Chinese Service Quality

Everyone interacts with service providers.  Everyday.  In the US, we don’t think that much of it because we have become accustomed to a certain quality of service.  This quality of service is… different… in China.  Things that we often consider to be services, are considered to be goods here in China.  Example:  in the US, we commonly think of a restaurant as a form of service.  In China, going to a restaurant to Chinese people is considered being provided a good rather than a service.  In the past couple weeks there have been a few instances where I have encountered… less than stellar service from Chinese businesses/people.

Instance 1:  The Post Office 北京邮局

About a month and a half after I got here my parents sent me a package filled with Holy American Items (Sour Patch Kids, a Green Beer Day Shirt, and a Credit Card).  It had been a month and a half since they had sent it and I still haven’t received it.  Here is my timeline of events:

Monday: Go with Chinese tutor to post office to ask if they have my package.  I am told that all international mail goes to a different post office.

Wednesday: Go to the different post office alone.  Ask if they have my package.  No Luck.  I am given a phone number to call to locate my package.  I call the number, press ‘2’ for English service.  Person speaks online Chinese.  Awesome.  I am told my package is at a different post office (for all intents and purposes this post office will be called: different different post office (DDPO)).  I ask if I go to DDPO if I will be able to pick up my package.  No beans.  Or Package for that matter.  I am told I will get a call back with instructions.

…10 minutes later…

I get the call.  Service woman only speaks Chinese.  Yay.  She asks what the name on the package is.  I tell her “Daniel Mater.”  She doesn’t get it.  I tell her again, “Daniel Mater.”  She still doesn’t get it.  I have to explain to her that I am not Chinese, I am American, and that the name on the package is in English, not Chinese.  I am told I will get another call, later in the day.  (I do not sound Chinese.  This woman was a moron.  I mean that in a nice way, of course)

… later…

I miss the phone call.  Damn.  So I give the phone to my Chinese tutor and just tell her to figure out where my package is.  I am in Sour Patch Kid withdrawal, I need them.  After 10 minutes of the fastest Chinese I have heard spoken since I have been here, I find out that my package was sent back to the United States because no one picked up the package.  The icing on the cake?  The package was sent back 3 or 4 days before I went to the post office the first time.

Moral:  Chinese people love to screw with foreigner’s packages.  Especially when they have Sour Patch Kids.

 

Instance 2:  My Apartment’s Power 我公寓的电

Unlike in the US, power in China is pre-paid.  That means, at some point, your apartment is going to go Stone Age on you and you’re going to be left showering in the pitch black.  (Note:  That didn’t happen to me, but that is one of my biggest fears).  I have already had to refill the power in my apartment once, when I put 400 RMB on it (which entailed going to the Power Office and giving them my Power Card and then what I can only assume was magic.

Last week my apartment just went dark.  No Power.  I just figured I needed to put more money on the electricity card.  I was wrong.  I walked the 30 minutes there and 30 minutes back (hard life I lead, I know) and put 200 more RMB on the card.  The electricity still doesn’t work.  I call my middleman between me and the landlady (he translates for me).  He says he will call her to figure out the electricity.  I get a call back.  No one will come to fix the power.  I have to wait until the next day for someone to fix it.

Moral:  Living without power is like living in Detroit.  There’s nothing to do.

 

Instance 3:  My Laptop Broke 我的电脑坏了

I need my laptop to survive.  Plain and simple.  All of my school reports and everything is on it and if I lose access to my laptop, my life grinds to a halt.  This happened to me last week.  Any guess as to when?  Hint:  THE EXACT SAME DAY I LOST POWER.

Ya.  That was a bad day.

I call Apple and explain my problem; they told me to take it to the Apple store in Beijing and it would get fixed (they also told me I didn’t need to set up an appointment).  I go to the Apple store with my Chinese friend to help translate.  Guess what.  I needed an appointment.  I return the next day (Monday) with my Chinese friend and they take my laptop and say they will fix it (maximum of 2-3 days to fix).  I think I can live without my laptop for 2-3 days.

1 Day.

2 Day.

3 Day.

 

Still no laptop.  I call the Apple store.  “We’re gonna need at least 2-3 more days to fix your laptop.”

Damn.

This Saturday I just gave up.  I went to the Apple store at 10 in the morning (right when they opened) and told them I refused to leave until they fixed my laptop and gave it back.  I pestered them every 30 minutes until it got fixed.  I was talking to managers and everyone I could find to get my laptop fixed.  Five hours later I walked out with my laptop.  Mission Accomplished.

Moral:  Chinese Customer Service Representatives are just that.  Service Representatives for Chinese people.  Not for Foreigners.