Nokia Care Centre .. or Nonchalant Customer service Centre

Customer Service personnel are supposed to be friendly and courteous, greeting you with a "good afternoon sir, what can i do for you?" Apparently the staff at Nokia Care Centre are of a different breed.

I went down to the Nokia Care Centre at Wheelock Place with the hopes of replacing my newly-bought N73 that has a faulty LCD screen. There's a "bright pixel" on it that just doesn't change colour, remaining a constant bright green. It isn't obvious, only noticable on black backgrounds, that was why I didn't notice it when I bought the phone. Also, I didn't know phones have dead pixel problems. My bad.

Back to my story. I got my queue number, and walked to counter number 14 where the lady seated behind the counter just looked up at me without the slightest hint of a smile and without a single word. All I got was a what-do-you-want look. I said "Hi", sat down and told her my problem. She took my phone in to consult with the technicians and came out with an explanation so silly I don't know why I let her get away with it - "Oh, the technicians said that beacause yours is a 3.2 megapixel phone, it is impossible for the LCD screen to be perfect." What nonsense. In what way does the resolution of the camera affect the quality of the LCD Screen? I let it pass, and calmly stated that I want to get it replaced. Fine, she said, come back in four hours.

After four hours, I returned, passed my claim slip to another member of their wonderful staff, and got my handphone back. The problem stated on the slip was "lcd screen faulty pixel". I switched on the handphone happily, and checked for dead pixels. Guess what? There was one. At the exact same location. You can imagine how the rage started building up in me. That's not all. I returned the phone to them, and waited.

Almost ten minutes later, another staff came out with my phone, and actually had the nerve to ask me where was the dead pixel. I showed it to her, and she turned and walked away without a word. Clearly, they lack even basic courtesy.

Another ten minutes later, someone came out from the back room and passed my phone to the collection counter staff, saying, "tell customer no stock." And that was exactly what she said to me. "If you still want to change the LCD screen, we have no stock now." No apologies, no explanation, and no s0lutions. Just a dismissing sentence. Of course I got angry. I told her how ridiculous it was for them to hold on to my phone for four hours, make me come all the way down, then tell me there was no stock. Her collegue beside her, seeing the poor creature being abused, cut in and said "There is nothing we can do. All I can say is that I'm sorry." in a tone so nonchalant he might as well have saved the apology. I repeated myself, then asked for the manager. "Ok", he said, and stood there. Irritated beyond belief, I simply said "Now." and guess what? He responsed with "Sir, can you please don't treat me like a dog?". I could only stare incredulously at him as he walked away. By the way, that dog's name is James Chiew.

It took about 5 mins for the manager to come out. He was soft-spoken and apologetic so I sat down and spoke to him nicely. I explained the situation and stated once again how ridiculous the whole affair was. I asked for an one-to-one exchange and he said that that was against company policy. I replied asking him if it was company policy to sit on customers' problems. Why return me the phone if the problem wasn't fixed? His reply was simply that "the phone is still usable." That is inexcusable, and a pathetic response for a customer service professional.

The manager claimed that there were "a few pieces" of LCD screens but they were all used up. Ridiculous. If that was so, the customer service personnel who collected my phone should have told me that. And if there was stock at that time, one should have been set aside for me. And, if in the worst possible scenario that they accidentally used up all the LCD screens, the natural thing to do would be to call me with apologies and an explanation of the situation, instead of returning to me an unrepaired handphone. Oh sure, they flashed the firmware. For what? To fix a faulty LCD screen? ARE THEY STUPID?!

I am expecting a call from the manager tomorrow afternoon to advice me on the availbility of the LCD screen, and if there is, I will have to bring my phone down again. This time, the service period will be an hour. Or so the manager, Lim Wei Liang promises. If it's not, this matter is going to be escalated as high as I can possibly go.