Quality control (or lack thereof)

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Simon
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Quality control (or lack thereof)

Post by Simon »

I'm getting pretty fed up of what factories allow to leave their gates.

Looking around the lounge I'm sitting in, everything is new since I moved here nearly 4 years ago.

The sofas (electric recliners) came from DFS, because they have a British factory and I wanted to support British jobs, and hopefully it would arrive quicker. But one of them hasn't been right since it arrived - the squabs have a gap between them that you can fit a remote control through and are rubbing against the outer arms as the thing reclines. DFS sent an upholsterer around as I reported the very next day after delivery. He claimed my floor was not flat (an optical illusion created by the squabs and seat fronts not being square) and stuffed some cardboard down between the frame and the arms on the right hand side to try and stop it squeaking. On reflection I massively regret not rejecting the faulty sofa as soon as that chancer left.

Next is the TV unit. It came from Argos (but wasn't made by them - it's a common design that's available in a number of shops). The first arrived with a dent in the oak top. We phoned straight after it was delivered and they offered £70 if we kept it. We agreed, but later in the afternoon noticed more small dents in the painted soft wood front and phoned again to tell them to forget the £70 and just swap it out with a new unit. The replacement arrived a couple of weeks later and the right door on the front isn't perfectly rectangular, meaning the gaps around the edge are uneven and it nearly rubs the frame at the top. And the middle shelf has been cut a mm or two short, so that there's an uneven gap around the edge of it. I gave up holding out for a good unit. I regret that too.

We had a new nest of oak side tables delivered from Oak Furnitureland 2 weeks ago, after an 8 week wait. The largest of the 3 hasn't been cut or built right, so that one of the legs isn't vertical. It's particularly noticeable when the tables are all nested as you can see the one wonky leg compared to the two it's next to. This is despite having a 'Quality Checked' label underneath the smallest table so someone has actually put his or her name to that after an inspection. I noticed the fault as soon as it was unpacked. I contacted them straight away. We need to wait till the end of December for them to manufacture, import and deliver the replacement. If the replacement isn't perfect I will keep contacting them and arranging replacements until a good one shows up.

In the corner of the lounge is my son's cot/pushchair. It's a Silver Cross one, and the design is very good. However, when it first arrived some of the 'poppers' that hold the cot liner into the cot were missing or broken. I lodged the issue with Mothercare, where we got it from. They promised they'd get a new one sent out. After 3 or so weeks of inactivity I tweeted Mothercare and Silver Cross together, detailing the issue and by chance new cot liners arrived a week later from both Mothercare AND Silver Cross. So now I have a spare.

Some of you may remember that we've ordered a new floor lamp for the lounge (smart lighting thread). It arrived today after a trip over from the retailer in Germany - A German brand, and I assume manufacturer. The metal base is damaged. It has an impression in it, I assume from the factory, as it's impossible that it was done in shipping, what with where the dent is. I will be phoning them tomorrow for a replacement. I notice that they've even out of stock on the website now, so good knows how long this will take to sort out.

All of these issues occurred in the factory. None of the things are high volume enough to have been completely manufactured and packed by robot so all of these have a human factor involved. Save for our new TV (Sony, faultless) these are all the big ticket items we've bought over the last 18 months or so and all of them have issues. It's not related to cost of the item, country of origin or anything. It's just that too many products are making their way out of factories in a poor condition, and I wonder how many other people just accept such issues. In future, I won't be. Everything gets returned or replaced if this happens again.

I've had enough.

tl;dr. People can't make stuff properly any more.
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V8Granite
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Re: Quality control (or lack thereof)

Post by V8Granite »

I think that one of the biggest issues is with delivery drivers.

We have a regular DPD driver who is excellent, even his van is segregated and neatly packed. It’s the same with John Lewis deliveries, they clearly pay well enough to get people who do a good job. Nearly everything else that gets delivered (mainly through Amazon) looks like it was bashed about all day before arriving.

Also, quality control stickers, I think they are put on automatically by a machine in the packing process :lol:

Dave!
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dinny_g
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Re: Quality control (or lack thereof)

Post by dinny_g »

I bought a Fire Pit recently and the insert looked like it has been kicked about the workshop a bit. IT was also way less than square and a few fastenings were already threaded.

But I didn't send it back - I probably should have but I knew 3 or 4 fires in, it would look like a used fire pit so I didn't mind
JLv3.0 wrote: Thu Jun 21, 2018 4:26 pm I say this rarely Dave, but listen to Dinny because he's right.
Rich B wrote: Thu Jun 02, 2022 1:57 pm but Dinny was right…
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Barry
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Re: Quality control (or lack thereof)

Post by Barry »

QC is like most things these days, its cheaper not to bother and deal with the fall out. Same with faulty car recalls, lawsuits etc. An insight into how the world revolves sadly.

It's a bugbear of mine too, as we spend a huge amount of time trying to eliminate bugs before the product hits consumers, and quite some time after trying to fix new issues. We roll out updates for months, voluntarily.
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integrale_evo
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Re: Quality control (or lack thereof)

Post by integrale_evo »

As someone who works in manufacturing it’s not hard to see standards slipping.

Too many people sat around at the top with little clue what’s going on on the factory floor. Trying to push output at the expense of quality with fewer workers.

Add to that the fact that it’s near impossible to find anyone who takes pride in doing a decent job. Of the 10 or so new starters over the past year or so I’d say only 2 make decent workers. If the rest are a fair sample of the ‘best’ that come for interviews then no wonder standards are slipping.

