2018 Shonky Awards, you wouldn't believe what dodgy products are out there!

Be careful


Article heading image for 2018 Shonky Awards, you wouldn't believe what dodgy products are out there!

The Shonky awards are a faux celebration of all the dodge and misleading products that are available across every market in Australia. From toasters that don’t toast to alarming banking accounts aimed at children there have been some shockers out there in 2018, and here is what you have to look out for!

Marriott Timeshare

Holiday timeshare schemes are often sold as an investment, but Marriot’s Vacation Club International could not be further from the truth. Buyers were locked into a 40 year contract that effectively met it would cost you $450,000 to stay in a Gold Coast apartment in high season, if you only visited once a year for the contract lifetime. Just under $155,000 would be due in the first five years of the contract… a bad, bad, bad investment.

Commonwealth Dollarmites Saving Accounts

The recent Royal Commission has shone a light on the immoral practices of the banks. The Dollarmite scheme targets primary school children and is offered in schools. Why would teachers agree? Well, there is a $200 school commission when the first student customer is signed up, and ongoing benefits depending on how many students and the number of deposits each class member makes.  Surely this sort of behaviour needs to be banned from our schools!

Portacots

There doesn’t seem to be many safe portacots on the market.60 have been tested by regulators since 2011 and the vast majority have failed to meet safety standards. Failings often against standards of possible suffocation, falls, instability (tipping over), robustness of locks, and head or neck entrapment were made mandatory in 2010, and portacot brands seem unable to comply. Some products have been recalled but many are still on the market, be careful.

KitchenAid 2 Slice toaster

Toasters have one basic function. To toast bread. This particular brand, the Kitchen Aid 2 Slice, doesn’t seem to be able to do this at all, rather just warming the bread even on maximum setting. Therefore , making this ‘toaster’ really just a temporary bread holder.

Nutrigrain Smash

Marketed as a pouch that can satisfy your hunger and give you energy for the day, you merely have to read the fine print to see that the protein inside the ‘ironman food’ is only 5.6g, almost three times less the sugar content, which stands at 14.7g. I don’t think you’d see many iron-people eating that product!

8 October 2018




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