<H4><U>Opuscula</U></H4> <DIV ALIGN=CENTER><FONT FACE=HELVETICA ARIAL SIZE=+3><B>Kind words <BR>For a vendor</B></FONT></DIV>

 

SOME TIME BACK I bought a two-headed device for my shower. Basically it’s a replacement for the fixed shower head, a diverter, and a hand-held shower head. The thing was on sale at Bed Bath & Beyond and it met the Boss' requirements.

Unfortunately it was made in China.

After about a year the diverter switch failed, so I hied myself back to BB&B and bought a new unit. Similar to, but not the same as.

BUT, I noted on the box that the device had a lifetime warranty.

So I wrote a paper letter to the company, Interlink Products International.

I EXPLAINED THE PROBLEM and asked how I could go about buying a replacement diverter for the currently installed unit. (I no longer had a receipt for the unit.) I fully expected to be told that I could buy the replacement diverter for $n plus shipping. Fair enough.

I got an email reply telling me a replacement diverter was in the mail (real mail: USPS). A little later a second email gave me a USPS tracking number.

No charge.

The email arrived on Tuesday; the replacement diverter arrived on Thursday.

NOW I HAVE TWO (2) COMPANIES that stand behind their products.

The other company with which I had a similar experience is Wayfair.com..

I bought a coffee urn from Wayfair via Wal-Mart. The Made-In-China device was imported by Buffalo Tools for its AmeriHome brand, but warranted by Wayfair. The device failed on first use. (See Of warranties & global warming for all the gory details, including Wayfair's positive - and quick - response.)

Would that ALL vendors were as customer-centered as Interlink Products International and Wayfair.

As a general rule I try - operative word is "try" - to avoid products made in China. That applies both to "hard" products (e.g., coffee urns and shower head diverters) and ALL food products. Actually, I'm even concerned with food products made by Chinese-owned companies in the U.S. (e.g., Smithfield), Israel (Tnuva), and other countries, fearing that in order to reduce production costs the newly acquired-by-China companies will eliminate any QA/QC.

Bottom line: If I MUST buy a Chinese-made product I will buy it from a vendor that stands behind the product and will make it whole when it fails.

Now, about those Obama CFLs that are supposed to last 10 years. We're lucky if they last 10 months, never mind years.