While what you are saying is basically true, switch QC is expected of Cherry by the KB manufacturers. I'm thinking QC is slipping at Cherry due to the volumes they've recently had to ramp up to.
Wrong. Manufacturers know full well
and are advised that they MUST test switches after installation. Switches can be damaged by rough handling during installation, dirt getting in them on the production line, so on and so forth. They
know they have to test the switches after installation.
Not only that, but the ONLY way you miss that many switches not clicking, much less switches that go thud and only work intermittently? Is if you
didn't test any of the keys. Which means the assembled keyboard was not actually tested at all.
Is this Cooler Master's fault? Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. Could be they said to cut QC to meet production demand. Could be that Costar is lying to them about the QC they're performing.
This idea that Costar is some magical place that would never do anything questionable is pure delusion.
What
is known is that there is no question that the latest batch of QFR's have inadequate to zero QC, are shipping with large numbers of defects that should have been caught in QC and
were previously caught in QC, and are unquestionably of lower quality and reliability
than previous QFRs.
That part is important. These defects are very clearly affecting batches only from about early November through all current batches. If it was a general lack of quality checking from day one, do you really, really think that we wouldn't have heard about tons of dead switches already? That there wouldn't be a steady stream of angry complaints around here from day one?
More to the point: take a QFR from say, July or August of last year. Does it have dud switches? Does it still work as it did new? The answer to those questions is probably yes. The QFR was a fine keyboard and well made.
Now take a QFR from November through today - even the low production, hard to get MX Greens are shipping with defective switches. I'd expect to find say, 10-20 keyboards in a batch of 1,000 requiring RMA or repair for various reasons even with proper QC - that's about a 1-2% failure rate. Amazon's January shipment was about 100 keyboards, and at least 30 of them have already been used for exchanges - or about a 30% failure rate.