[pct-l] Manufacturer BearVault comments

[bmclaughlin at bigplanet.com (Brian McLaughlin)]

> We want to point out an issue with our newer model BV250s and BV300s
> which the user needs to be aware of. We use a manual mold for the
> production of the lid and this can result in some lids being slightly
> oversized due to cycle time variations. These oversize
> lids are only 0.02" larger than nominal...

I'm fine with all this up to here. It seems a clear explanation
of the problem, er, "issue".

> They work perfectly well if you close the lid correctly.

While I can sympathize with the problems of a small manufacturer
making a specialty item for sale to a small market, ultimately 
this is a quality-control problem rather than a failure on the
part of customers. It is disingenous to say the oversize lids
work "perfectly well."

> We point out that this can happen in an insert in every 
> unit we sell. The insert points out that this is easily remedied...

As a technical writer, I know the futility of getting customers
to read an insert, or to remedy a problem in a product by
'correcting' their behavior. Like it or not, people expect 
manufactured goods to behave uniformly, and not to vary 
from batch to batch. One could argue we are 'spoiled', but if 
so, it's just something manufacturers must learn to live with.

I am very glad to hear the manufacturer plans to invest in 
better machinery that will result in more reliable tolerances.
I'm sorry they have encountered problems that aren't due
to the integrity of their design, but only to slight variations
in the manufacturing process. That's rough. I'm sure they're
frustrated by this situation.

> ...we need you to correctly close your BearVaults if they 
> have an oversize lid or else you all may lose the option of 
> buying a larger, lighter, easier to use bear canister.

I hope they succeed at their business, but I'm sure that
if they fail it would not be their customers' fault. The tone
of these comments very unfortunately sound like they'd
like to imply otherwise. 

Just my $0.02.