WANG Jing
Chambre xx, residence xxxx
1 place residence xxxx
0000 xxxx
tel:00 00 00 00
17/06/2006
objet: complain about the intolerable repair experience
Mr. President:
For the last two months, I, a customer of Thinkpad, endured unexpected, intolerable low efficiency and bureaucracy from your repair service. I'm writing you this letter as a formal complaint and I need a solution for all the unsolved problems. In this letter, I will explain my experience as a customer of your company, and make all my demands clear. It's a very long story, which lasted 2 months with no end in sight.
At 14th April, my computer ( Thinkpad X24, model: 2662-m6u, SN: FXCX027) suddenly turned into a non-working condition. I telephoned the repair service and they promised me to pick it up the next day. In the following day, I was waiting for a whole day at home, but no one arrived or called me by phone. And, in the entire following week, no one called me to ask why I wasn't able to hand in the computer. One week went by, I sensed that if I don't contact you again, I can never have my computer fixed. So I called the repair service one more time, and this time they finally picked it up.
Two weeks went by, and no one even tried to contact me to explain what was going on, is it fixed, or when should they come to give it to me. I have had to call the repair service again to know what the story was. Anyway, after serveral calls, it was returned back home to me, BUT the screen was in a non working condition. I called in at the following day, and expected your employees to give me a reasonable explanation and apologize for the situation. Well, I didn't get any of that from them,which was not a problem to me, but still made me feel uncomfortable. We made another appointment, and they picked it up again.
For the following 2 weeks, I didn't call you but I was in a desperate need for my computer. As I am a forgein student, I have loads of projets to do and have to log into internet to check the information from universities so that I could get admitted in the next semester. Unfortunately, no one from your company ever tried to contact me. I've had to call you, again. After some phone calls, I got the answer that the computer was fixed but I wasn't at home so they weren't able to send it to me, which I found ridiculous because they have my telephone number, just a little chat and fix a rendez-vous, the delivery really shouldn't have to be a problem. We aren't living in Indonesia and don't need a boat to travel around or to shout at each other to get informed, am I right? Anyway, the situation continued, for the whole week, I called in several times, but the only answer I got was " We don't fix a rendez vous for delivery", which I found very, very ridiculous too. I managed to be polite, but your employees never worried about my situation, and told me they really couldn't do a thing, in a very happy tone. I can understand this, it was not their problem, anyway. I felt I fell into some mysterious, literal adventure: the delivery service doesn't fix a rendez vous, and they never call, it's simply not their style - they are romantic explorers, roaming on the roads, in the hope that maybe someday, they can recognize me and give the computer to me in the streets!!
I don't quite remeber how many times I called and got the answer of "we don't make a rendez vous for delivery". Anyway, one time I changed my strategy and tried to sound really miserable in the phone and finally, a savior, an angel, a charming woman felt sorry for me (or maybe she just got really impatient), she gave me a telephone number and told me to ring them for a solution. I did as I was instructed, and the madame on the other side of the phone fixed me a rendez vous in no more than THREE minuites. PLEASE NOTICE, this was already 5 or 6 weeks after I handed in my computer. There is no other explanation than non-sensical bureaucracy and lack of responsibility on your behalf.
The next day, I got my computer back, as promised. I was happy. Finally. I chatted with my friends, updated my personal site which I already invested hundreds of euros. It feels so good to get connected to the internet again, all my friends told me they really missed me, they congratulated me for my conquering of the almighty repair service. All the old days dealing with your employees went by without a trace, and I was happy that I finally got back to normal living, didn't have to worry about it any more.
BUT I WAS WRONG. I remeber french people have a saying like "Malheures ne jamais viens tout seule", sorry for my french if I remebered it wrong. Anyway, the saying truned to be true. Five or six days after I got it back, the screen problem came back again. As an old habit, I lit a cigarette to calm down so I could manage to be polite on the phone, and called you guys, AGAIN. That time the service repondeur sounded truely sorry for me, and quickly made a rendez vous to pick it up. 10 minuites later, I got a phone call, a happy young man told me they are really very sorry for me and promised me that this will never happen again, which I found reasonable, acceptable, and surprising because this wasn't at all your usual demeanor on the receiving end of the phone. I happily accepted the applogies and felt really better, and even dreamed of having my computer back the next week. How naive of me, I didn't even realize the true test is just coming!
Nearly two weeks after the nice guy called me and said sorry, there haven't been any other words. I got really very impatient because this is the end of the semester, the university is closed, I can't even use the computers in the university any more, I was totally cut off from the outer world. I was wishing it was not a problem from the delivery guys again. But when I did call in the customer service, I was told the ultimate answer: "we don't have any more that kind of screen, and we have NO expected date of arrival."
To be frank, I was outraged. If you didn't have that kind of screen, AT LEAST you could have called me, tell me there is no such kind of screen and discuss with me how you will solve the problem. BUT YOU DIDN'T. You let me wait another TWO WEEKS, which is truely INTOLERABLE. I waited another two days and called in again, complained about my case. The monsieur who received my call sounded really sorry for me, and when I demanded that you should give me a replacement computer for the days of waiting the arrival of the screen, he told me he couldn't promise me anything right now, but will call me in 48 hours to give me an answer. That was the morning of the 14th of June, if I wasn't wrong, "call you in 48 hours" means I will receive a call BEFORE June 17th. Well, as you can see, I didn't receive any phone call, not even an apology for not being able to send me a replacement laptop.
Then I realized what it is supposed to mean; "with no expected date of arrival". Today is my friend Stephen's 22nd birthday, and if you, Mr. President, don't do anything about it, my story will surely become a legend that passes on to his generations, a legend telling his sons, his grand sons, the sons of his grandsons, that in 60 days of those past old days, in France, a country of miracle, how Thinkpad made his customer totally helpless, calling everyday, begging like a dog, then got swpet from the floor like a peice of trash by telling him "no expected date of arrival".
At the end of the letter, I shall make my points clear.
1. I decided I will never call your customer service or repair service again, If there is a problem, instead of waiting for me to call, they better call me. I'm still in the least hope that you, Mr. President, after receiving this formal letter of complaint, will excercise your ominimous power, part the red sea once again, and magically get your customer another perfect, flawless, shining and holy screen, get it installed on MY computer, and send it to me, hopefully within this month. If you can't do that, then please send me a replacement computer that works, and have my DATA in that machine INTACT.
2. I want you, Mr. President, to give me a formal letter of apology, signed by yourself, mailed to me by the post. I don't accept any form of telephoned applogies. If you and your employees don't want to call me, then don't do it at all.
3. I don't know in this kind of situation, if you have ANY kind of compensation for your customer. I've wasted 5 telephone cards, deserted my personal site for 2 months in which I invested hunreds of euros, ruined my reputation as a dedicated literary writer and critic online by not updating my personal site, and nearly destroyed my applications for schooling of next semester (or it's already destroyed, I still can't tell at this time), and thanks to your holy bureacracy, I HAVE AN EXTREMELY BAD MOOD TO CURE.
If my demands can't be realised in this month, which I think is totally enough time for you to decide what to do, the next letter you get will be from my lawyer. I will show the court how you, Thinkpad, treated your customer like trash.
Your Sincerely,
WANG Jing. |