[TheForge] rant concerning quality of products

[Peter Fels & Phoebe Palmer]

Sounds like time to offer to stop payment and invite them to replace 
them with something clean , functional and as represented.  pf

terry l. ridder wrote:
> hello;
> 
> the past two days i have been working with a pto drive shaft.
> the pto drive shaft is manufactured in the usa . the dealer
> who sold me the pto drive line shaft told me that it had been
> inspected and greased that it was ready to go. none of what the
> dealer told was in any way shape or form even remotely being 
> close to being true.
> 
> the drive shaft was never greased. anywhere.
> the universal joints perhaps had minimal grease in them
> but the grease fittings have been painted over with a heavy
> coat of paint. the one universal joint is installed wrong.
> there is no way to get to the grease fitting as presently
> assembled. the yoke which contains the 6 spline hole which
> should slide onto the pto drive shaft has a heavy coat of
> paint half way up the spline hole. it is clear upon looking
> at it that this is overspray. they could have prevented this
> by just placing a little amount of white petroleum jelly on
> those areas that should not be painted. after painting and
> drying wipe the white petroleum jelly off. the drive shafts
> had to be shortened a few inches which the dealer was suppose
> to either have the factory do or his technical people do. well
> yes they were shortened but they did nothing to remove the burrs
> they created. the drive shaft protection sleeve looks like
> a beaver gnawed through it and not a professional techinical
> worker with a proper metal saw. i thought that perhaps it was
> just this one shaft and not the entire batch that i ordered.
> they are all in the same or even worse shape. i called the 
> salesman's cell phone and left a long message explaining
> that i was not a happy camper and that he either came out 
> bringng one of his technical people to fix the shafts on the
> spot or i was going to bring the shafts back to him and plant
> them on his desk while i waited for my money back. i have not
> heard back from him yet.
> 
> have the few remaining manfacturers in the usa laid off all the
> qualified workers and kept only the lowest paid workers to turn out
> their products? i would be ashamed to deliver anything that looked
> remotely like these drive shafts.
> 
> are salesmen so ignorant that they can not tell if the techincal people
> are handing them a line or not?
> 
> where in all of this is the quality control inspections? have the few
> remaining manufacturers in the usa just abandoned quality control?
> 
> it is sad that this has happened. i was attempting to 'shop american'
> instead of ordering the comer industry drive shafts from italy. the
> comer industry sales rep in the usa did have a lower price on the drive
> shafts and the sample he provided to me is a quality product.
> 
> i have a request of proposals and request of bids out on several
> gearboxes which comer industrys in italy also makes. i have modified the
> request for bids in that they must supply one unit for my quality
> control inspection to have their bid even considered.
> 
> manufacturers are crying for orders and sales but they are falling down
> on delivering the quality goods that the customer expects whether it is
> a depression, recession, or booming economy.
> 
> no wonder the usa has become a third rate banana republic.
>