Originally Posted by sew n' sew
I own a Pfaff and Bernina. My local Pfaff dealer discouraged me from buying the new Pfaff because the quality of the machine has gone down so much because of the merger with Singer. Also, he siad it's very difficult to get the parts. He had been on hold with Pfaff for 45 min just trying to order a part. He said this is common practice now with Pfaff. He was very discouraged. Now, about the Bernina. When I was in the Bernina store, the repairman man told me that certain models of Bernina will now be made in China. He said the 440 series would now be made in China. He said if I was interested in that model, he still had 3 that were made in in Switzerland. Also, some of the new less expensive models are made in China.
I found this on the net: "The Bernina 220 is made in China in a Bernina factory. Which means it is a factory built by and owned by Bernina. The 220 features the same quality Bernina is famous for.
The Bernina Activa 220 is NOT built in China. It is manufactured in a Bernina-built factory in Thailand, opened by Hans-Peter Ueltschi personally. Unlike Singer, Viking, and so many others, these machines have strict quality control and strive to equal the full-size Swiss-made machines."
To me this just shows it's all about wording...people can spin things all around to get the desired effect. It seems Bernina is following along with the outsourcing practice. Practically everything we own or buy now is not made in the US. I'm so glad I won't be needing a new machine for a looooong time if ever. I was very happy with my Japanese built Janome and I'm thrilled with my Swiss made Bernina. I'm a multi-cultural sewing machine household:>