What do you expect from the quality of a product or service? Is it luxury, status or a known product brand? Or is it simply that you expect the product or service to help you perform a task fluently and you are able to easily figure out how to use it?
Case Balcony Sofa
This summer I bought a balcony sofa, that I decided to assemble myself. One piece was hard to match to the sofa, but I managed to get it in place. Only to notice that the piece did not fit in, the back rest was not aligned. I thought I had made a mistake in installing and read the manual again and again and compared to the sofa. This one piece was manufactured incorrectly, the holes for the screws were in the wrong place.
I wrote a reclamation to the company. They promised to send me a new part. The new part came, but it was already broken, a small piece of wood was missing from the handle.
I was already very unhappy about the original failure, but a new one. I wrote them back and requested refund and again a new part. Customer servant wrote me something like this: “Would you have a friend who could remove the wooden part of the back rest from the original piece and change it to the one they sent me.” Did not appreciate that comment, having used few hours to put the sofa together myself… Wrote back that to fix your failure MYSELF, I’d request for more refund from the price.
After short debate in email, the customer servant called me and explained that “mistakes happen”. I said that ok, but I have paid for a functioning sofa, since the day one and had been waiting for the flawless part already for few weeks.
He continued explaining how the spare parts come all the way from Cuba to Finland, and sometimes they are broken and nothing can be done to that since it is up to the subcontractor… I repeated that I’m not responsible over that, but had paid for something that I cannot take in use yet. (At the same time knowing that you can control your subcontractors quality, if you want to invest into it). What came next: The refund that you are requesting is unreasonable. “You can come and take the sofa back and return all my money”, I replied. I got the answer like: “Knowing your request is unreasonable, we will pay it. Let us know when you have fixed the failure and we will then refund you.”
At the end, I got functioning sofa. Only 4 weeks later than I expected. After having to argue about the supplier to fix their fault(s), I cannot believe I will ever buy from that store again.
Quality is a multifaceted concept that encompasses various attributes and dimensions, depending on the context in which it is applied. Fundamentally, quality refers to the degree to which a product, service, or process meets or exceeds the expectations and requirements of its users or customers.
Quality is a measure of excellence, and it can be understood through several key aspects like performance, reliability, conformance, durability, aesthetics, functionality, serviceability or value for money. It is not a static attribute but a continuous endeavor to meet and exceed customer expectations. How do you interpret the meaning of quality?
What it is and what it is not?
Leave a Reply