire for a nice 4-slice Duralit - or even a 2 slicer or 3-slicer - have you seen how enormous they are (as well as expensive) ?

So, doon to John Lewis at the St James Shopping Centre at the East End of Princes Street. There was not a lot of choice that complied with Heather's specification, but the "Russell Hobbs Classic TOASTEC 2 Slice Toaster" seemed to fit the bill.

Now this is slightly different from the model featured in this sector and written so enthusiastically about by kezbomb and fallguy. The model number is "9376", rather than "9296", and it is a little more expensive than that model. I paid £28 at 'John Lewis', compared with £24 for the 'Standard' Classic Toaster (in Chrome), and Argos currently lists the models at £33.50 and £27.75.

So, what makes this toaster so special? Well, the 'TOASTEC' sy

stem claims that it ".. makes perfect toast by crisping the bread rapidly on the outside, keeping it moist in the centre..".

Instead of having a small knob and two buttons, the one endowed with 'TOASTEC' has a larger (arguably more appealing!) knob, and FOUR buttons, each with a red warning light. It also has two removable sandwich racks (for toasting sandwiches), and a bum-warming* rack. It looks magnificent, until you look closer when you realise it is made of poorly assembled rough satin steel-finished metal pressings, so that curved sides don't exactly fit with the curve of the top - but hell, what can you expect for £28 these days?

What other useful features attracted me? Well, those extra buttons are not there for decoration -

1 allows rapid cancelling of the toasting process. This has probably been one of the most useful controls (see below);

2 the next allows you to toast bagels, with the " .. toasting time altered automatically to give your bagel the same degree of browning you like on your toast". WOW!!! - if you like bagels;

3 the next allows you to reheat your toast -"... a short burst of heat before popping up";

4 and lastly, you have a button to deal with frozen bread, so that the "..toasting time will be altered automatically". Yawn.

Oh, and what about the larger 'Knob'? This is calibrated from 'Min' to 'Max', decorated with numbers 1 through to 6 in between. I say 'decorated' because they seemed to serve little useful function.

A PIECE OF TOAST?
Right, enough of the technical details, how well did the device fulfil these exotic promises?
Well, it really didn't. There were the following faults:

1 From the start, I found that for bread, if you operated it at settings higher than the absolute minimum setting, then, after the first slice you toasted, you had to s
tand
over it to ensure that it did not burn the next slices.

Now, I am a bit of a lazy so-and-so and did not relish taking the device back to complain, so I put up with this problem. I never used it for bagels (cannot see why anyone 'raves' about these ethnic specialities), or for toasting sandwiches, or for warming Heather's buns, so I cannot comment on those features.

Also, for some reason probably connected with these special 'TOASTEC' features, when this toaster burns bread, it produces a smell of burnt toast that is worst than that produced by any other toaster. Smells like some new Chemical weapon, and upset Heather's composure on many-a-morning. This Heather with an 'upset composure' is NOT a pretty sight, I should add. Probably something to do with having 'hotter' elements - the toaster NOT Heather !

2 The basic design of toasters is the same the world over. There are one, two or more slots, and a lever at the side that you push down. Pushing down this lever lowers 'bread supports' to the bottom of the slot and the elements on each side of the slot are turned on and toast your bread.

With this toaster, you find that the toast supports are too narrow for the slots and flat-bottomed, so that thin-sliced bread or pancakes slip down the side of the supports. Extracting these recalcitrant slices would be a problem to defeat Sidneygee's patience in the morning - particularly one where he has a morning appointment, so the air became blue-ed as much from the language used against the toaster as that produced it over-doing the toasting process.

A PIECE OF LUCK !
After exactly 3 months use (to the day), I placed nice hunks of sesame-seeded French bread into each slot (mmmmm! delicious!!) and depressed the side lever, turned my back to make the tea, and PHUT!!!! I turned around to see a wisp of smoke rising out of the right-hand slot. I pushed down
the lever and - NOTHING !. The fuse in the plug had blown, but replacement did not make any difference.

Twas so fortunate that I had bought from John Lewis, because - unlike Comet/Currys/Dixons - there is never a problem with getting action from this store. I took the toaster and its receipt back to their Appliance Service Desk and explained the problem. They checked the fuse (not blown), and the toaster (not working) and offered me an immediate replacement or an alternative toaster with a cash adjustment either side. I also spoke to the guy about my other complaints about the performance of the model, and he confirmed that they had other purchasers making the same point and others had been returned to Russell Hobbs 'for attention'.

I opened a new boxed example below the display shelf, but it had the same design of 'bread supporter', so there was no sign of any design modification on those delivered that week.

So we close a Tefal ! And I recommend that you consider doing the same and certainly avoid anything marked with the 'TOASTEC' accolade.


Copyright Sidneygee 2002

*This was a genuine typo, but I decided to leave it in - I'm like that .....

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