Centrex???

[pulsatron]

Just a quick question, does anybody have any knowledge of a seemingly new company called Centrex?,according to their website they were established here in Australia a couple of years ago I would be curious to know if it is it's own company or just a cheap no-frills version of another company.
Many Thanks.
Cheers Steve.

 

[polkanut]

What is it that they manufacture? If you Google the word Centrex, you get quite a few different companies by that name.

 

[Designgeek]

In the USA, Centrex refers to an office telephone system that does not use a PBX, but where each person has a direct line from the telco, and the PBX features are provided by the telco's central office. It's more expensive than a PBX over the years and somewhat less flexible, but it has the advantage that each user has their own outside line, which is useful in places that have very high call volume.

The Centrex feature package can be used to provide some enhancements in outside lines serving regular PBX installations, but that gets into the arcane side of PBX engineering, which is offtopic here.

Anyway, set up your google searches to exclude the words "phone system" and that will filter out all that stuff since it's not pertinent to what you're looking for.

 

[arrrooohhh]

Centrex is just a brand name slapped on really horrible cheap chinese imports. Its a small Australian firm importing them, who knows what other brand names they have been sold under, though they dont seem to have any similarity to the danby/avanit or Haier machines.

 

[pulsatron]

sorry and thanks

Apologies to Polkanut and Designgeek,I should have been more specific in my question, sorry again, here in Oz Centrex is an appliance company.
Thank you Arrrooohhh,you seem to have answered it for me obviously they don't manufacture these things ,they just import them from China(where else?),are they really that bad?,you see I have an appliance store next door to where I work and often see the guys unloading their stock and yesterday(Friday),they were unpacking a heap of Centrex products including a 6kg T.L.Washer and a cute 6kg Twin-Tub and a couple of televisions.
Thanks once again and apologies again to Designgeek and Polkanut.
Cheers.
Steve.

 

[Cybrvanr]

Southerners will probably recognize the name Centrex because they make manufactured homes. A manufactured home is a bit better than the trashy "trailer home", even though they make it to their final destination the same way. It's really hard to tell a manufactured home these days apart from a site-built home. Centrex, and Oakwood are two of the most popular manufactured home builders in the southeast!

 

[gizmo]

A couple of my neighbours and my sister all have Centrex TVs, all are happy with them. They are cheap but there are worse.

The name isn't new, Centrex was an alternative brand name for Pioneer audio equipment. In fact I still have and use a Centrex 3-in-1 stereo, I keep it because the radio in it gets particularly clear reception, more modern radios with ICs instead of individual transistors generally have crummy tuners and we are in a weak signal area. Old radios work best here, I also have two old GE Superadios and nothing beats them.
My stereo is branded "Centrex by Pioneer."

Of course there is probably no connection with the new stuff, old brands are reappearing in cheap junk, I have seen "Pye" electronic stuff again recently, and Harvey Norman stores have resurrected the "Celestial" brand name on their cheap Chinese junk, not a good omen I'd have thought as that used to be the store brand for Waltons stores before they went broke.

Chris.

 

[mattywashboy]

i know someone who has a centrex washer, they have no complaints, it has a stainless steel drum etc so it doesn't seem to be falling apart anytime soon. I did try and recommend a more well known brand such as fisher and paykel or simpson but as he knows nothing of washing machines he just went for the first one he saw in the brochure, which happened to be the cheapest and was a Centrex. But he still insists it does the job and that if it dies in the next two years i can say i told ya so.
Matt

 

[pulsatron]

Pye and Celestial

Hi Chris,
You are correct the old "Celestial" brand was the home brand of Waltons stores as one of my aunts used to have a Celestial sewing machine and I believe they used to do an automatic washer and one or two other things as well.
As for Pye,I have also seen a Pye colour television/monitor at the Good Guys.This is a bit scary to admit, but I also remember the old Pye advertising slogan it was"You can rely on Pye.",one of their most famous products was the "Pye cleaning buggy" which was a vacuum cleaner, and also if I remember correctly we have an old Pye fan in the garage as well.
Cheers.
Steve.