6 Which? Don't Buy products to avoid this Amazon Prime Day

Taking place on 11 and 12 July 2023, Prime Day offers discounts on big-brand items to Amazon Prime subscribers.

But before you take your pick of the deals, it's worth knowing there are some items out there that are a bad deal at any price.

Below, we've shared some products to avoid on Amazon after our independent testing proved they're duds.

One appliance's running cost was nearly twice that of alternatives, while another product was described as 'appalling' by our experts. 

Find the  on this regularly updated article revealing the best discounts — with the bad deals excluded

Tower Optimum VL100 - £129

Tower Optimum

This cordless vacuum's most notable feature is how little dust, hair and dirt it vacuumed in our tests. While it's a decent hard floor cleaner, it does a bad job on carpet and upholstery. The minimum power mode is too weak as well, so you'd need to stick to full throttle. 

The inadequate filter means too many allergens are released back into your home (if you were able to vacuum them up in the first place). So cleaning your house with the Tower Optimum is an exercise in futility if you have a dust allergy. 

Fridgemaster MC55265AF - £299

Fridgemaster MC55265AF

It comes bearing an F energy rating – making it one of the least efficient on the market – and our own tests show it will cost you around £133.51 annually to run (under the April price cap). That's nearly double the running cost of some other fridge freezers of the same size. 

What do you get for such high energy usage? This fridge freezer doesn't chill groceries quickly, so your fresh produce deteriorates more quickly than it should. The thermostat isn't accurate, so you need to use trial and error to find the right setting — and adjusting it is a gamble. Not that it matters if you ever leave your kitchen unheated in the winter, because when your kitchen's cold (we tested it at around 10°C), this fridge freezer fails to regulate its own temperature.

Total Chef TCAF03 - £70

Total Chef air fryer TCAF03

This air fryer consistently botched our chips, leaving the top layer burnt and the bottom layer underfried. Because of poor circulation in the cooking chamber, you don't get the batches of golden-brown chips air fryers are famed for. 

For the privilege of poor cooking performance, it uses more energy to cook 100 grams of chips and chicken than we'd expect, so you get a sting on your electricity bills too. Since the Total Chef is a total disappointment, we recommend giving it a wide berth. 

Hisense 32A4EGTUK - £159

Hisense 32A4EGTUK

Our expert reviewer described this television's sound as 'appalling', saying 'we can’t imagine a TV sounding much worse than this'. The sound is distorted and hollow while the TV actually rattles when it plays.

Even if you hook it up to an external speaker, the picture isn't much good either. It can't handle motion, with an unpleasant juddering effect making movement an eyesore, while the TV's contrast is much too dark, turning the picture into a grey, dingy soup.  

Candy CDPH 2L 1049W-80 - £279

Candy CDPH 2L 1049W-80

This dishwasher is annoying to use and the lacklustre cleaning performance doesn't make up for it. The upper rack is a pain to adjust, while the control panel is a riddle to be solved since the modes are simply numbers with no context. If you turn to the instruction manual for the answers then you'll find it vague and, as our testers discovered, simply inaccurate in parts.  

On performance, we found the top rack doesn't wash as well as the bottom one and it leaves plates dirty. Rather than being washed away, small amounts of residue get redistributed from one object to another. And to top it all off, it's loud. Rather than emitting a muffled white noise, it produces an abrasive whirring, whining sound.

It has an eco mode that cuts electricity and water usage by a third, but this mode takes an extraordinarily long five hours to complete.

Salter EK4383 - £59

Salter EK4383

The Salter EK4383 sounds like a drill but it performs like a toy blender. Where great blenders make velvet-smooth drinks, this blender produces lumpy ones with whole pieces of fruit left unblended. If you introduce tough and fibrous ingredients, then you'll get a pulpy, scratchy drink. 

Considering the poor results, it's a mystery why this blender is so loud. 

What is a Which? Don't Buy?

Which? Don't Buys are products that have fallen so far below our expectations that we wouldn't recommend them to anybody under any circumstance. 

We're confident about our Don't Buy warnings because of our scientific testing, where products are tested rigorously, comparably and independently.

The products in this article all scored poorly in our tests. Typically, a product needs to score under 40% or 45% to be a Don't Buy, with different categories having different expectations.

In some cases, we might find issues that can compromise your safety and security. When this happens, not only will we make a product a Don't Buy, but we'll also apply a clear warning about what we found and what the risk is for consumers.

Get our expert tips for making smarter consumer choices. 

Which?'s recommendations

Which? logos

While we warn consumers about the worst money can buy, we have a range of awards that let you know which products are the very best so you can shop confidently.  

  • Currently, we have more than 2,038 Best Buy recommendations. These are products that have scored over a certain amount in our independent tests and are the very best money can buy. Our test scores ignore price, so a Best Buy is awarded based only on quality. 
  • We also have our Great Value badge, which we give to products that are at least 20% cheaper than the average price in a category and are good enough to recommend. This means you're getting a bargain with the quality to back it up, as verified by our tests. 
  • Finally, our Eco Buy badge identifies products that are particularly sustainable while also being great at their job. For example, an Eco Buy oven will use less energy than most while also coming from a brand that has a proven record for reliability, meaning its ovens last a long time without needing repair. And of course, our standardised tests need to prove the oven is a good product you'll be happy to own.
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    source https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/amazon-prime-day-dont-buys-aCoS27a8ssRK
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