Dualit 4 Slice

We have a kettle that the switch won't stay down and a toaster, 4 slice, that only 2 work. The kettle is a replacement for one that had the same problem and we foolishly took the discount offered to buy another one. We have been offered a discount to buy both items again. Worried about buying more duds. Our previous Dualit toaster is still going, at my daughter's now, after 15 or more years. The products are not the same quality now. I would advise thinking about another brand. The old quality is not there now. Wish I knew that before buying.

We purchased a dualite toaster and kettle, both failed and the kettle cannot be repaired. We bought them because they are British with an apparently good record of reliability. Both machines were fine until failure so we have now dug out our old appliances which are still working reliably after years of us. Moral of the story, don't buy British!!

It's like new. It's a toaster for life. Period. Yeah, but it can't... yada yada yada. It's amazing.

Others have highlighted the problem with the timer. My smoke alarm was set off by burning toast because the timer stuck - I'm sure there will be countless health & safety angels who will remind me never to leave a toaster unattended, but that kinda defeats the object of buying a very expensive product in the first place. This product could cost lives, avoid.

We bought our first one from John Lewis (a retirement treat)in 2007. It came with a 5 year guarantee and after 4 years the timer failed (as so many others have reported). To be fair, John Lewis got a replacement for us and not a repair. Dualit should get a grip of this as it is such a dangerous isuue.

On another issue, the toaster won't accept a full slice of Hovis white snd we have to turn the bread upside down to finish it off. I wrote to Dualit to ask for their comments and got a very dismissive reply saying it was the bread makers fault as they have made their slices bigger!! I have written to Hovis to see if this is true as it sounds so unlikely.

Never worked properly from new, first the timer stuck and burnt the toast. When I had freed that up I discovered that it would burn the toast one side and underdo it the other in three out the four slots!

Tried to contact the company but received no joy or reply.

Amex supplied me with the toaster through their reward scheme otherwise I would have been appalled to have paid £179 for a toaster that doesn't toast.

Our Dualit toaster set fire to our house recently when the timer got stuck on (we thought the timer had stopped/returned to '0', as it was silent and not clicking), so we left the house for work. On returning, the house was filled with smoke, our two dogs distressed and the kitchen unit very burnt and black. Six fire crews came out and the unit had to be hacked out to remove the smouldering shelf. The kitchen still smells of smoke. On doing some research on Google we discovered to our shock this is a common problem and lots of people have had near-house fire experiences over many years all caused by the timer getting stuck. It appears to stop, and then start up again unnoticed. Dualit does know about the problem but doeasn't appear to care about this 'accident waiting to happen'. Someone could get burnt to death eventually. I would never buy a Dualit toaster again, and wouldn't have one in the house even if it were free!

For people who live with many people like me, this toaster is a godsend. It has 4 slots, so I don't need to keep waiting for it to be my turn. The toast is even, and it does toast more quickly than others. The slots are pretty wide and I can even place large slices inside.

Dualit DO NOT honour the warranty on their products. Incredibly poor customer service. They diagnosed a problem when product stopped working at 6 months old over the phone and told us we would have to pay repair fee's.

Looks nice. Makes nice toast if you have your wits about you first thing in the morning.

If you unplug it after use (as Dualit recommend to avoid the fire hazard), you will find that when you do want to use it you have to remember to plug it back in. Sounds obvious, but the timer switch makes a loud clicking noise which gives you the impression it's making your toast, when in fact it is simply clicking loudly round and the toaster isn't switched on. This is a bit annoying but the problem is only that your toast is still bread.

But more annoying is the fact that your timer will stop working at some point and if your toaster is plugged in and the timer hasn't finished, it simply heats and heats and heats until your kitchen is on fire.

Unless of course you are standing there watching it make your toast for you as Dualit recommend. Then you can turn it off when you spot the fire.

I feel most aggrieved about this because £200 is an awful lot for a toaster and now my husband can say, "I told you so".