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NoticingDefects

I notice defects. (I notice lots of other things too, but defects is the topic today :-) I'm staying in a hotel where there's are numerous defects:

• My deadbolt didn't work on my room door when I checked in.
• The sink faucets are threaded backwards. And they were so tight I couldn't remember which way they were threaded to turn them off.
• Some of elevators don't like to go from floor 2 (the lobby) to floor 3 (my floor).
• The local tv channels are unwatchable -- only the cable channels work.
• The high speed wireless does not maintain a consistent connection

There's more, but that's enough for now :-). It hasn't been a relaxing stay at this hotel for me.

I've complained, and insisted they fix the things that were dangerous to me (deadbolt and faucets). But these folks think I'm nuts for complaining.

Am I the only one who notices defects? I suspect that many of you do too. Are we different? Do other people notice but are resigned to problems? -- JohannaRothman 2005.07.19

Am I the only one who notices defects? No.

Are we different? Yes.

Do other people notice but are [you] resigned to problems? No, although I must admit that Jim's answer of "sometimes" is a more accurate assessment.

SteveSmith 2005.07.19

Do I notice? Sometimes
Am I different? Yes
Am I resigned? No

Often I wonder why someone thought this "defect" was OK. Often it's an intentional choice, or at least an intentionally accepted possibility, that someone thought was OK. This tells me about what they think is important, which is good to know.

I prefer to approach these things as disconnects, and the conversation as a negotiation. I want what I want. I anticipated what I anticipated. Now, how can I get more of that? And BTW was I confused in what I anticipated?

-- JimBullock 2005.07.19 ("Defect is in the eye of the beholder.")

Like Johanna, I'll definitely do something about a safety defect, or something I perceive as one. I suspect most women are extremely particular about anything to do with personal security. Locks, window catches, lighting -- all those have to work, and I'll check to make sure they do. Number 2 for me is noise: fans, traffic, anything that'll keep me awake. Beyond that, well, I might or might not ever get around to turning the TV on...but the bedside reading lamp has to work.

FionaCharles 19-July-2005

The issues do matter and, when I was younger, they used to upset me greatly. I don't just accept them now, but approach it, as Jim has suggested, as a negotiation. I believe we do a hotel, or other business, a favor by helping them sort out such issues, but we must be careful to show them we are on the same side. And it matters to whom the issue is raised. The 17-year-old at the Mickey D's counter may respond to a smile and kind words, but has very little authority.

Approaching things that way, I've gotten a car rental for free (Avis at the Charles Hotel in Cambridge, MA), when the car AC was out and the noise level high. They actually sent someone out (a distance of 20 miles) with a replacement! Then again I have no qualms about walking out of a restaurant when service is non-existent and letting the host know why. Do I always get the defects fixed? No. In the end, I've had occasion to never return to a particular business. Then the satisfaction is in watching them struggle and either go out of business or learn a better way.

Do I always get it right? By no means. Just last AYE, it took Jim, himself, to wake me out of a stupor at a restaurant. (BTW, thanks, Jim, even if you don't remember the incident.) I clearly hadn't had enough cave time at that point. I'm growing used to such lapses in myself and, I think, I am recovering quicker. AYE's been a help with that.

MikeMelendez 2005.07.20

It�s reasonable to expect that a hotel room will have working locks and plumbing � in fact, that anything in it that is meant to turn on and off does so properly, with correct function in between and only so much noise as is essential to its function. Ditto a rental car, or the airplane seat whose number is printed on my boarding pass. That�s in the contract, written or not, and there�s no room for negotiation. I�m prepared to state my expectations politely, but I�m also prepared to demand that they be met if the resolution falls short.

And (although I don�t recommend it as a tactical alternative) surliness does have its uses in the right context. A few years ago, flying home from Italy, I�d had to get up at an hour beginning with 4 to catch my plane in Venice, and then had a stopover in Paris before the interminable flight to Toronto. After 4 hours breathing the stink of Gitanes and Gauloises in Charles de Gaulle airport, I was tired and grumpy and looking forward to taking a lot of Gravol and crossing the Atlantic leaning insensible against the wall in my window seat. I was not inclined to stand in a useless queue to get on my plane, so I was the last one to go through. The attendant put my pass through the machine and said, �But Madame, your seat it has been assigned twice. It has been given to someone else.� I fixed him with baleful eye and snarled, �I REALLY want a window.� He turned to a keyboard, went ticka ticka, put the pass through again, and beamed at me. �Madame, I have good news! You have been upgraded to Business!� --FionaCharles 20-Jul-2005

"Negotiation" includes negotiating using a baseball bat when that's called for. - jb

I try not to complain about the defects I notice. I once worked with a lady who spoke loud and long everytime she noticed something she didn't like. I didn't like to be around her and most people I met who knew her didn't like being around her either.

I think congruent communication helps when I notice something I think is a defect. I just had the furniture in my office change (not by request). It's nice furniture. I prefer a different type of furniture and office arrangement. The statement "I prefer a different type of furniture and office arrangement" goes over much better than "This furniture is lousy." It also states my inside belief.

DwaynePhillips 22 July 2005

I'm wondering if people who are more open to feedback notice more things?

At this same hotel, at 7:30 Tuesday morning, I went to the restaurant for breakfast. The hostess took almost five minutes to seat me, because she was so busy filling coffee orders for people she'd just seated. Ok, that's not so terrible. I sat down and waited to tell a waiter/waitress I wanted the buffet. After 5 more minutes, I served myself from the buffet. I was thirsty, so about 10 minutes later, I wandered around to find a glass and some water. At 8:00, I gave up waiting for a waiter or waitress, and told the hostess I needed a check. She started to walk around from the desk to find a waiter/waitress, and I said, "No, no one served me. Not even coffee. You can make me a check to sign and I'll leave." She tried to tell me she couldn't do that. I stopped her and said, "I'm ready to pay you for breakfast now. If you can't take my signature now, take a note, and bill my room, but I'm not willing to wait any longer." She did.

I have a survey to fill out. I doubt they will hear what I have to say. They very carefully did not hear anything I had to say all week, except when I told them the room was unsafe. -- JohannaRothman 2005.07.22

The hints here are two. First, defects tend to cluster. So, if they can't get the locks to work right, the service is probably bad as well. Second, you can't solve things on their behalf. I never fill out survery forms unless someone has talked to me about how their service. Unless they are interested, there is no point.

Seems to me that this hotel is a fine place to avoid, at least until there is new ownership. Likely that won't take long. - jb

I wonder, though, if anyone here is also NoticingFeatures and making sure someone hears about them? - JerryWeinberg 2005.07.23

I suspect that many of you do too. Yes.

Are we different? Yes.

Do other people notice but are resigned to problems? Sometimes.

What's the point of complaining if it doesn't get anything done? I just make a mental note never to visit that hotel, restaurant, etc. again. A recent favourite was a hotel in Bedford (UK, not US!). Quite a nice location, next to the river, but the hotel was very 1970s concrete from the outside. When I got to my room, checked out the bathroom and there was a black scum mark all around the bath. I left a note the following morning saying it looked dirty, and when I got back had a response saying that the bath was old. Should I be grateful that they corrected my potentially incorrect assumption?

PhilStubbington 2005.07.24