Many of us often face a difficult quality choice: Should we buy from a "high quality" provider that charges a
premium for its products or a less-expensive supplier with generous return and service policies? As quality professionals, we should opt for the "high quality" provider because we know that the
chances of the product failing are lower. Unfortunately, economic reality often forces us to choose otherwise. In March I purchased a Hewlett-Packard (HP) personal computer for
home use from Costco. I was delighted by the computer's combination of features and low price. I knew that I was buying the "low end" model, but I expected the computer to fit my home use needs. All was well with my new HP for the first few months, but then the problems began. My computer started to lock up for no apparent reason. My experience with computers told me
that this was probably the result of the omnipotent Microsoft Windows 98 conflicting with another piece of software. I began looking for software conflicts but found none. I ran my virus checker;
it found no viruses. I uninstalled software that I didn't use much, and the situation didn't improve. My computer then began to give me ominous "Fatal
Exception Error" messages. As the word "fatal" seldom has positive connotations, I called HP technical support. I explained the situation, and the very nice technical support person was very
sympathetic. "Sounds like you picked up a virus," he said. "My virus checker didn't find one," I replied. "Must be your hard drive," he retorted. "Let's reformat it." "Won't I lose all my data?" I asked. "Yep. Can't be helped." He then proceeded to walk me through the process of reformatting my hard drive, but the
reformat didn't work. "Tell you what," he said. "HP will send you a new computer if you like."
"Uh, OK," I replied. You don't look a free new computer in the floppy drive. A few days later my new computer arrived. It was identical to my old one. And I do mean
identical, right down to the same "Fatal Exception Error" messages that the old one had given me. After four more calls to technical support with conversations identical to
those I'd had before, my computer was no closer to being fixed. My wife, beacon of common sense that she is, urged me to simply return the computer to Costco.
"They won't take it back after seven months," I argued. "Trust me," she replied, "they'll take anything back. That's why we shop there." So we packed
up the computer and headed off to Costco. Sure enough, she was right. They took the computer back, no questions asked. I then faced an even more momentous decision: What brand
of computer should I buy to replace the HP? My local Costco sells only HP and two other brands that I'd heard horror stories about. Because the town in which we live is small and far removed from
a major metropolitan area, our choices are limited. Sure, I could order a computer from Gateway or Dell or another supplier, but could I return it six months later if I had problems?
My choice? I bought another HP (albeit a different model this time) from Costco because I know that if I have problems with the computer, I can return it. Only time will
tell if I made the right decision in purchasing another HP. I'll let you know what transpires. E-mail me at spaton@qualitydigest.com
to tell me how you deal with consumer quality issues. |
