Quality Control

[PMatt]

I am not positive this is the right subforum to post such a discussion, but here we go.

I recently placed an order on the Playmobil website. Received my purchases and was rather dumbfounded by what I found. Multiple klickies can not stand without bending forward noticeably. A couple prints look... washed out, for lack of better terms.

I understand lots of things can go wrong with printing; it's the inner frames failure which bothers me. I have enough skeletons lying around and it'll take me nothing to replace them, but what about regular customers whose brand-new klickies can't stand upright if their life depended on them?

Has anyone else had similar experiences as of late, or was it just me getting an unlucky bunch?

[tahra]

My first reply to this, just from the title, was "what quality control?"

Things have been getting worse and worse all the time.. brand new sets with misprints... (or needing a 40 mikes cleaning!  )  and the figures... don't get me started about the figures...............

Don't remember getting several klickys brand new with the "Apollo Syndrome" though (Apollo was the first to exhibit that behaviour, I suppose - he's the klicky from the indian 7 klicky styrofoam box (xmas 83!) - yes, I'm nuts, and I know it... so does everyone else here )

Seriously, quality has decreased a lot. It's a shame. It's sad.

[playmofire]

Just send them back to head office and ask for replacements or your  money back.

[StJohn]

I knew that Tahra would have something to say about this topic.

Seriously, you've stirred up a hornets nest here. Poor print quality, malformed parts, incomplete sets have become way more common in recent times. Meanwhile the firm's costumer service department excels (at least in Germany). I think it is an economic decision: the immediate costs of addressing complaints by supplying replacement parts are probably less than increasing quality control at the production line. It is a stupid decision, of course, because the invisible costs of losing disappointed costumers (who cannot be bothered to complain) is not taken into account. Lego does thinks differently, and notice the difference.

I think our research department should look into the history of inlays / skeletons / inner parts. Most old klickies still stand firmly upright, and the tendency to sag of those of more recent date depends on years and themes – in my subjective experience. Sometimes new ones feel firm and move adequately, others are a mess straight from the box. The problem is the quality of the inlay – but is it shape, or plastic type? Is it the machine (or mould), or is it the raw material fed into that machine that makes the difference? 

Best wishes
StJohn

[tahra]

I knew that Tahra would have something to say about this topic.

Well, it IS a disgrace, lately... Figures are a perfect example - a bunch of series with hardly any issue, and then.. no series without missing/mismolded parts.. and let's not even get into printing, that was going down the drain BEFORE my moronic years!

And yes, there is that.. for me, the figure doesn't have a frame. For ME, it is basically meaningless. I have a box of them.  But what is a person who just bought the first to do with a figure without a frame?!  I know what they will do. "piece of junk. never again" - oh wait.. that may play into their strategy... no money from this person.

  

[PMatt]

Seriously, you've stirred up a hornets nest here.

That's the impression I got upon reading the replies! 

Just send them back to head office and ask for replacements or your  money back.

As a matter of principle you're right, but on the other hand: as far as inner frames are concerned it's much less of a hassle for me to replace them directly. Misprints are another matter entirely, that's for sure.

StJohn, your cost-benefit analysis of having laxer QC was an extremely interesting read. The willingness to accept those invisible costs you talk about does not, I think, bode well for Playmobil: new customers (as Tahra rightly noted) get stung by the lack of quality upon their first purchases, and even veterans can't help being disappointed by the decline in quality.

The problem is the quality of the inlay – but is it shape, or plastic type? Is it the machine (or mould), or is it the raw material fed into that machine that makes the difference? 

That's a most interesting question, and one I do not feel qualified to answer. There are some excellent fellows here on the forum who might provide some insight into the matter, though.

Don't remember getting several klickys brand new with the "Apollo Syndrome" though

One klicky out of three from 6501 and two out of six from 5393 had it. Unlucky bunch (unluckier than the norm at least), I guess.

[Erik]

Luckily the slouching aka "the Apollo syndrome" (thank you Tahra, lol!) is easy to fix, but newly bought Klickies should ALWAYS be "firm" when straight out of the box imho.Not all buyers can cope with disassembling Klickies to "tighten" them!

[tahra]

Luckily the slouching aka "the Apollo syndrome" (thank you Tahra, lol!) is easy to fix, but newly bought Klickies should ALWAYS be "firm" when straight out of the box imho.Not all buyers can cope with disassembling Klickies to "tighten" them!

Of course - it is beyond ridiculous that new klickys need that.

(Apollo is, as most of you know by now UNpoppable)

[Macruran]

I really hate opening a brand new klicky only to find it has Apollo Syndrome. 

[Tiermann]

Opened a box this week with the Deathgripper dragon from the licensed Dragons theme and the dragon was missing it's back left leg. Not in the box, completely missing. There's the one big piece in the box and it's missing an entire leg and it got through quality control. They are sending me a replacement of course.