Rating and Choosing a Registrar

[barb butrym]

back about +/-6 months ago Quality digest did a comparison, but it was not complete nor very valid from what i saw....comments were not confirmed, etc..... I was not impressed and it certainly was not unbiased

[This message has been edited by barb butrym (edited 16 December 1999).]

[Roger Eastin]

I saw what Barb saw and it was not very helpful. In fact, the article made it seem like it couldn't be very definitive because the publisher was afraid of repercussions from the registrars(lawsuits, etc.). Given that, I don't know what you can expect for results except something at least somewhat watered-down.

[Sam]

Is anyone aware of a "Customer Satisfaction Rating" that would be used to classify registrars?
I have contacted ASQC and they couldn;t provide any info.
I thought someone might know of a magazine article or results of a poll that might be available.

This is not to say selection of a registrar is totally "buyer beware", although to some degree it is.

During the selection process, obtain references from those who seem to you to be viable candidates. Then, make contact. Lots of contact. What you learn from those clients should provide you some good and real input. It certainly helped me eliminate more than one potential registrar. It also helped clarify our impressions of those with which we felt comfortable. Those telephone calls were a distinct part of our selection process. Mind you, they were not the sole criteria.

[Tom Goetzinger]

Rather than ask a registrar for "references", I asked for a "Client List". It may be only a subtle difference, but it allowed me to choose companies that matched, as closely as possible, our business environment; I felt this was preferable to using "References". I did the same when I was assigned a Lead Auditor, and was fully prepared to reject the assignment if I was not satisfied.
As it worked out, I was satisfied with the assignment, our registration audit was completed early in December and our corrective actions approved in late December, so we are now recommended for Registration to ISO 9001 with QS 9000 - TE Supplement.

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Tom Goetzinger

[barb butrym]

YA know..a good way to tell about registrars is to audit a facility soon after they did....I know an audit is a snap shot in time but it is usually pretty representative.....I always ask who a companies registrar is...and if possible I like to review the audit report. I know this isn't all that easy to do, depending on the company you are working for.......but talk it up with your customers and suppliers and colleagues...compare notes......especially a company dealing with a listed client. A carefully orchestrated interview with the registrars auditor can tell a good bit too. But that is based on experience, easier said than done.

But then...you are not at the audit, so its hard to look at stuff out of context and get a real read on it.

On second thought, maybe not such a great idea afterall.....LOL

[Sam]

Thanks everyone for your input.
It appears that maybe the answer is for suppliers to get together in a forum similar to this one and voice our concerns, both positive and negative.

The best way to evaluate a registrar is to talk to one of their customers. See if the registrar is fair and professional. If the customer is always disagreeing with the results of the audits or feels that the registrar is identifying "nonproblems". The registrar may not be "fair". One of the biggest problems I see is the registrar rolling over if the customer complains. There is a lot of competition.

If they are identifying the same types of problems the internal audit program is identifying, unless of course the internal audit program is broken, the audit is probably a fair, impartial look at the system. The main reasons for the outside look is 1) registration 2) your management won't belive the internal group.

[This message has been edited by Gerry A. Sherman (edited 15 February 2000).]