You get what you pay for
Not always, Ben. I'd sooner have a brand new Beko over any of the Zanussi Flexidose machines and the Beko's are far cheaper. They're actually proving to be pretty fantastic machines.
Jon's (lavamat_jon) Mum has actually upgraded from a 5kg Miele to a 9kg Beko and both Jon and his Mum have nothing but praise for it.
Haier, on the other hand, I agree with. Not because it's made in China - these days, the country of origin seems to have very little impact on the actual product, but just because they're horribly unreliable. My ex's sister had one branded HAUS exclusively for Argos and although it washed really well (deep rinses, distribution tumbles), it was forever breaking down, was the single loudest machine I've ever used and took a week just to finish a cycle.