Quality control lacking
Quality control has never been one of Indonesia's strengths, but the saga of my Daihatsu Feroza is a particularly sad example of Indonesian companies shooting themselves, and their customers, in the foot by failing to monitor the quality of their products.
The good thing about my Feroza, bought in June 1998, is that it came with a two-year warrantee. A very good thing, given that in only 10 months the garage has had to replace the battery (after only a few weeks, the suspension (after only two months) the gas tank, and now it looks set to replace my clutch, which has broken down as well and left me carless for the past few days. All these replacements must have cost Astra, which is struggling to restructure its debt, more than Rp 5 million or more than 10 percent of the purchase price at the time.
In addition, the Astra garage has spent dozens of hours, largely unpaid, on my car. The car revealed 15 problems on the first day, all of which pointed at sloppy or absent quality control. The steering wheel was installed at an angle, the breaks were not balanced, the left door did not open and the right door did not close properly. Later on the air-conditioning and the locks failed as well, unfortunately just after their more limited warranties ran out.
Companies like Astra cannot afford to hand out free spare parts like that, and I cannot afford the wasted time and stress. Although I actually like my Feroza when it works, and the Astra staff have been very courteous, I'm never buying an Astra car again. I highly doubt cars of such quality can ever be exported, making it difficult for Astra to export its way out of the crisis.
Such stories also raise questions about the commitment of foreign investors such as Daihatsu to delivering equal quality to all of its customers. Astra is no exception -- my LG Electronics air-conditioning has broken down a dozen times and was replaced, free of charge, just before the warrantee ran out. It now leaks. The Toshiba fridge and television, the General Electric telephone, they all proved shoddy. It is about time that Indonesians, and the occasional expat like me, are given the chance to buy affordable quality goods.
SANDER THOENES
Jakarta