a better analogy for the warranty discussion?

[John G. DeArmond]

peter at ficc.ferranti.com (Peter da Silva) writes:

>How about a 1 year old Nissan, then? Can you get your money back on that?
>Even if the Odometer shows it spent the whole time in your garage?

Well... My mom did get a new Volvo after a year's worth of hassles.  Sure
it was a lemon but Tennessee effectivly does not have a lemon law.  The
result?  She still thinks Volvos are a piece of crap but she has nothing
but nice to say about the dealer who also sells Honda and BMW.  Net
win, I'd think.

>> Of course, you did not ask what the gating function would be in this 
>> instance.  I'm sure that with a bit of thought, an appropriate function
>> could be devised to limit the car dealers' exposure.

>OK, how about explaining this term, "gating function", a bit. Sounds like
>a limitation on your unlimited warantee.

The gating function should ideally be something that forms somewhat of 
a barrier without appearing to be one.  In my welding supply warehouse,
that function was stationing the sales/service desk right out in the 
middle of the showroom floor coupled with our requiring the customer
to bring the returned item to the desk.  In the 2 years I owned the
place, I had ONE, count 'em, 1 person who abused the system.  This 
fellow quite obviously bought a welder to do a job and returned it when
he was finished.   One of my regular customers who was in the store
gave the guy a little hell and then bought the welder at the used price
we marked on it.  A double net win for me.  I still got a buck or 2 more
than my cost.  More importantly, I gained several new customers as a 
direct result of the word of mouth advertising.

For the car dealer, the gating function was our having to escalate the 
problem to the dealership owner.  That was more of a function than I'd like
but it WAS his store.

For software, requiring that the package be returned in all the original
packaging with all the manuals, flyers, and disks.  Not only does this
make it easier to repackage for resale, it notifies the customer that if
he's gonna take the software for a trial, he better take care of it.
That coupled with requiring an RA should handle the casual and/or 
ridiculous people.  Ultimately, so a few slip through, big deal. 

Whether one thinks this will work or not depends a lot in your view of 
human nature.  I happen to believe that most people will be honest
and ethical if given a chance to do so.  

John

-- 
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