Rant--Quality control

Colonel · 10-07-2007, 03:56 PM

OK, I'm not a manufacturer's dream, I don't replace stuff just to have the newest fad. My cell phone does NOT take pictures, nor play music, etc. Second, I take care of my stuff, when I sold my 13 year old truck this spring the guy is ARGUING with me that I must have had it repainted because the paint was 'too good'. WTF would I LIE to him?

OK, I replaced my main TV in December, sound was going on it and it seemed like a good time to upgrade to HD. Bought it 12/8, last week I just got the THIRD TV they replaced under warrenty! First one lasted 6 months before the power switch got fussy. OK, fluke thing, get past it. For Christmas the kids got my an ipod shuffle for when I run/bike, etc. Guess what? I just turned #2 in as that one crapped out after 6 weeks! Turns out, according the the in-store 'genius' there's a design flaw in them. If you sweat with them (hello, running and biking.....) the sweat gets on the charging doc and shorts out the player.

And they pay engineers big bucks to design this crap!
OK, I feel better.

Alan

BTW, they don't even have a shuffle in the store, they need to special order it in! Fish, I'm finally running and biking w/o music! LOL

kingkop182 · 10-07-2007, 04:21 PM

I'm with you on this one Alan, my fairly new DVD player refuses to play original discs (will play copies though

) - this is the fourth time they've replaced it.

Terry Monk · 10-07-2007, 08:35 PM

I feel your pain. Many, many, MANY times I've often thought, "All I want is for ___ to work like it's supposed to, is that too much to ask?"

sharkattack · 10-10-2007, 11:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gymrat

I feel your pain. Many, many, MANY times I've often thought, "All I want is for ___ to work like it's supposed to, is that too much to ask?"

I'm with you on that. That's why I ride a Yamaha R1. Simply put it's the best bike I've owned....ever. ZERO issues/problems with it.

Mahler · 10-10-2007, 12:43 PM

You have discovered the Bill Gates method of sales.

Gates discovered long ago that you can put out a half-finished, shoddy product with tons of bugs in it and just let your customer tell you what's wrong with it. He then sends you the fix and makes you think he is doing you a favor.

There is no quality control anymore. Few items are actually tested for extended usage. It is cheaper for the manufacturer to sell as many as possible and play the percentages game with the number that come back.

You can just about bet that they know the running average of returns they will receive and that the cost of replacing those duds are built into the price of the unit.

The consumer is ALWAYS the loser.

Sign · 10-11-2007, 07:42 PM

With all the money they save in having the parts built in china/taiwan etc it is probably cheaper for them to handle a few repair complaints from people then to make sure every product is perfect. It is a shitty way to do business for sure but it seems to be the direction everything is heading now.

You know who else cashes in on this trend is places like Best Buy with their own optional coverage to cover damages as well.

Best advice I can give is to really research your purchases online and read as many reviews as possible. I almost ended up buying a Samsung 32" LCD but just before I went to buy it I read about 30 reviews of people all saying they had the sound go out after 6 months so I stopped and looked for a new TV. As buyers we have to be a lot more selective in what we buy now. Gone are the days when you could simply go to the store and say, "I like that one, I'll take it." and the people that do usually pay for it in the end in the way of repairs.