Product Review

 A couple of months ago I decided I needed a new belt - my previous one had lasted for years and was getting slightly decrepit - so I went to the Bay and bought a "Perry Ellis Reversible Smooth Leather Belt"; all the belts were much of a muchness as far as price was concerned and it was about the plainest belt I could find.

It lasted about two months.

After it broke, I found that the leather, instead of being sewn around a metal bar to attach it to the buckle, as is normal with belts, was actually anchored inside the buckle to a couple of narrow metal posts. So all the stress of wearing the belt in any functional manner was concentrated in those points, which ripped the leather in, essentially, no time.

This is worse than shoddy workmanship; this is poor design. It does not go so far as to run afoul of the Sale of Goods Act ("merchantable quality" being the only key term), but it amounts to a latent defect serious enough that I would never buy any goods from that manufacturer again, and look askance at the Bay for their purchasing decisions.

I replaced the belt with one from Harry Rosen. The belt cost four times as much but at least I have confidence that it will last a reasonable time. (My main problem with Harry Rosen was finding a belt in my size plain enough; the one I would have preferred was not available in my size at the store but the next one down my list was.)