Shocking customer service out of guarantee.

Smeg, we are led to believe through marketing is a good brand with a good quality product and service. My experience of their branding is very different. I purchased a Smeg toaster 4 years back and it worked very well until toasting rain-bread one day a raisin fell from the bread and touch one heating element. I hence took it to Smeg Cape Town to replace the faulty element only to be told that being out of guarantee it would need to be sent all the way back to the manufactures to be repaired and the cost of this would be more than the price of a new one. I asked what would have happened if it was still under guarantee? Ah! Then no problem, we do keep spares a to fix it. That response to a customer of their product was shocking. I destroyed that toaster on their showroom floor and told them to keep it. I will never purchase a Smeg product again and will advise everyone in my circle of friends to avoid Smeg products for this reason. I sincerely hope the parent company takes note, as Cape Town Smeg is destroying their company brand. They don't deserve to stay in business with such an attitude.