One might think that in the industrial world of 21st century, where design is performed digitally and every single machine on every production line in the world is controlled by computers, there is no more room for faults in new products. Yet every year we hear about a couple of cases of spectacular failures of big companies when introducing new products.
Probably
the most notable example in the last few years is Apple. Of course there are
many other companies that failed at some point in the area of consumer
electronics or other segments of the market, but I decided to take Apple as an
example for two reasons.
The first one is their absolute perfection when it
comes to quality. These products are also recognizable around the world so
whenever there is news that points out an important glitch, it usually gets
enormous attention.
Steve Jobs always
emphasized this aspect of the product and took it as a personal goal to make
quality the trademark of Apple products.
The second reason is how this company tackles problems.
Who of you haven't heard the term "Bendgate"
coined by the internet community in response to the obviously faulty Apple's new
smartphone iPhone 6 Plus ?
The new
iPhone 6 featuring two versions: the regular and the one with a bigger display
"Plus" was introduced in the fall of 2014.
Quite
quickly the rumors circled the internet, stating that the bigger version of the
phone has a nasty habit of getting bent.
Many Internet users started posting photos and videos
of the damaged phone.
The author
of "Unbox Therapy" Youtube channel decided to test the possibility of
damaging the phone. The video received a lot of attention – more than 62
millions views.
As the saying goes "your loss is my gain",
the competitors quickly took advantage of the situation and advertised their own
product.
I remember quite a funny one from Samsung:
At first, the Cupertino company tried to play the
issue down. Official statements were made, saying that after a few weeks only 9
customers worldwide contacted the company and informed about the problem.
Finally, under the massive criticism they decided to
agree on replacing faulty devices if the phone passes the "visual inspection"
performed by apple sales representative (in the case of USA and other countries
where Apple has its own retail network)
Unfortunately, the author has no information on how
the company decided to solve the issue in Poland and other countries where the retail
of Apple's products is operated by resellers.
Regardless of those major issues mentioned in the
above text, many minor defects can be found in products of every single brand
in the consumer electronics market.
The author had a chance to speak "off the
record" with a mobile phone retail expert. This man revealed that
regardless of the brand of the phone, nowadays companies usually accept minor
production/quality defects of their devices as long as the demand is really
high, especially in the time following the introduction of a new product. When
the demand decreases, the quality control tightens and only the shipments with
the proper quality are allowed to leave the factories.
I can
recommend you quite an interesting businessweek.com article about the process
of resolving quality issues by Apple company. The link is placed in
"Sources section".
Questions:
·
Have you used new iPhones affected by the
problems described in the article ?
·
Did you have any serious problems witch
electronic devices you purchased in the past – how was the problem resolved by
the producer/retailer ?
·
What is your opinion on the approach companies
and retail networks in Poland present in the case of customer complaints – did
you have similar or different experiences abroad ?
Sources:
·
Sources of photos: www.investopedia.com,
www.theydontloveyou.com, www.yahoo.com, designwebkit.com
I never had a chance to use iphone but in our school we have Mac computers which cause everyone a lot of trouble :D
ReplyDeleteI didn't really have serious problems with electronic. I can recall that maybe once but it was a really small problem.A company took my laptop and repair it because it broke. I didn't pay for repair because I have guarantee.
I don't think that in Poland it is hard to complain a product. In my opinion sellers ale really nice and try to help when your electronic gadget is damaged.
I always have been crazy about Apple products and nothing changed till now. Any other company never surprised so positively as Apple. I tried to convince myself to Android system but very quickly I could’t stand change for worse and I came back to iPhone. The same story with laptops. As IT student it is easier to use Microsoft Windows because of for instance Visual Studio, but still despite programs that I can’t run on mac I absolutely love my macbook. Of course prices are so high, but nothing was broken because of faulty product.
ReplyDeleteSome time ago I had problem with canon camera, but after returning to the shop they returned me new camera saying that previous one was faulty.
Another one....
ReplyDeleteYou expect that nothing bends? I'll tell you a secret, if you bend wood it's gonna break! Therefore wood is even worse than Apple product.
Take any phone, bend it 15 degrees. Then see if it still works.
Now I have a question for you. Don't you thing that this was an amazing advertisement for Apple Iphone 6+? I thought it was a brilliant idea.
I use IPhone 6 everyday as a private phone. I'm not a fanboy - I would even say that far from it. So far it's been better than any other phone I had previously. I have Szajsung 4 as well as business phone from work. It looks terrible, and after around 4-5 months of usage it's slower than my iphone 3gs which I plan on swapping as business phone next week.
Ok enough of raging comments.
Don't really have any problems that are occurring often. Every time something doesn't work - I take it to have it serviced. Never had any problem with retailers. They are people. Don't belittle them. You can always work out a deal with them. Remember to smile a lot :)
I think that dealing with customers' complaints is a major factor influencing company's image. I'm much more eager to use services of the company which treats the customers nicely and cares about them.
ReplyDeleteThe example that comes to my mind is Amazon and their Kindle ebooks. I've never had problems with mine, but two of my friends had. One of them accidentally scratched the screen; even though it was her fault and she shouldn't get an amend, the customers' service replied to her email saying they were sorry and they offered to replace her device. My another friend sent an email to the customers' service, asking if advertisements can be removed from his device, as the offers are not active in Poland anyway; and even though Kindle without ads is normally more expensive, they removed the ads from his Kindle. I think things like that really influence people's view of the company.
