I have a crappy brand too. I bought it for Mandy's tail ... her fur is abnormally long and doesn't "flow" with the rest of her so I trim it. I didn't want something expensive because it's not a huge deal as her fur never matted or anything. But, what I found worked was to just cut closer to the joint of the shears. I guess you can do that in the meantime until you get another one, or just live with it like I do