Today I was given a faulty piece of electronics 'for my amusement'. It's a thing called a 'Gear 4 House Party'. Almost needless to say like half the electronics out there that isn't a PC, it's designed as an add on to the I-Pod. It's an amplified speaker system with full remote control. They apparently sell for about £45, when they work that is.

This had been delivered to a shop and on unpacking was found to be faulty. The supplier replaced it but never bothered to collect the faulty one nor seemed interested in so doing. And so after several months of gathering dust, today I was given it cos I'm a hoarder like that you see.

I tried it and sure enough it was faulty. The lamps lit, the I-Pod powered up but music was there none. It was more dead than one of John Major's political speeches. And so I set about dismantling it. Or rather I tried to. There were no fixing screws visible. It plainly didn't just click apart either. So as it had been given to me and the eventual outcome was irrelevant I got my big boots on and went in mob handed.

Firstly the little stick on feet were prised off. No screws there. Then another larger sticky pad came off revealing two screws. these were removed, a plastic piece fell off revealing another two screws which were also removed and then...... nothing.

I was no further forward. Nothing moved. Nothing had even vaguely loosened. It was still stuck together tighter than the waterproof part of a duck's anatomy.

Note the word 'stuck' for hereby hangs the whole of the tale, for after spending nearly 2 hours attempting to prise the thing apart, whilst not quite resorting to small explosive charges, I had completely destroyed the case of the thing and still wasn't inside. Finally I was reduced to several large screwdrivers and a goodly hammer or two and - crash - it fell apart - in several pieces.

By now the loudspeaker magnets had succumbed to the pounding they had taken and long since departed this world and were hanging off by their wires.

Eventually the plastic cabinet remnants were completely removed and the bare circuit boards lay before me - as did what was clearly the original fault.

The supply lead from the power input socket to the amplifier mother board was not even plugged in and, because of where it was, clearly never had been (So much for the QA tested sticker on the back of the unit) I plugged it in, tagged a pair of old speakers onto the PCB and powered it up. It now worked perfectly.

However there's not much I can do with it as I'd had to destroy it to repair it.

Now here's my point ( reached eventually, sorry.). With a little bit of forward thinking and design, this unit could have been held together by as little as 2 screws through the cabinet base. But - oh deary me no - that would disturb the pleasingly smooth lines (or some such sales twaddle.). Instead it had been glued on every single mating surface including to the back of the loudspeakers.

There was absolutely no way these could ever be repaired.

It would seem that it's cheaper for the manufacturer to glue these things together, ship them out faulty and then just bin them than make them even remotely serviceable.

can someone please explain to me how this is good commercial practice?

Perhaps now, in the light of the "We ain't got no money any more" situation some manufacturers will realise that providing a repairable item instead of a 'use it and bin it' object which lasts 1 day over the warranty period will actually endear them to their purchasing public.

We are (well anyone under 30 is ) of a generation where new is good and old is - well just that - old. But when you're in a situation of no longer having two ha'pennies to rub together perhaps a return to the days of repairable goods is due to make a come back.

It's not just domestic electronics even cars have gone down this pathway. My neighbour's VW blew a headlamp. So he opened the bonnet and try as he might he couldn't work out how to change it. So he went to the main dealer to be told that he couldn't and that it was a repair that had to be done by a garage. he had no choice and he didn't get much change out of £100 for the pleasure.

So consider this. In the old days. You were driving home and a bulb went. You popped into the garage, got a replacement, opened the bonnet, took out the dead bulb, fitted the new bulb, closed the bonnet and were on your way.

Now? Well now you know why so many people risk driving with only one headlight. The cost, the time scale and the likelihood of being nicked by the old bill mean that - to hell with it - they take that chance as perhaps they only drive in the dark once or twice a month.

And so as we descend into the pit of monetary recession perhaps, just perhaps manufacturers will start having a rethink and perhaps, just perhaps things will take a turn for the better as regards the consumer with increasingly fewer pounds burning holes in his pockets.

We can but wait and see.