NYU View: Unrealistic/Undefined Customer Requirements?

Unrealistic/Undefined Customer Requirements?
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The Quality Curmudgeon on 18 August, 2006 10:25:00
 
The post below from Joe Gliksman is representative of a number of posts I've
received about my Curmudgeon School post:
I think you missed a key point with this blog--quality is in the eye of the
beholder or customer. To some, if it is cheap they are happy--to some, lowest
price IS quality--a quality deal or experience no matter what else. To some, if
it is fast, the rest does not matter, etc. Finally, some will never be happy and
never find quality... the author maybe?
Although I agree with Joe that quality is defined by some people as "the lowest
price," I think he (and many others) missed my point: There are certain basic
customer requirements that organizations fail to recognize. As a customer, I
expect a toy water gun to last more than two hours even if I have only paid $1
for it. I think that almost anyone who bought that toy would have the same
expectations. The toy manufacturer has no excuse to be ignorant of these basic
requirements. It's easy to survey customers, benchmark other manufacturers,
and--yes--use common sense.
The only "lesson" that I have learned as a customer is that I shouldn't buy
that toy (or other toys) from that company again. As a parent, I buy cheap toys
for my kids all the time (we all do it). Most of them don't break after two
hours. In fact, I usually throw them out or they get lost before they break.
(McDonald's Happy Meal toys are practically indestructible.)