Famous quote by a very wise man John Ruskin...


"There is hardly anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price only are this man's lawful prey.
It's unwise to pay too little. When you pay too much, you lose a little money - that is all.
When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do.
The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot - it can't be done.
If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run. And if you do that, you will have enough to pay for something better."

 

The enormous Cost of Low Priced products.

 

I am emailed by people on a daily basis requesting price quotes for products. On some occasions after I have presented a quote. I receive an email back from my prospective customer asking if I can reduce the price on the basis that, they can buy a "similar" product for a considerably lower price. Now these people are being truthful, and I can verify that what they say is true. You can buy Inflatables and other products for that matter at much lower cost.

Most of these low cost products are currently being made in China, where labour cost's, and engineering cost's are extremely low. A lot of US inflatable manufacturers are now having SOME of their Inflatables made in China in an effort to increase their profitability because of increased competition in this growing industry.

China turns out some very high quality products, at a very low cost. However, they also turn out some extremely poor quality products. And this I can personally verify because I purchased two Inflatables from China last year for my rental division. I did this for two reasons 1) to offer more diversity of choice for our customers and, 2) to see the quality of the products. Now if I am being truthful I have to admit that the price of the Inflatables were very attractive to me. See below my experience in this purchase.

 

 

 

In June of 2004 I took receipt of two 40' long Inflatables, which we nicknamed T-Rex slide n Play tunnels. The pictures on the left show my associate Ron and a couple of local children inspecting the New Inflatables. This was the first time they were inflated.

We were very pleased with the look of the T-Rex but even as we inflated them we both agreed that there was a strong potential for damage and undue wear and tear. We immediately contacted the distributor.

 

Renting the Inflatables was very easy and they proved to be very popular. However, after only four uses in the space of only two weeks our concerns started to become a reality.  Now you must remember that on average an inflatable with good maintenance is expected to last on average between 4 and 7 years. 

We started to see small rips appearing in the entrance to the T-Rex as well as on the inside of the entrance and on the slide portion where an air supply tube had been fitted directly on the slide in the path of children sliding down. And as expected the resulting damage was disastrous. Also the exit to the rear of the T-Rex also had major rips and tears in it. All of these tears resulted in a loss of air to the T-Rex this made the inflatable slump and lean over to one side.    Both inflatables had exactly the same damage in exactly the same places and the amount of damage was consistent in both units.

In the interest of time I will tell you that although these two Inflatables cost us half of the cost of a similar North American made inflatable. The final amount in cost to us was more than three times the cost because of the loss of income the we endured when we had to cancel festivals and rentals.

The company in China offer a one year warranty for their products. However, offers, and the delivery of same from this company have proven to be light years apart. As of today January 17 2005 we have not resolved the issue, and are still involved in claims discussions.
 

Below you will see images and explanations of our damage report that I sent to the supplier

The entrance to the T-Rex developed a rip where the children climb in. There was a similar rip in the interior of the entrance and two more at the top of the entrance inside and out which is not seen on the image
Closer look at the same damage
And an even closer look
The T-Rex have interior obstacles hanging down from the top portion. These obstacles are fed with air via a tube. The tube was positioned on the actual slide where the children slide down with obvious results. It is kind of like putting a street light in the middle of the road, it would only be a matter of minutes before someone hits it.
Interior images of damage
More interior damage
Interior damage to the exit

Mr. / Ms. Customer is it the PRICE that your concerned about or is it the COST that concerns you more?

In this instance the PRICE was very low but the COST has proven considerably more and is ongoing!

 
  Now consider this
A year after the T-Rex episode. I purchased this inflatable which I call Clyde for our rental division. It cost twice as much more than the T-Rex and is about the same size. We have had it working now for three years, and there is hardly a mark on it. I expect to get about another four or more years of use out of it. This unit paid for itself in the first couple of months of use and it has made and continues to make money. If you consider the cost of this unit. It is a negative the price was higher than the T-Rex but because it is good quality and the fact it continues to earn there is no cost.
   
 
The contents of these web  pages are the property of Karscot Distributors / Fun Zone ©  all rights reserved. Established 1993 Online Since 1996 References available