It seems that companies that provide goods and services are continually vying
for bragging rights about the latest rage in quality awards.  There has been
an ever-increasing high stakes game for scoring points in quality surveys,
winning coveted awards, etc.  The latest "rage" is the ISO9000 or various
versions of it.  

Now my question is:  What does quality mean to you?  It must mean different
things to different people, but if you could whisper in the ear of the CEO
of the company that provides the goods or services you buy, what definition
of quality would you give her/him?

12 responses total.

"Exactly what I say I want, unless I don't knw what I want, in which case it
should be what I really want, but can't define for you."

That's the sort of functionality requests *I* get.

Quality means no loose threads or holes, but also means a design that starts
out easy to use but allows advanced users to do things fast without having
to deal with excessive "friendliness".  For instance, I'm ugrading my office
UNIX box from SCO release 3.2 to 5.0, and there is a new "administration
interface".  In the old version, is was "sysadmsh", which was a crude looking
menu driven front end on a lot of cryptic UNIX functions.  Fairly easy to use,
and *fast*, where you could know the keystrokes and shoot right into what you
wanted.  The new version is "scoadmin", which is supposed to be more Windows
like, and looks like a half-hearted attempt.  It's *slow*, and you can't use
just keystrokes, you have to wait for each and every window you go thru to
update, and to find all the info it is supposed to display.  Ugh.  I think
I'm going to end up learning all the cryptic commands and writing my own
scripts instead of using that piece of crap.

That little story tells of a perceived drop in Quality.  The new version may
do more, but it is too frustrating to deal with to get that increased
functionality.

It must have been an attempt to make it user friendly enough that even a
lobster could use it. ;)

"Quality", to me, refers to products that carry out the designed function
with no glitches, last a long time (relative to my need for them), and are
repairable (if one thinks they should be repairable). 

The repairable part is good, rane.  I have a lot of things that are old but
repairable, and that's how *I* got them.  :)   They also tend to last a long
time between repairs.

Repairing things is important to me as its saves money and resources
(if not time). I'm a "Mr. Fixit", and hate it when products are assembled
so they can't be repaired.

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Do you mean customer service at the time of purchase, or subsequent
customer service (re warranty or repair), or both? That did not
occur to me as 1) I hate to be pestered by salespeople who usually
have motives (sell fast!) different from mine (judge slowly!), and 2) I
very seldom ever seek "customer service" afterward. Ever? Hmmm...Ok,
yes, I bought new tires and the shop rotates them ever after for free,
and also mounted them on new wheels and didn't charge me. That of course
is only a financial service, not a good general service.

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I agree. I quickly stop using vendors - in person or mail order - if the
service is poor. That extends the definition of "quality" somewhat beyond
just the nature of the product. [I would add to Valerie's list of "poor
service" by mail order firms the use of hold-music: I want just silence,
so I can continue reading or working while holding. I grant there aren't
any that don't use it, but if they answer the phone promptly, its
essentially the same as no hold-music.]

I normally agree with you about hold music, but I find that it I'm on hold
long enough, it can be useful just to know that I'm still connected.  Of
course, it didn't help my opinion of hold music when I was told by a tech
support person a few months ago, when I had to run to another office to look
at something, "if I put you on hold before you get back, you'll know I haven't
hung up on you because you will be able to hear music."

With customer service I also expect correct and prompt answers to my
questions.  All too often the sales person is unable to do so.  I find that
I have to do my own research and decide what I want before I ever talk to a
sales person.

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