Staples' Extended Service Warranty Process

Ron bought a Toshiba laptop with a two-year extended warranty from a Staples store on November 8. The laptop developed a problem in January: a broken wire in the AC power supply. At the beginning of February, Ron went to the store with his power supply and showed the staff the problem. They said that he should call the Toronto service centre to get a claim number. Ron called the Toronto service centre and explained the problem. After about 10 minutes he received a repair number. He found out that he has to also turn in the laptop even though the problem was only with the power supply. On February 11, Ron took his laptop and power supply, in the original box, to the store. It took the employee about 20-25 minutes to issue a repair depot technician service request (he had difficulty completing the form on the computer).

Ron waited until March 23, when he went to the store at around 1 p.m. He told the employee that it had been more than six weeks since he turned in his laptop and power supply, and he was wondering what had happened. First, the employee brushed off Ron's question by saying that repairs may take two to six weeks. Ron pointed out that it had been more than six weeks and the repair was a simple replacement of a common power supply. Reluctantly, the employee tried to pull up the service request on the computer. He had trouble locating it. After five minutes, he found the service request, which appeared to be cancelled. The employee couldn't explain what had happened and said that Ron should return and talk to Dylan after 4:00 p.m. Unfortunately, Ron didn't have time to do that. The next day, he went to the store around 7:00 p.m., and asked for Dylan. The manager, Jen, said that Dylan wasn't working then. Ron asked Jen if she could help. She couldn't find the service request on her computer, so she checked in her office in the back. After 10 minutes, she returned and said that the laptop had been shipped last Friday from Winnipeg and should arrive soon.

On April 3, Ron received a phone call from the store saying that the laptop had arrived. Ron went there the next day. An employee gave him his laptop and power supply. Ron pointed out that he had also turned in the box (which contained some manuals). She read the service request form and said that she didn't think that was correct. Ron left the store with his laptop and power supply. On April 9, Ron received a phone call from the store saying that his laptop box was there to be picked up.

Questions

1. State the quality problems incurred during the extended service warranty process described above.
2. For each quality problem, determine a quality assurance plan that could have prevented it in the first place.