April i, 1908.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



215 



Handling of Mechanical Goods Claims — I. 



By Alexander Macl'herson. 



EVP'RY manufacturer would like entirely to cut out claims 

 made by customers on account of unsatisfactory service, and 

 many can be cut out if the goods are properly made and then 

 properly sold. If intending to put a new line on the market, look 

 into the uses and the service expected. Get out and see an engine 

 and separator at work on the prairie if you want to tackle 

 thresher belts. Don't give a day to it ; take a week or more. 

 After a week of interesting research you may decide to cut out 

 all claims by cutting out the belts. But if you can stand seeing 

 the poor old belts misused at the hands of inexperienced men and 

 think that you can make something that will give them a hard 

 time to destroy, perhaps you will have learned that the belts 

 run at a high speed over one large and one small pulley ; that 

 the engine is often out of line on a windy day, and that some- 

 times the poor old duck and rubber thing is expected to act as a 

 logging chain whereby the traction engine is to pull the separator 

 into place. Vou may come back prepared to make the best 

 thresher belt on earth, but I think that you will also conclude that 

 you will have some claims to look into, in any event, and some 

 to adjust at a loss if you do not sell your goods properly. And 

 so it is with all other conditions you intend manufacturing 

 for. If you are to make good injector hose for use between loco- 

 motive and tender, there is no use putting in a water hose lining 

 when you know that the engineer runs his excess steam through 

 the hose, to economize fuel by bringing his water supply up to a 

 high temperature. See how the hose is attached. See what is 

 expected of it and plan to give an article that, when properly 

 used, will give fair service. 



Sell goods properly. Have your trouble when selling and re- 

 duce your claims. Be careful when making your contract. Get 

 the bargain into plain English, expressing clearly what you 

 undertake to do. I have no use for the expression "We guarantee 

 satisfaction." No manufacturer can undertake to suit all his 

 customers all the time. What he can do by studying the condi- 

 tions and knowing how to manufacture for them is to give fair 

 value for the money. But what if a man orders an 8 inch 8 ply 

 belt when he should have had a 14 inch 6 ply? Can you suit 

 him? Perhaps the belt may do, but ten to one it will not, and 

 then "You gviarantee satisfaction" says the user. Cut out the 

 word "guarantee," or, if a guarantee is necessary, have it specific — 

 a certain friction test, a certain bursting pressure, or a specilied 

 tensile strength. You are not an expert engineer, but a rub- 

 ber manufacturer making goods to certain standards which your 

 customer or his engineer specifies. Help your customer all you 

 can and point out in a judicious way that if you were buying the 

 goods you might change the specification and expect better results, 

 and then let him use his own judgment. If it looks dangerous 

 to you, go on record by letter. Then, if he has trouble, your 

 skirts are clear. Don't drive him away. Give thought to your 

 letter and if the claim comes you can say "I told you so," and 

 prove it, too. 



There may be 2 inch 8 ply steam hose that will stand 125 

 pounds steam pressure indefinitely. If so, I do not know it. In 

 the natural course of events the temperature generated by 125 

 pounds steam will, in a properly made hose, first char the cot- 

 ton duck, perhaps the charred duck will give way, and the still 

 soft rubber follow it, but if the hose holds, the heat will eevntually 

 char the rubber tube and the steam will find its way through. 

 If your customer orders 1,000 feet 2 inch 8 ply steam hose mar- 

 line wound to stand 125 pounds steam pressure, tell him how 

 matters stand and let him confirm his order with a clear un- 

 derstanding of conditions. He may want the goods in a rush. 

 It is well to ship promptly, but you are in it not only to please 

 but to make money, and it is not a money making plan to please 



by making prompt shipments when you run the risk of having 

 to apy for being obliging at the expense of returned used goods. 



Drop the word "guarantee" and reduce the claims. Sell goods 

 on their merits. Undertake that they will be reasonably free from 

 defects in construction. State, if you like, that they will be of a 

 quality at least equal to the material usually entering into goods 

 sold under a certain brand, but do not undertake that they will 

 be perfect in material. 



I leave these thoughts about studying the uses of the goods and 

 the proper selling of the goods, and pass on to the handling of 

 the claims made by customers, be these claims real, supposed, or 

 trumped up. Each claim has peculiar features, all worth study. 

 Some look tough at first, some remain tough and difficult to adjust 

 fairly without losing money or a good customer. But when I 

 know I am right and have to plan to convince my man that he is 

 wrong, I look with considerable zest to seeing some of the big 

 ones come in for next season's purchases, details specified and 

 shipping dates given. 



Do not imagine that because I am dealing with claims for re- 

 turned used goods that I have been making or distributing inferior 

 goods. There may be somewhere in the realms of possibility a 

 manufacturer who has never experienced a claim. If so, I would 

 like to look him over. All have claims made upon them sooner 

 or later, let them be just or unjust. The man that has the few- 

 est justifiable claims is the one best off. But how are we to 

 adjust all these with justice to both parties and keep the peace? 

 All I can do is to use the share of brains, judgment and tact 

 with which I have been endowed, or have acquired, and reduce 

 my operations to a system. 



Now the farther on a claim gets, the harder it is to adjust. 

 The traveling man that can pass up a supposed claim in a happy 

 way is your right hand man. He nips it in the bud with a deli- 

 cate but firm pressure that even his sales manager may appre- 

 ciate, because he does not know what the traveler has done for 

 him. But some time this jewel of a traveler does not get a 

 chance at it. Some day a letter comes from a customer stating 

 that &■ piece of hose, belting or something else has gone wrong. 

 .\nd here I want to say that I am of the opinion that the sales 

 manager, the one who is responsible for the distribution of the 

 factory output, should be the man to pass finally on all claims. 

 Well, the claim is made. I have been in the habit of classifying 

 all claims under one of three headings: 



.. Just claims. 



2. Claims made in good faith by the customer but wliich you 

 are sure are not just. 



3. Unjust claims — those that you are convinced are made by 

 the customer when he knows that the goods have not had fair 

 treatment. 



Now how shall we dispose of these? In the abstract — 



1. If you are wrong, make it right and make it right quickly. 



2. If you are right, it is up to you to convince your man that 

 his claim should be withdrawn. 



3. Take a firm stand and if the claim is not withdrawn, close 

 the account and notify the traveler not to call on the firm. 



In elaboration of these headings, I will first explain the system, 

 and later the methods of handling the system. Don't burden your- 

 self with the details. Get an assistant accustomed to your style 

 of letter and system and turn the details over to him. Keep 

 him up to the mark, but reserve your time for the fine work. 



The bookkeeping staff may have accounts which -will show the 

 final disposition of the claims made, and I think it is well to have 

 accounts under the headings of "Defective Goods" (chargeable to 

 factory) and "Policy" (chargeable to selling department). But 

 accounts or no accounts, keep a book which will give you the 



