MY ANNUAL CHIPCO MANIFESTO
TomE...@bigfoot.com
Greetings From Las Vegas, Home of The BARGE:
MY ANNUAL CHIPCO MANIFESTO
The 1996 BARGE chips were designed by me, and made by CHIPCO
International of Windham, Maine. CHIPCO was selected because
we were looking for a "different look" and we had been
favorably impressed with some samples of their work.
I believe that the 1996 chips look pretty good in their
overall appearance, but they have several quality control
mistakes that CHIPCO refused to correct:
1. On the red chips, the red color bled slightly into the
bottom of the five of spades graphic on about 80 % of the
red chips. This only happened on the red chips.
2. On all of the orange chips there is a slight
discoloration extending to the left and the right of
"HORSESHOE" in the Binion's logo. This only happened on
the orange chips.
3. The lettering on the edges of the chips was very sloppily
done. The lettering was not centered vertically, and the
print varied in degree of darkness on many of the chips.
The lettering is not very crisp, is often blurry and/or
smudged, and looks sort of like someone took a rubber
stamp and stamped the lettering on the edge of the chips.
4. The lettering on the edges of 2,313 of the chips faces
one direction while the lettering on the edges of the
remaining 1,717 chips face the opposite direction. Each
of the ten different colors had about half of it's edge
designs reversed in this fashion.
5. Many of the chips have some sort of minor blemish: a tiny
pit mark, or a tiny discoloration (usually white) or an
irregularity on the edge that looks like a seam, and
other flaws in the manufacturing process. One peach chip
had a large white discoloration (about 1/4" x 1/8") on
one side.
I had been very pleased with the proofs of the BARGE chips.
There wasn't any bleeding or discolorations or blemishes on
the proofs, and on the proofs the lettering on the edges was
crisp, clear, vertically centered, and it all faced in the
same direction.
After receiving the BARGE chips, I informed CHIPCO that they
were unacceptable because of defects 1 through 4 listed
above, and I requested that they redo the chips.
The President of CHIPCO put off a decision for over two
weeks before refusing to redo the chips. He said that they
put too much red ink in the mix for the red chips, that they
let the orange chip cook a little too long, and that I never
told them that all of the lettering in the edge design
should face the same direction. He did not offer any
comments or explanation of the sloppy lettering on the edge
design or the blemishes on many of the chips. He said that
in his judgment the flaws were not that serious and did not
warrant redoing the chips. His basic attitude seemed to be
that he was very concerned with his immediate profit and
loss situation, and that the flawed chips that they had made
for BARGE were "good enough for who they were for".
CHIPCO does not accept credit cards, and required payment in
full from me (except for shipping charges) before I got the
BARGE chips, so I had very little financial leverage in this
situation. If they had been dealing with a casino or an
important customer, they would not have required payment in
advance, and the chips would have been rejected for any one
of the defects listed above. The Chip Purchasing executives
at two major Las Vegas casinos looked at our 1996 BARGE
chips, and said that they would have rejected the order
because of the quality defects.
I spent many weeks trying to appeal to CHIPCO's pride in
their product and the desirability of maintaining a good
reputation, and I really held out hope until the day before
BARGE, that they might decide to do the right thing by us,
and that a UPS truck would deliver some chips that looked
like the proofs. I told them that they were capable of doing
better work than the "seconds" they were foisting on us, and
that we had paid for and deserved their best efforts. I also
suggested that they could replace the edge lettering with
stripes, if it was beyond their technical capability to
produce edge lettering that looked like the proofs. This all
fell on deaf ears.
Their short sightedness in this matter was/is unbelievable
to me. Even after redoing them, they probably would have
made a profit on the BARGE order, because I offered to try
and sell the original chips as "seconds" and give the
proceeds of the sales to CHIPCO. They also stood to benefit
from several additional full set orders for which I had
indications of interest. I don't understand how any company
could commit such a public relations blunder.
Based on my experience with CHIPCO, I conclude that they are
a company with serious quality control problems, that
doesn't hesitate to foist a flawed product, that does not
represent their best efforts, on their customers. What goes
around comes around, and I believe/hope that the Poker God
will get them in the long run.
Tom Sims
Measure with a micrometer * mark with chalk * cut with an axe
... Turtle Tom ... Live From Las Vegas ...
... "CHIPCO Quality" is an Oxymoron ...
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xMarc
chips. I am ready to spend $1,000 of my hard earned poker profits to buy
them. Based on your experience, and especially in view of the fact that the
proofs were fine but the product was flawed, I will not use this company for
the purchase. In fact, I think I will buy the chips in person and with a
credit card to make sure I don't suffer a fate similar to yours.
This is one of the beautiful things about the Internet. Incompetence can be
punished much more efficiently than in the past. I find that I no longer
make a serious purchase of any kind without searching the Net for potential
problems in advance.
Thank you!
Aces,
Marc
>
>The 1996 BARGE chips were designed by me, and made by CHIPCO
>International of Windham, Maine. CHIPCO was selected because
>we were looking for a "different look" and we had been
>favorably impressed with some samples of their work.
>
>
Frank Brabec
then since), this is the first time I've seen this "annual" Manifesto.
I was wondering if Chipco had any other businesses it was involved in, so I
could be sure not to buy or use any of those goods or services?
Also, do they have an e-mail or snail mail address where I might let them
know what I think of companies that do not deliver what was promised?
Thanks,
Frank Brabec
NUT-Z
TomE...@bigfoot.com wrote in message <6rk82r$pv4$1...@nnrp1.dejanews.com>...
>
>
>Greetings From Las Vegas, Home of The BARGE:
>
>
> MY ANNUAL CHIPCO MANIFESTO
>
>SNIPPY SNIP
>loss situation, and that the flawed chips that they had made
>for BARGE were "good enough for who they were for".
>
>SNIPPY SNIP
CRFERRY
Tom Sims
On Fri, 21 Aug 1998, "Frank Brabec" <theb...@msn.com> wrote:
>As a relative newcomer here (lurking since @ December, posting every now and
>then since), this is the first time I've seen this "annual" Manifesto.
>I was wondering if Chipco had any other businesses it was involved in, so I
>could be sure not to buy or use any of those goods or services?
>Also, do they have an e-mail or snail mail address where I might let them
>know what I think of companies that do not deliver what was promised?
>Thanks,
>Frank Brabec
>NUT-Z
Info on CHIPCO can be found at:
Best wishes,
Tom Sims
*** The Smart Money was on Goliath ***
Measure with a micrometer * mark with chalk * cut with an axe
"CHIPCO QUALITY" is an OXYMORON