I never had a opportunity to use iPhone affected by the problems mentioned in article. I think that all products are designed to break in short period of time, because otherwise global economy might have a big problem, because our economy is based on cycle of selling and buying. It might be really big problem for economy if some company would like to create durable products with long life time period. Here you can watch movie about planned life cycle of products. Usually when some of my electronics things isn't working properly(hardware problem) I just give it back to shop, but in most cases they want to convince me that is it my fault and guarantee will not cover cost of repair . They just want to earn extra money on repairs and services.
ReplyDeleteI never had use any apple things but my room-mate friend have Mac computer. And that was wary fan because her computer four times per year is in service. She love everything about mac and don`t see that another computer haven`t got similar problem. For me better is buy normal computer and phone and a lot of services when I can repair it my problem.
ReplyDeleteI never heave big problems with electronic. I just stepped on my smart-phone and broke LCD but it still working :)
@Katarzyna, how long did it take them to repair it ?
ReplyDeleteI suppose it was a private computer, not the one with business guarantee ?
I saw Dell "next business day" guarantee in action - it took three weeks to deliver the fully functional computer to the owner. (!)
@Karolina, the same goes for me - both phones and computers. I heard this saying: "Once you have flown first class, it sucks to take the bus again" :)
ReplyDelete@Armand, take it easy !
ReplyDeleteNobody is hating - I use Apple products myself :) We just have to be honest about technology- one product is better and the other might have some faults of any kind.
As for your question - I don't think that was a good promotion for iPhone 6+ - rather for the smaller model iPhone 6.
You are right - our success usually depend on our attitude to the seller - if we are stubborn we can execute our rights.
Personally I think it shouldn't work that way - we shouldn't be made to fight for the consumer rights that are guaranteed by the law.
@Cezary - I have watched this movie before - quite interesting.
ReplyDelete@Agata - That is quite a tough Smartphone that you are using :)
ReplyDeleteAs for the computer - do you know any details ? - what happened to the brand new computer, that it had to be serviced four times in one year?
I know that Apple is serious about each client. My friend has already twice exchanged their Iphone, and never had troubles with that. I have never purchased with faulty equipment - maybe I'm lucky. I did not use the services also never manufacturers, so I can not comment personally on this issue.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand I know from stories my friends, that is the case for sony is not as professional and treats clients with Polish as a second-class customers. They bought a defective camera and manufacturer blamed their fault.
To simply put how industry work since mass production overthrown handmade, is that companies prefer to make less stable or durable products to make money out this. I am sure that almost every brand targeted to middle class is meant to be changed every month, so company can have profitable income while making high end or better products.
ReplyDeleteBut it doesn't mean that every product is supposed to break or suddenly explode. Some are durable use for everyday use, but probably will be outdated by some software updates or trends. I myself am using iPhones since 3gs and never in my life i've broken or scratched one. Most of them were working perfectly year after new model was announced. However i had some issues with iMac 27, but mostly because there is no apple official support or custom centre, only retails.
I had never use any Apple stuff, so I had no opportunity to encounter these problems. Also I didn't have serious problems with electronic. Only once I had a problem with the battery in a laptop, but I called to support and They sent me a new battery.
ReplyDeleteMentioned by Cezary, cycle of selling and buying is a big problem for customer. But we can not do anything about it.It is a sad but profits are the most important for manufacturers.
Usually before I buy something I do a little research to avoid faulty products. But if someone is loyal to a brand and buy products at the very lunch it could be very frustrating finding out that it has some issues. The same goes about games. For example Battlefield 4. It took more than a year for developers to fix the game. Every one was confused and squeaked, why they lunched a game with so many bugs? But fortunately the game is now constantly updated and the developers are listening everything the community seas.
ReplyDeleteI have smartphone with android and i don't change it for another operating system unless some new system will be created which change it. Apple users always are very attached to the brand. I don't like apple products but i have to admit that they are very pretty.
ReplyDeleteI never used Apple devices because for the price people pay for smart phones with the Apple's logo you can buy a much better phone produced by other companies. Obviously, as almost everyone else, I had an experience of using services for electronic devices. I am positive about services provided by Samsung, because once when a fault was diagnosed in my phone they replaced it with a new better model. However, based on my friends’ opinions, customer services are better in foreign countries.
ReplyDeleteI've never use Iphone longer than a few days but I couldn't understand how somebody can buy smartphone for 3 times higher prize that is real worth. I admit that it's good performance and design but devices with Android or Windows Phone are good design too.
ReplyDeleteIphone 6 wasn't good design. It's looks good but it's flexible.... it's too much flexible.
@Maciej, they always tell the customer it is his/her fault. Cezary knows something about that :)
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete@Adam - you are absolutely right, when it comes to the quality/cost ratio, there are better alternatives on the market - mostly Samsung models, HTC or Microsoft Lumia.
ReplyDeleteBut let's be honest - half of the price of the iPhone is that "premium" feeling :)
As I mentioned in other comment-response iPhone 6 is not that "flexible" - the problem is mostly connected with the bigger model iPhone 6+
@Darek, the opinion of your friends seem to be quite popular. I red an article about faulty iPad models - the author described, how in Poland it is impossible to have the faulty device replaced instantly when you enter the retailer store.
ReplyDeleteHe described the different attitude that was presented in Apple Store in Germany - he got his iPad replaced with no problem - he waited 30 minutes.
@Jan - I know that pain. I remember the release of PC version of Gta IV. It was so bugged and badly optimized that it was almost impossible to play it. I took 2 or 3 patches to get things right :(
ReplyDelete