Here’s part of a letter I received from one of the many contacts I get weekly from floor covering dealers. This letter included pictures of the carpet in question and the actual sample of the vinyl flooring material. The letter is regarding obviously defective materials shipped from the manufacturer to the dealer.

The carpet has two areas that look like they’ve been “zippered,” that is, yarn pulled from them which looks like a run in a stocking. When the dealer looked at the back of the carpet he said he could see that these areas had never been tufted, so it appeared to him. In the photo you can see about four rows of yarn in one area missing and in another area two rows. One area of missing yarn is over 2 feet long and the other about 8 inches long. This product is a large looped berber so the missing areas are very outstanding. This dealer also states the first 12 inches of the roll are a completely different pattern and that the roll was 3 inches short of the order. He states that he thinks quality control was out to lunch. I’d have to agree since there is no way this product should have been shipped with the huge voids of yarn at the end of the roll. I can understand latent defects which will appear after the carpet is installed such as tuft bind problems, fuzzing, delamination and a multitude of other problems which can’t be visibly detected on the inspection line. What I can’t understand is how a piece of carpet can escape from the mill with defects so blatantly obvious that a blind man could detect them.

This dealer also went on to say that one mill sent him the same “custom made” area rug three times and it was still too small. His comment was, “ How could someone manufacturing anything have the product come out not even close to specifications and then say, oh well, ship it. I have to concur with his question. How can anyone making these products reach a decision to ship them knowing full well that they’re not right?

These issues don’t only pertain to the carpet industry either. This same dealer also sent along a piece of sheet vinyl material that had a puncture in it and a patch on the backing to “mend” it. The dealer stated in his letter, “I’m also sending along a piece of vinyl we received a few weeks ago, it was a first for me. (That’s with the facial damage that was done by something puncturing the material and then basted on the back with a wide piece of tape, which I described to you.) Luckily, he said, we could do without that part of the roll. He goes on to say, “On most claims we just get stonewalled and end up eating the cost and losing a family and its friends as customers.”

I know that asking any of you if you’ve had problems like this is a dumb question. Certainly you have and the question has to be, why? Why would a manufacturer choose, and it has to be a choice, to send you an obviously defective or damaged piece of goods and pass it off as first quality? Would an automobile manufacturer send you a damaged car and try to pass it off as first quality and expect the consumer or dealer to accept it? Certainly not. But what we’re talking about is not complex it is the simple matter of seeing that the product is damaged and not shipping it. Why would anyone think they can just roll up the material, wrap it and get away without saying a word. It’s tantamount to stealing. You, the dealer, are being asked to pay for defective material shipped as if it were first quality. Is that what you ordered? Did you ask them to send you a product that had missing yarn, holes, cuts or was short because you wanted to challenge your magic skills to see if you could change it back to first quality material? I don’t think so.

Seeing product like this is not only ridiculous, it’s disgusting. It makes you shake your head and say to yourself, this is unbelievable. How could something like this happen, how could this stuff get shipped, don’t they care. Obviously not. The manufacturer, first and foremost, has the responsibility to ship first quality floor covering material to you. It should especially be free of visible defects and certainly free of the kinds of defects we have spoken about here. It is unconscionable that shipping these materials would even be considered. What idiot would make such a decision, and it had to be an idiot because no normal human being would have done such a thing. Maybe we can make the assumption that the guy in quality control and final inspection was new, didn’t understand directions, couldn’t make a decision. But then again no, this type of decision comes from higher up. Management makes those decisions to allow defective or marginal product to go out the door.

Things are not getting better. Every time the economy starts to slow down claims and defective goods seem to go up. After 30 years in this business I can say that it’s a cycle which keeps repeating itself. It shouldn’t. The manufacturers need to slow down enough to prevent alienating the dealer and ticking off the consumer. It doesn’t get any simpler than that.