Option 2:

Briefly summarize the issue including what went wrong and whether it was a performance quality or conformance quality issue.

Tesla vehicles were surveyed and found to have 250 problems per 100 vehicles. This compares to an industry that averages 166 problems (1). J.D. Power was finally able to collect data from 35 states on their performance quality. Tesla customers raised concerns about their vehicle rattling, wind noise and paint quality, the accuracy of their body panels, failure of their touch screen, and loss of rear camera image.

What was the impact on costs to the organization and/or its customers?

Tesla issues have drawn negative attention among its customers who have and have ranked their vehicles among the worst performance in the 300 models reviewed. Despite the consumer reports finding, Tesla continues to increase sales of its luxury electric cars (2). Tesla has challenged the consumer’s reports reliability assessment of its vehicles, noting that the brand has earned high marks from the magazine and its readers in the past.

How did the organization address the issue? What steps did they take to either correct the problem or provide a resolution to customers? Were these reasonable and fair? Explain.

The organization has been known to brush aside customer complaints about its quality by pointing its own internal data. Although they said they take customer feedback seriously and address each issue quickly, several customers have said otherwise. Some customers have even aired their issues on social media hoping that the CEO will be able to assist them. Although the company may address some issues, it is clear it is not addressing them all. This is not fair to all customers who have spent thousands of dollars on a car that will give them issues consistently. It is unreasonably for such a popular and expensive brand to brush away those complaints and not try to resolve it. Clearly, most of its customers are having the same issue if 250 out of 100 are expected to have problems.

What steps could have been taken to reduce or prevent this failure?

Tesla should be able to survey their customers on what common issues their cars have. This way they are able to collect data and create a plan to resolve all issues. Studies show that resolving a complaint in the customer’s favor will lead them to do business with the same company again 70% of the time (3).

References:

1.Tim Higgins. 2020. Tesla quality falls short. https://www.wsj.com/articles/tesla-quality-falls-short-in-j-d-power-car-survey-11593014428?mod=searchresults_pos12&page=1

2.Chester Dawson. 2018. Tesla, U.S. Auto makers fall in consumer reports latest ratings. https://www.wsj.com/articles/tesla-u-s-auto-makers-fall-in-consumer-reports-latest-ratings-1540399550?mod=article_inline

Briefly summarize the issue including what went wrong and whether it was a performance quality or conformance quality issue.

Facebook launched its Portal devices in 2018. Their biggest flaw was that they failed to offer a one of a kind product experience in an already crowded market. The price point and lack of features kept the product in the shadows for many. With various under-addressed Facebook security breaches, many felt unsafe to bring the product into their home. This would fall into the conformance quality issue type as the product doesn’t bring a special level of quality or capability when compared to other products with more features. When products lack conformance, customer dissatisfaction occurs (2). In the case of the Portal, customers are being deterred from the product before they even give it a chance.

What was the impact on costs to the organization and/or its customers?

Facebook has decline to release numbers on how the Portal has impacted the organization but according to online sales monitoring company, Rakuten, Facebook is estimated to have only 0.6% of units sold in the overall smart-speaker category (3). Despite the low estimate, they launched additional products in varying sizes as well as a TV option. However, experts believe the sales were truly low.

How did the organization address the issue? What steps did they take to either correct the problem or provide a resolution to customers? Were these reasonable and fair? Explain.

Since the Pandemic, the Portal has been doing increasing well (4).Since March they have said sales have been up 10x (4). Facebook has added 3rd party apps as it was highly requested from customers. They also have added videoconferencing services like Zoom, GoToMeeting and WebEx. With families keeping their distance during the pandemic, the allure of face-to-face chats are more popular than ever. They still have some privacy issues to continue to address before the majority of potential users will be open to the prospect of the device in their home.

What steps could have been taken to reduce or prevent this failure?

With the Portal itself, Facebook needed to address privacy concerns head on. It seems like they hoped no one would make a big thing of it but that is not what happened. They have responded to privacy concerns and ensures that the camera and sound technologies are ran off its own servers and not Facebook’s. There are also features that allow users to disable the camera which brings some comfort. They also note that WhatsApp communications are end-to-end encrypted and Facebook calls are encrypted (1).

Lauren Dioses

1. Jefferson Graham and Edward C. Baig. 2019. Facebook’s new Portal makes good video calls but still has issues. https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2019/10/15/new…

2. JWMI. 2020. Week 7 Lecture Notes.

3. Jack Morse. 2019. Surprise! People don’t want Facebook cameras in their homes. https://mashable.com/article/facebook-portal-sales…