Technical A-1 Cordone Parts Junk!!

Used to work for a company that built chillers and cooling systems for medical, pharmaceutical and semiconductor industries. We always had quality issues because they were always building to a cost standard rather than a quality standard, and it cost them a lot more in warranty repairs than they saved buying the cheapest parts and materials they could find. Outsourcing because a favorite tactic, usually to China or whichever third world company could do it the cheapest. Some of the garbage we received was so bad that many of us on the floor would just toss it in the scrap bin and make a new one because management was too stupid to listen to us. Saw a lot of poor welding, stainless steel assemblies that were a burnt black mess because they didn't even try to do an argon purge, lousy sheet metal fitup... but it was cheaper, and that was all that mattered.

 

I'm not saying there aren't people that want quality, there just aren't enough of them in drive the market. If I offer two lines of parts and tell the customer, "One is good and one is crap but they both are lifetime warranty, how often do you want to replace it?" 99% buy the cheap one. A retailer has a certain amount to spend on inventory, it's going to get spent on what people buy. If people weren't buying cheap garbage nobody would stock it.

 

So you're saying "one part is good and one part is crap". I think you're missing part of the point here. What we're dealing with today is that "the good part" is crap as well. That's what pisses a lot of guys off. Even when you buy the so called "quality" part, many times it's still garbage and as I said earlier, the customer/end user has no control over that.

 

Junk

 

"If I offer two lines of parts and tell the customer, "One is good and one is crap but they both are lifetime warranty, how often do you want to replace it?" 99% buy the cheap one."

I would be really happy as a customer if you showed me the difference between the good and the bad parts instead of just telling me one is no good. And no, I'm not from Missouri.

 

~25 years ago tie rod ends went on one of our OT DD's. Ford dealer had just one in stock @~ $9 and picked it up, got the other at auto parts store @~ $7, bride asks what's the difference? Smarty me says the Ford has a grease fitting and will last longer than the other "world sourced" that doesn't. Guess which one wore out first? And no, I didn't ever blow out the boot when greasing it either.........

As the financial suits say "past performance is no indication of future returns".........

Ed

 

About 15 years ago I was doing some work on an OT '65 M***stang. and thought while I was at it I would replace the motor mounts. I went round and round with the new part, which was made in India, for hours trying to install it. When I decided to compare it to the old OEM part, one of the holes was drilled at least 1/2" off . The old part was not that bad so I ended up putting it back on.

 

I too replaced the motor mounts in my Mustang back in 2010...Car Quest sold me some Made in China units, one of which separated while I was driving down the road, allowing the fan to touch the transmission line clamp. That made a fun noise, but luckily it didn't hurt anything. I took them back and they gave me Made in India units, and they fit OK. I think they're still in the car, actually.

 

I worked for Chevrolet Customer No Service around the 1991/92 time frame. Never ceased to amaze me how hard the corporate powers worked to save a dime in production, so they could spend a quarter in warranty work. You know, things like passing off e-coat as primer...
-Dave

 

There are some theories why that happens ("Never ceased to amaze me how hard the corporate powers worked to save a dime in production, so they could spend a quarter in warranty work"). One suggests that many companies have "sub-optimized" goals (The Goal, a management-oriented novel by Eliyahu M. Goldratt is a classic in this regard: an easy read by the way).

The short of it is that each department gets rewarded on meeting its own goals, not the goals of the company as a whole. Some examples I have personally experienced:
- Engineering/marketing produce a product to meet project management schedules at the sacrificeof product quality.
The schedule to met and they have done their part.
- Sales sells the product touting expectations that are unrealistic and sells associated services way to cheap.
They make their sales quotas and commissions (most the the time the commissions are not dependent on a
successful post sale experience by the customer).
- At the end of the line are the customer service people. They hear the complaints (often they can do nothing
about them because the product/sale is inherently flawed), a lot of resource is spent trying to fix the problems,
and customers eventually find a better product from a competitor.

In many companies this is often linear process. The better ones make it a closed loop, where cuctomer issues
are recognized in the product design and the sales process. Anyway, The Goal is a good and fast read for those that enjoy analyzing company processes and their consequences.
don

 

At the Chevy phone room in Troy MI., (actually an EDS -Electronics Data Systems office, owned by GM) our goal was to "promote customer loyalty and repurchase intent" -without spending any money, the managers made sure of that. And that's why I got out as quickly as I could.
-Dave

 

Exactly my point. First time around you're sold the garbage Chinese parts. When you complain you're then "upgraded" to the garbage India part. How does the guy on the street win here? He doesn't. What's happened here is that these large parts companies have gone from looking to make a profit to looking for every sale to be a "Grand Slam". If the customer who they've got by the nuts is dissatisfied, too bad. No one in these companies cares if they destroy their once good brand names, as long as profit is maximized all is well.

 

So true, I worked at an equipment dealer and the salesmen would tell the customer that this backhoe would lift this much or this fast, much better than the other brand... well, guess who had to tell the customer that it would not? that's right the service department. Customer was always wanting us to "turn the fuel up" or "set the pressure higher" A lot went away unhappy.

 

You mean you dont wipe off the old part, put it back in the autozone box, and return it for full credit?

I opened new autozone boxes that had obviously had this done, took them back and the store manager accused me of trying to scam them. WTF, Im surprised I didnt get the cops called on me after I let loose a barrage of verbal abuse on that store mgr. We both calmed down, I got a refund.

Open your part boxes at the autoparts store, before you pay.

 

Yep...always do!

 

I've worked in our hobby for years, just like the rest of us here. I've experienced poor parts right out of the box - more in the past 5 years than all the previous 35.
The only thing to come out of China that lasts are their virus's.