The Reality of It All
Most of you that have read my articles over the last few years realize that I am a strong consumer advocate. This does not mean I am anti-business. I just believe that too often the consumer (henceforth in some cases referred to as the "shaftee") often is caught in a very precarious position by the very nature of today's ecommerce.
I am also not so naïve as to believe that the consumer is always right and that all ecommerce businesses today use their power to shaft the consumer. It's just that I've read hundreds of scenarios akin to the one I gave above. I believe that in a significant number of the cases, it is not the fault of the consumer, who followed all the rules and was still caught up in a hornet's nest of bureaucratic red tape much like that described in the scenario.
What Manufacturers and Vendors Can Do
This section is paraphrased from a previous article with a few noteworthy additions, but in my opinion has not changed:
Most companies that manufacture or distribute computer products have recognized that catering to the Computer Enthusiast market is not only a cooperative venture, but also a profitable one. Why? Because if they meet our expectations, they will more than meet the expectations of the average computer user and their products will sell prolifically. If they don't then we're going tell everyone that their product sucks using every means of mass media we have at our disposal.
If perchance the product performs at spec or even beyond then we're also going to spread the news faster than rumors of an illicit affair in a small town. Computer enthusiasts are no longer a niche market in the world of computing. There now are literally hundreds of thousands of us if not more that fit in the computer enthusiast realm and we do have voice now in what happens.
Many manufacturers have realized this indisputable fact, and have used our group as a valuable asset in: 1) Pre-production ideas; 2) Pre-production research and development; 3) Hardware design; and 4) Beta testing their hardware/software before it is released. This is particularly true for manufacturers in the following areas of product: 1) Graphics cards; 2) Memory; 3) Cooling; 4) Sound cards; 5) Optical storage; 6) Hard drives; and yes even to a certain extent in 7) Processors.
My observation is that the companies that have embraced this mentality have grown by leaps and bounds and those that haven't have fallen by the wayside or are just barely hanging on. I personally applaud the former for this change.
Motherboard manufacturers in particular are sorely lacking in giving our consumer group consistently capable products. Let me state some of my reasons for this remark:
- Some have been found to use inferior capacitors, resistors, and other components to maximize profits while maintaining a state of plausible deniability in regards to the components quality
- Some if not all release their wares long before they are ready for prime time requiring a number of product iterations and BIOS revision(s) to obtain their initial product specifications…with some this goal is never attained
- Some develop a purported technology that turns out to never truly function as advertised and is nothing more that pure marketing hype
- Some have extreme difficulties in producing a product that will give their customers accurate feedback on CPU and motherboard/system temperature
- Many have extreme difficulty in producing a product that accurately use and reflect the appropriate voltages for: 1) CPU; 2) Memory; 3) + 3.3 volt circuitry; 4) + 5 volt circuitry, and 5) +12 volt circuitry The problems mentioned in this category can often time be directly of indirectly related to the previously mentioned use of inferior components; but in other cases it's just due to flawed product design
- I'll term this category Miscellaneous from the standpoint that the end results are not as serious as I mentioned above; but they are none the less very irritating (i.e.; minor BIOS flaws, inaccurate LEDS, inaccurate temperature controlled fan idling, and etc.)
- Vendors in turn use this marketing hype to falsely escalate prices well above the MSRP… while I fully understand the law of supply and demand I feel this is altogether wrong
- Some manufacturers and vendors alike are well known to change their rules as they apply to the consumer…the example I stated in the beginning scenario where the rules of each are in direct conflict with one another is a prime example
Most manufacturers and vendors have had one or more products and/or transactions that have fallen into one or more of these categories, at least in the computer enthusiast's mind set.
