Chinese Customer Service
by tdaxp ~ June 8th, 2009
Here are two central realities of life in China:
Chinese workers truly, truly desire to help you and make your life easier. This is a combination of a socially-oriented perfectionism that seems to be part of the Chinese culture, combined with the tremendous competition in all sectors of the economy. It is very easy to feel like a clown if you don’t keep in mind that whoever you are dealing with is deeply concerned about whether or not they do their job adequately.
China is, in general, a poor and a rural country, with few opportunities for training (other than on-the-job) and little institutional history behind whatever job that is.
This is another way of saying that Chinese customer service tends to be both (a) earnest and (b) incompetent. The first attribute puts it heads-and-shoulders against much customer service in the United States, at least outside of small towns. It can be disorienting to have someone help you who actually wants to help you.
The second attribute can be more annoying.
Yesterday, we bought a computer for Lady of tdaxp’s mother. We did not want to be tricked, so we went online to the American website of a major computer dealer, navigated to find affiliates in Beijing, called up the number of the office, and so on, to make sure we got a legitimate and safe computer. We took a taxi there, looked through the selection, and selected one. Then we went to the ATM (they don’t take cards of any sort), got cash, paid, went to the warehouse, and picked one up.
This is where the story should have ended. However, I’d been gone a year, and forgotten the significance of parts (a) and (b). The technician began installing several programs, including a Chinese-language media streamer and other apps. I should have insisted “no” stronger. However, it is hard not to feel like a laowei water buffalo when you are repeatedly criticizing (in both Chinglish and translated English) someone who is going out of their way to make your day more pleasant. So, stupidly, I gave in and let the process continue.
If you’ve been noticing the foreshadowing, it is unecessary to describe what happenned next, but it involved getting out of the shop, downloading ClamWin, and proving my suspicions.
There followed another adventure, which involved Lady of tdaxp and I calling up said dealership, and demanding a fresh install of our operating system of choice. If not being forceful enough originally was my greatest shame in this story, what happened next was my greatest adventure. “You don’t understand Chinese customer service,” Lady of tdaxp warned me. “They are not like in America. They will not budge.”
But I kept in mind (a) and (b). We called one manager four times. Supposedly the technical manager of this official distributor of a major US-based computer company. “How can you prove it was our software?” “It was in the installation director of the programs you installed!” &c. &c. It was a stressful experience. We hinted the major US computer company might be interested in the behavior of their Chinese affiliate. No progress. A very stressful experience.
“Give up,” Lady of tdaxp asked me, “We won’t be able to fix this.” But I kept in mind (a) and (b). The same lesson I had forgotten earlier in the day — persistence pays off — was one I would keep in mind now. We called another number from the web site today, and spoke to another secretary. We ended up speaking to someone who seemed to be the top sales manager there.
Problem solved, almost immediatley. Concrete steps were taken, and more were outlined if that did not solve the problem. Eartnestness prevailed in the end.
Hurrah!
