Wrong Handle

As someone who works in Quality Assurance, it really annoys me when I am on the receiving end of some poor quality.  This is what happened a couple of days ago. 

The handle on our back storm door had been “loose” for quite some time.  And when I say loose, I mean on the verge of breaking.  It has broken before after a couple of years and I had to call Larson Doors to get a replacement handle as the door was still under warranty (I don’t know if the door is still under warranty now, but it has been more than 10 years, so I am guessing not).  But because of the crappy design of what I call the “hook handle”, the handles that look like levers that you push down (or up, although in this case it is only down) and pull.  I recall the whole door industry having to go to this type of handle years ago due to the Americans with Disabilities Act because if someone didn’t have “working hands” (or hands at all) they would still be able to work the mechanism to open the door.  The result though, is that you push the handle down, then pull, which will put a stress on the pivot point, the shaft of the handle that inserts into the door.  Over time, it is going to break, there is no avoiding it.

So now fast forward to last week when, as I was opening the door coming home from work, the handle snapped off in my hand.  I managed to rig it so you could still use it, but I had to get a replacement quickly.  I decided to go to the Larson Door website so I could be certain I got the exact replacement I needed.  On the website, I was instructed to look up the door code which was on a label stuck to the inside of the door jamb.  Which I did.  The description of the handle was brass finish for XXXX model door, blah, blah, blah, and it showed a photo.  Yep, that’s the one.  Click order.  Since it was coming from Rochester, MN, I didn’t pay for expedited shipping since it should have taken 2 days anyway, and I wasn’t about to pay $30 extra to have it here next day.

This is what I got:

Doesn’t look like brass does it?  And, it isn’t even the correct model for the door, so I couldn’t use it even if I did want a white handle.  I have no idea how you pull the wrong part number.  There is a number associated with the handle I need.  It should be stocked in an area for just that number.  It should be checked when being pulled, and then again as someone is packing it.  This is unacceptable.  Not wanting to order another and wait two more days for a replacement, I decided to run over to Menards (where we purchased the door about 13 years ago).  After searching the shelves for a couple of minutes I found the exact handle I needed.  I guess I should have checked the store first but who would have figured going directly to the manufacturer would have resulted in a screw up?  At least Larson credited me back the cost, and didn’t have me ship it back.  Maybe I’ll sell it on eBay and see if I can make a few bucks.