Wouxun: Main Trading Company Comments

MTC shared this message and talked about Ed's comments:

"Any Chinese products that you may see on our site are fully backed by us with a great warranty. We do not sell everything that comes down the pike. We do sell products that we have tested, beta tested with some of our great customers and put them on the market only when we feel that we can stand behind them. We have heard horror stories about folks buying some imported products with no real warranty or return policy from foreign websites pretending to be in the states or even from some popular U.S. auction sites. Some of these customers were shipped radios with foreign voltage chargers, knock offs, copies, DOA units and worse. When they found out they had to pay more than the unit cost to send it to China for warranty or deal with some crazy company here in the states working out of their extra bedroom with no real radio knowledge , the were sorely disappointed."

They focus on the warranty and service they provide, but, other than a general comment about testing and being selective, they don't really address the issue that Ed claims exists.

Wouxun Defects: The Other Side

After all the posts about Ed's divorce, Hans had a couple of Wouxun sellers comment on his site.

UK:

"We have sold THOUSANDS of their entire range and bar a very very low percentage of failures, have not encountered the problem he reports."

Netherlands:

"While he sold at least 500 dual-band Wouxun models, he only ran into the problem once."

So is Ed unlucky? Did he get bad lots? Is he wrong? I've worked with the Chinese enough to be aware of some of the cultural differences that can create problems. I've had problems with our plants in Mexico and Italy, too. It's just easier when everyone thinks (mostly) the same way. But ignoring some of the communication and ordering problems, the question remains: is there a big quality problem with Wouxun radios? The data is not very clear. I took what Ed posted at face value. We've all seen quality problems with the Chinese radios, so it was all to easy to just run with his comments.

I'm going to do some more analysis and get back to you.

Impact and Perception

I posted about the Wouxun problem.
Hans posted about the Wouxun problem.
Matt posted about the Wouxun problem.
David posted about the Wouxun problem.
It is making the rounds on the Yahoo Group.
It is making the rounds on the forums like eHam.net, QRZ, and AR-15, CalGuns.net.
[ EDIT TO ADD: ] The QRPer posted about the Wouxun problem.


That's in less than 24 hours. I know we don't represent a huge part of the total internet, but for the Chinese radios, we are what I like to call a non-trivial number. Wouxun had a huge lead on the other manufacturers. The KG-UV920R was a disappointment. Losing the guy that bought these radios to the US market is another step back. Culture issue? Poor management? Inability to manufacture? With alternatives like Baofeng, AnyTone, and a multitude of others, more problems or perceived problems* will make them go the way of AOL.

* Especially considering the price increases as they became more popular. My first Wouxun was less than $110.

Fakes, Knock-offs, Seconds, Early Models

Kight radio warns of a knock-off Yaesu FTM-350AR being sold as the Luiton FTM-350AR. They've warned of Wouxun fakes before, too. Hans also had concerns about early versions of radios being dumped.

I still stand by what I said then about going cheap as like most things, these decisions are compromises. But occasionally  you get burned - more on that soon.

Baofeng: Value

From a post by Soxy on the Transmission1 forum:

"if any rep from baofeng monitors this site is'nt it about time you got these radio's right.after the uv-3r mk-1 then the mk-2 and the mk-3 and now the uv-5r there are still major issues.come on get it right and stop ripping your customers off and coming out with useless excuses."

I'm not sure why this bothers me so much. The outrage? The grammar? The lack of specifics (relating to the "useless excuses"? The incorrect model names? The sense of entitlement? The sense of powerlessness?

No one is making this person buy these radios. Most reasonable people understand that, in the real world, there are trade-offs. Pay less, get less. He can't be bothered to use capitalization or do any proof-reading for a few sentences, but someone else better darn well make a perfect product and make it super cheap.

I did not reply on the board as I generally prefer to avoid feeding the trolls. Since logic does not appear to be his strong suit, trying to persuade him with more logic is likely to fail.

Unintended Consequences

Who knew that the end of of quality was a good thing for throwing a monkey wrench in the process to cook cocaine? It seems the drug lords need cookware that can handle rapid temperature change. Unfortunately, the new generation of soda-lime glass isn't up to the job.

Via Bruce Schneier.

940 BC Topic: Exploding Glassware - The End of Quality

The 940 BC guys were talking about exploding glassware. This sounds like another example where cost savings has trumped quality.

And if it isn't cost savings killing quality, then it is environmental do-gooders. They restricted the phosphates in dish detergents and now we end up washing dishes by hand or running them through the dishwasher twice. Brilliant.