We’re payed alright for what we do too, but a lot of people aren’t. No wonder people can’t be bothered to put any effort in when you can earn the same living wage stacking shelves with zero brain activity involved.
Cheers, Harry
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Beany
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Re: Quality control (or lack thereof)

Post by Beany »

integrale_evo wrote: Wed Nov 25, 2020 9:19 pm We’re payed alright for what we do too, but a lot of people aren’t. No wonder people can’t be bothered to put any effort in when you can earn the same living wage stacking shelves with zero brain activity involved.
Colleague pretty much runs an entire division of the company single handedly.

He kept asking for a pay review, kept getting pushed back.

He then pointed out he could get paid only slightly less to stack shelves at Aldi, and explained that was his next step.

And behold, pay rise.

Late stage capitalism is a phrase that gets thrown around a lot, but the 'maximum profit, and damn anything and anyone else' attitude that's around these days has a lot to answer for in a variety of industries.
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Swervin_Mervin
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Re: Quality control (or lack thereof)

Post by Swervin_Mervin »

Beany wrote: Wed Nov 25, 2020 10:33 pm
integrale_evo wrote: Wed Nov 25, 2020 9:19 pm We’re payed alright for what we do too, but a lot of people aren’t. No wonder people can’t be bothered to put any effort in when you can earn the same living wage stacking shelves with zero brain activity involved.
Colleague pretty much runs an entire division of the company single handedly.

He kept asking for a pay review, kept getting pushed back.

He then pointed out he could get paid only slightly less to stack shelves at Aldi, and explained that was his next step.

And behold, pay rise.

Late stage capitalism is a phrase that gets thrown around a lot, but the 'maximum profit, and damn anything and anyone else' attitude that's around these days has a lot to answer for in a variety of industries.
I think we're well and truly post-capitalism now tbh.
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Simon
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Re: Quality control (or lack thereof)

Post by Simon »

3 more for you.

We bought Silver Cross nursery furniture in a sale about a year ago. The cot turned up with a damaged side panel. Had to get that replaced by them. (Silver Cross not getting a good showing for quality control in this thread).

My father spent about £2500 on a new Nathan sideboard and display cabinet to go on top of it about 3 years ago. It sat in his hallway for ages as they were still decorating the new lounge. I finally went round to move it into position a couple of months ago, along with doing the only neccessary bits of post delivery assembly - mainly consisting of putting in the glass shelves. Only, the shelf on the left didn't fit. The door had been fitted too recessed into the cabinet so that there wasn't room for the full shelf depth. And it wasn't an issue I could sort by simply adjusting the hinge. It was a full 10mm too deep, and there was only 3-4mm of adjustment in the hinge. I had to take it off, re-drill the holes and remount it. Then un-pin the door gap 'hider' trim that sits behind the door and re-tack it further forward. It took hours to do neatly. Despite having a 5 year warranty Dad was reluctant to get Nathan to sort it as it'd been delivered about 3 years prior and he'd feel silly raising the issue so late.

And finally...

Setup the new lounge lamp yesterday (company are sending out a replacement but say we don't need to return the damaged one), and I can't get any phone in the house to connect to the new Hue Bluetooth bulbs. Not even a bluetooth scanner app can see them. After 45 minutes of cursing and Googling it turns out I'd accidentally bought the earlier non-Bluetooth model. :oops: :roll:
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KiwiDave
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Re: Quality control (or lack thereof)

Post by KiwiDave »

It's a problem we've made for ourselves. I was thinking - 'who makes stuff that is renowned for good quality and QC?' and my mind went straight to Apple and LEGO. Even to Canon for their cameras to a slightly lesser extent. To a tee, every company in that position is also endlessly criticised for their products being too expensive, or that you don't get enough for what it costs.

Canon lens vs Sigma lens - $3k vs $1500, most buy cheap and then moan when they're among the 95% who got a shitter.
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Simon
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Re: Quality control (or lack thereof)

Post by Simon »

Well surprise surprise the replacement nest of tables have arrived and they're faulty also. Already arranging a return of them.
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Simon
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Re: Quality control (or lack thereof)

Post by Simon »

Simon wrote: Wed Dec 30, 2020 12:29 pm Well surprise surprise the replacement nest of tables have arrived and they're faulty also. Already arranging a return of them.
Further update.

Third set of tables arrived and they're still not right, but it's the sort of 'not right' I can sort with some wood glue and some time. At least it's not got wonky legs.

The second lamp arrived and it's worse than the first. What's frustrating is that it's out of stock at the retailer/manufacturer for a long time, so I was surprised to see a dispatch email from them and when I checked it was still out of stock on the site. What arrived is clearly another customer's return as the base is dented a LOT and it wasn't even packaged right. I contacted them and said 'stop sending me multiple faulty lamps and just send me 1 perfect lamp'. They are refunding it and said not to even bother returning it due to border/customs problems (and what do they want with a faulty lamp?). So now we have 2 imperfect lamps and our money back. AND a 10% off code for anything else on their site.

Finally we ordered a new light shade for the lounge ceiling light, from Dunelm. It arrived today. It's faulty. It's going back. Again, they were out of stock the other day yet it suddenly came into stock yesterday and we ordered it. Clearly another customer return as there were tell-tale packaging signs that it'd been another customers, and also it's straight out of stock again. Not a coincidence, clearly.

Count:

3 nests of tables, 2 lamps and a lightshade. NOTHING that we've ordered to decorate this house has arrived without issue.
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