Quality control (or lack thereof)
Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2020 11:47 pm
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.
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.