Well it depends, I never assume that branded means quality.
I spend money where it is critical e.g a Car ( spent huge money for this). Why? Because safety does not have a price. Plus I prefer more mechanical car rather than a car with gizmos. Yeah, call me stupid.
Never spend less on critical stuff like electrical wires, plugs, MCBs etc etc. Always try to get a costly 45 Rs Cona three pin holder rather than a cheap plastic one for 15 Rs.
On the other hand, there is no point in spending Thousands for replacing keyboard on laptop via Dell/HP/*, when I can do the same myself at a fraction of cost. Just order OEM part via ebay and iFixit in tow.
Why donate thousands of Rs to Samsung to fix GSM module for my S3, when I can do it myself by ordering the Module myself and little DIY session.
Why spend 500-600 for those Diwali lights, when I can get one 15 Mtr one for 100 Rs and it will last me 2-3 Diwalis and couple of functions.
I follow the same principle when buying groceries.
I usually prefer spending money on raw stuff rather than package branded junk.
Prefer spending money on exotic sea food and cook it myself ( Well I am good cook, especially non-vegetarian ) rather than spending in costly restaurants.
I prefer eating out only once every 2 months or so. Rest of the time, I cook at home. By exotic I mean real deal like crabs, squid, exotic fishes etc etc.
Sure it costs lot of money, but trust me after eating in star rated restaurants I can assure you, you save atleast 10 times the money you would spend in a star rated restaurant.
Mistakes which I did - I trusted a Desi brand and purchased IFB microwave, worst decision ever. Conked off couple of times. Now it is 4 year old and technician took some parts away from it and is delaying to fix it. On top of it, it was not cheap. Scumbags have no clue about quality. It is the most complex piece of machinery in my house, which also is most shiny and good looking *but* is one of the most unreliable possessions I ever had.
Thinking of buying a second hand Microwave (LG or Samsung) for half the price replacement parts would cost.
Another mistake :- Branded is good turned sour with Whirlpool. Spin tub conked off in 2 years, replacement started showing signs of wear in 3 months flat. Finally purchased a fully automatic front loading LG washing machine.
Never been more happier, works like a charm with lesser manual work and less back breaking.
In my experience reliability is subjective but I think Japanese > Koreans >>>> Europeans > Americans > Indians when it comes to household appliances. In fact, Americans and Indians are equal poop.
Exception to these rules are V-Guard and Havells. Haven't used any Havell's appliances in the long term though.
I did a mistake of buying my first mattress from a branded showroom and I was ripped off. Couple of months later when I went to smaller shop for some other work, asked the price of the same mattress and realized that I paid 4K extra for that stupid branded showroom lights
. Lesson learnt for rest of my life.
OT: I work in software industry and I can tell you this "chalta hai" attitude in ruining the Indian software industries. Managers and higher ups always push for fixing symptoms and never encourage elimination of root cause resulting in a blow up down the line. No wonder such people also work at IFB and Tata Motors.
One piece of advice to future Husbands and Family starters - Never ever show up in a showroom and buy like a dummy. Research online and take along your quotes. You can save money even on MRP in big brand outlets. Oh yes, I have done it
. I managed to get @
home to reduce a massing 7K on my Solid Dining table. Managed to save 4K over discount on my LG washing machine. Use that smartphone and 3G connection to good use.
Consumer awareness and knack to understand your requirements is very important.
You do not have to be pushy or outright cheap to negotiate, all you need is data and hard facts. That is all.
.
... I had always assumed that IFB was German.
