I think Andy (below) hit the nail right on the head. Most of us aren't
fortunate enough to live close enough to a supplier to be able to pick up
the parts in person, so we order on faith, then we get what we get and,
often knee deep in a project and hoping to get the car back on the road in
short order, we attempt to fix the part and make do rather than return it
and wait another week or more for a better part (if you can indeed source
one). Actually I have had a few experiences like that, probably one of
worst cases involving a water pump coincidentally. In addition, when
ordering from catalogues or online with nothing more than factory drawing, a
part number, and a price, you can see why people buy on price, because they
really have no indication of quality or lack thereof when shopping for the
part.
Unfortunately this does not lend itself to getting the message to the
manufacturers and suppliers that substandard parts are not acceptable, if we
bought the part at the local auto parts store and it didn't fit we would
likely drive right back and return it, but not so easy with delivered parts.
I think the key is really working with Moss, Moss supplies the vast majority
of parts for our cars, and would have the most clout with the manufacturers,
(many smaller independent dealers are primarily Moss reselllers). I think
they do care about quality, but the have to stock relatively small numbers
of thousands of parts, so not easy (economically) to test install and
quality control all the the products once let alone in a larger number to
get a more statistically significant sample, and I am sure it would drive
the cost up, but if we let them know what isn't right or doesn't work,
hopefully they work with the manufacturer to remedy.
Greg Lemon
"In my opinion the only reason that this happens to the extent that it does,
is that suppliers believe that they have a captive market and rely on the
fact that most customers are unaware at the outset that they are buying a
compromised product at times ... and when they do realise they are more
likely to try to fix the situation themselves, and so the saga continues.
Andy"
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