{"id":1535,"date":"2011-06-15T20:02:46","date_gmt":"2011-06-16T00:02:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chuckzumbrun.net\/?p=1535"},"modified":"2011-06-15T20:52:29","modified_gmt":"2011-06-16T00:52:29","slug":"im-as-mad-as-hell-and-im-not-going-to-take-this-anymore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chuckzumbrun.net\/?p=1535","title":{"rendered":"I’m as Mad as Hell, and I’m not Going to Take This Anymore"},"content":{"rendered":"

A light bulb went out in the ceiling light in our living room. The living room has a cathedral ceiling so changing a light bulb is a bit of a production. I have to get out a long pole with a grippy thing on the end, wave it around 17 feet in the air, remove the old bulb and screw in a new one.<\/p>\n

I do all that and two days later that bulb burns out. And we’re out of bulbs, so the next time Debbie was at the store she picks up some GE (motto: Imagination at work) halogen bulbs, guaranteed to last two years.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Imagination At Work<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Two years! Cool! I won’t have to be changing bulbs again until 2013! I get the pole out, wave it in the air and eventually get the bulb screwed in. I flip the switch and…<\/p>\n

… nothing. It was darker than Jack Welch’s heart.<\/p>\n

Muttering foul imprecations I tried again to screw the bulb in. I stood on the table to get a better angle, but the bulb refused to light. Finally I took it out and screwed it into a table lamp. Nothing. It was defective.<\/p>\n

Who makes these quality-less products anyway? Is this some of that outsourced made in China junk?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Made With Pride In Hungary<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Made in Hungary. Hmmm. Can we blame that on Bill Clinton and NAFTA or that gol-durn Obama and all his job killing medical reform?<\/p>\n

Well, hey, no worries. This product is gawr-on-teed for two years. It says so right on the front of the package in a big red banner. Let’s see…<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The Fine Print<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So all I have to do is clip the UPC code off the package, find my cash register receipt, mail it to GE (at a cost of 44 cents, plus the cost of the envelope) and they’ll replace my bulb. That’s what I call standing behind your product!<\/p>\n

Seriously though . GE doesn’t care. So what if it takes me 3 tries to find a working light bulb? Their guarantee is meaningless. Who is going to save cash register receipts, match them to UPC codes clipped from packages, and mail them in? I’ll not buy GE products in outrage for a while, but soon enough I’ll forget, or it will be the only brand on the shelf and I won’t be willing to drive to another store, and I’ll be buying GE again.<\/p>\n

So what’s the moral of this post? Shame on all of us for fostering and accepting a culture of greed where it is fine to produce low quality products with meaningless warranties.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A light bulb went out in the ceiling light in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-curmudgeon","category-ill-tempered-screed"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chuckzumbrun.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chuckzumbrun.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chuckzumbrun.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chuckzumbrun.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chuckzumbrun.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1535"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chuckzumbrun.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1535\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chuckzumbrun.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chuckzumbrun.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chuckzumbrun.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}