Not worth your time or money
Written: Nov 09 '02 (Updated Nov 09 '02)
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Pros: The auto shred feature is nice
Cons: Too many to list in this little line!
The Bottom Line: Spend a little extra money and get a heavy duty shredder, even for the home.
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| bncent's Full Review: Fellowes P400C-2 Shredder |
Where to begin? Like so many others, I was concerned about identity theft. All those evil credit card offers and catalogues, etc. After discussing it with others, I decided that I wanted to purchase a confetti cut shredder, and spend less than $50. I should have known when this was the only shredder fitting my criteria, that I was in trouble.
First and foremost, the "confetti" cut is not at all impressive. I actually think that it is less effective that the traditional strip cut because you can sometimes read an inch or two of text (which who knows, could be my account number or social security number???).
This confetti cut leads to my next complaint. The paper always jams. It does not matter if it is a single sheet (which was all we started to put in it) the paper always got caught. Then I would have to lift the very heavy top off and ruin my nails to pick out the jammed paper. Oh, and why didn't I simply put it in reverse? Because reverse just grumbled at me. Remember, this is off 1 piece of paper, and the basket would be no where near the top!
The machine also made a horrible sound that always made me cringe. Now this would happen even right after I had cleaned out the cutters! It sounded like I was putting a sheet of metal in the shredder, absolutely awful. So I wouldn't have to hear it as much, I started just removing the specific part of the letter/envelope I wanted to shred, so the entire sheet/envelope would not have to be run through the shredder.
Small basket the bin for the paper is very small, so I felt like I was constantly having to empty it. The heavy top made it very unsteady. If I had children, this would have concerned me a lot because it would be very easy for a young child to pull the shredder on top of them. Since we have a large cat, we put the shredder under a table and against a wall when it wasn't being used so that he wouldn't get hurt by it.
And finally, my shredder is now dead. After about one year of unfaithful service, it officially died, and now I cannot find my warranty information to see if there was anything I could do. A lesson learned to me - never buy the cheapest product.
Recommended:
No
Purchase Price (if leased, monthly payment): 40
Machine age (Months in use): approximately 12mths
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Epinions.com ID:
bncent
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Member: Brooke Ritzman
Location: Sonoma County, California
Reviews written: 12
Trusted by: 1 member
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