[rescue] Slightly OT: Bad Cap Saga

[Lionel Peterson]

>From: Phil Stracchino <alaric at metrocast.net>
>Date: 2008/08/18 Mon PM 02:17:15 EDT
>To: The Rescue List <rescue at sunhelp.org>
>Subject: Re: [rescue] Slightly OT:  Bad Cap Saga

>Curious George wrote:
>> --- On Mon, 8/18/08, Geoffrey S. Mendelson <gsm at mendelson.com> wrote:
>>> Each one is a manufacturer, they do something to put it
>>> together. They buy a raw material, whether it's aluminum
>>> foil to make the capacitors, or
>>> the assembled boards and wire them together.
>>> Each step along the way, someone builds, and possibly tests each unit. 
>> 
>> Yes, that was my point...
>> 
>>> Generally no one sells their product with a warranty.
>> 
>> Well, we know the *final* manufacturer who sells to John Q Public
>> does!  Are you saying that the rest of the chain is all "caveat
>> emptor"?  So, the poor fool who walks into a Wal-Mart and "takes
>> a chance" on some cheap piece of kit is actually getting a
>> *better* "deal" than the rest of the folks in the chain?  :-<
>
>
>There is a relevant true story from a vanished age ....
>
>Back when IBM first started contracting with Japanese suppliers, they
>gave one such supplier a spec which included a clause requiring a
>maximum of ten defective parts per thousand (or some such number, I
>don't recall the precise number).  When the shipment arrived, they
>opened it up and found, on top of all the packaged parts, a small
>separate package and a letter.
>
>The letter read,
>"We do not understand why you wish to have ten defective parts per
>thousand, but they are included per your request.  For your convenience,
>we have packaged them separately."

On a related note, it is my understanding that when you wholesale purchase a large lot of disk drives (SATA, IDE, SCSI, etc.) you order the number you want, and the Mfg. typically includes an additional number of devices, to be used as replacements for any drives that fail in the initial shipment. The Qty. added is a negotiable point, and the Mfg. is free to ship the additional drives in product or retain them as spares - the Disk Mfg. is absolved of all but the most egregious problems with the drives (i.e. recourse remains if the failurte rate exceeds some certain threshold).

That is why a Segate or WD has no interest in discussing drives sold to a PC Mfg - they have already taken care of all claims with the PC Mfg.

A few years ago I bought 4 tires for my wife's volvo wagon. The tires were the ones the dealer recommended, and i choose to pay a premium and get them at the dealer, not wait for the "guy down the street" to get them back in stock. Well, I should have waited, becsue the generous warranty offered by the tire Mfg. was not available on the tires, since they were sold to Volvo, not the end user (me). After a fair bit or wrangling, wherein I explained to the dealer that I paid a premium for the identical tire from them, I was *very* unhappy that I got *no* real warranty on the tires I bought. Eventually, the dealer good-willed the tire and replaced my failed tire for free - but I had to really push, AND the dealer is/was a friend (i.e. I know the owner, and he was my salesman when I bough this, my third car from his dealership).

Lionel