Taking care of a defective Sony Vaio, part I

“CALVIN!! DO SOMETHING! IT’S MELTING!”

My wife, Michelle, yelled at me on Saturday morning, September 27 as she was writing, on her Sony Vaio notebook computer, an account of our current stay in Beijing. She had purchased the computer less than a year ago, through a Sony Style store outside Philadelphia. She is attending Tsinghua University as a visiting scholar at their school of art, and I am studying and teaching at their school of law. Our apartment is northeast of the Olympic Village, right by Bei Yuan Lu North station, on the newly-constructed #5 subway line, finished weeks before the Olympics began.

As Michelle was working on her computer, it suddenly became significantly warmer by the left hinge, at which the AC power adapter is plugged into the computer. Suddenly, the left side of the monitor frame began to melt. We immediately shut down the computer and unplugged the AC adapter, but by that time a small section of metal underneath the lid frame had become exposed.

Here’s where the real fun began.

In searching the Internet, we learned that certain Vaio computers were being recalled due to wiring problems that could cause short circuits and overheating. http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/news-item.pl?template_id=1&news_id=272 We called Sony customer service, in the U.S., and they confirmed that our Vaio was affected by this recall. We asked about the procedures for having the problem fixed, and they told us that they would send us an empty shipping container. Their plan called for us to pack the Vaio inside and ship everything back to a Sony facility in San Diego.

We naturally expressed concern over this plan, saying that it would take too long, and asked instead if we could find a facility in China, and if we could receive service at this facility. The Sony person we spoke to said that he couldn’t answer the question, and would have to escalate the call to a level 2 person. After forty five minutes on hold, we reached that person. However, he also did not know the answer, but said he would have his supervisor e-mail us with an answer.

A day went by, and we heard nothing from anyone at Sony. We called back, and after another long wait, reached another level 2 person. This second person told us that the first person really had misspoken in committing an answer to us. Because our call occurred on the weekend, no supervisors were available. In addition, the computer systems that might contain the desired information, regarding Sony repair centers in Beijing, also were unavailable.

He probably meant well, but this second Sony person then made an unbelievable statement to us: he suggested that we go to the Sony China web site and try to look up the information ourselves. We replied that this idea had two complications. First, the web site is in Chinese, with no apparent way to display an English version. Second, even if we did locate this center, we had concerns over whether they would know how to handle our situation. He apologized, but said that until the weekend was finished, he could do nothing more.

Next: The Sony answer, and our response

Experience at Beijing subway stop

Sorry for the long delay in posting. This fall, I am in Beijing, studying and teaching at Tsinghua University School of Law.

Last night, we went downtown to the Wangfujing section of town. It's an area that has numerous shops and restaurants, including the famous Donglaixun. The main part of this section of town features streets closed to cars, and thus turned into a pedestrian mall. Always popular, the area was especially teeming with people because of the National Day holiday.

As we emerged from the #1 subway line at Wangfujing station, we saw an odd sight. The gates to this particular exit, B, were only partially open. Close to a hundred people were on the opposite side of the gate, and they seemed to be arguing with the subway staff about wanting to enter. However, the staff were refusing them entry, keeping the gate open only enough to allow arriving passengers, such as us, to exit.

I couldn't help but look back and wonder as we were leaving the station. Later, it occurred to me that maybe the staff was trying to make that point an exit-only area, for whatever reason. In that case (assuming I'm right), the staff was making their job harder than necessary. What could they have done differently? For starters, what about posting signs at the top of the entrance, i.e. at street level, telling people that this entry point is really only an exit point. Second, as a longer term solution, what about installing one-way revolving doors, as in New York: The door revolves only one way. Only half of the exit is usable, because the other half is blocked by gates. The door arms interleave with and pass through the gate, but people cannot. Therefore, people can leave, but people on the other side can't come in.

Blindsided by Fidelity Investments

Last week I was in Texas, as part of a church missions trip, so I didn't have time or facilities to blog. Now I'm back, and want to share how Fidelity Investments "blindsided" me.

Because of lack of access to a computer, I could use only the Fidelity telephone system, FAST, to get quotes or trade. One day last week, I called and placed a trade. I specified the stock, quantity and type of order. The system announced it back to me, I indicated that I was OK with it, and then the system made the trade.

A few seconds later, the system told me that the trade was complete. However, it also gave me a commission amount far higher than what I was expecting, specifically one far higher than what I receive when trading on the Fidelity web site.

I spoke to a representative, and expressed my concern over the different commission levels. After listening, the representative agreed, and said that this one time, he would credit me for the difference.

I was glad to hear this news, but was still irritated by being surprised. There might well be good reasons for the differences in commission amounts. However, to avoid similar customer dissatisfaction, Fidelity could have done things differently, in particular, they could (and should) have alerted customers to this matter beforehand. Here are some possible ways:

- As soon as caller presses the key for "trading," the system could announce in general a message "caution: the commission levels for telephone trading may differ from those via the Fidelity web site."
- (even better): when the system announces the desired trade, prior to execution, it also could include the commission amount as well

In either case, callers have notice.

You can learn from this experience of mine, because it doesn't have to do only with trading with Fidelity. In your own jobs, try to minimize those instances in which you surprise people negatively.

10 ways to work better with your boss

• Date: December 18th, 2007
• Author: Calvin Sun
• Category: 10 things, Career
• Tags: Advice, Boss, Professional Development, Performance Management, Career, Human Resources, Workforce Management, Calvin Sun
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I’m gettin’ paid by the hour, and older by the minute

My boss just pushed me over the limit

I’d like to call him somethin’

I think I’ll just call it a day…

– Alan Jackson, Jimmy Buffett, “It’s Five O’clock Somewhere”

Bosses: You can’t live with them, and you can’t live without them. Like it or not, most of us must deal with a boss, and the way we do so affects not just our career advancement and our salary, but also our mental well-being. Here are some tips on how to get along better with your boss.

Note: This information is also available as a PDF download.

#1: Remember that your boss just might have useful insights

Think you have a clueless boss? Remember the words of Mark Twain, who once said that when he was 14, his father was so stupid it was unbearable. Then, he continued, when he became 21, he was amazed at how much his father had learned in just seven years....

The rest of the article is at Tech Republic

10 gaffes to avoid with respect to Chinese culture

My latest post at Tech Republic:

If you’re doing business in China, meeting with people from China, or planning to work there, you’ll want to avoid certain missteps. Calvin Sun explains a bit about Chinese culture and provides a heads-up on a few common mistakes and misconceptions.

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– You walk into the party wearing jeans — and everyone else is black tie.

– You’re the emcee at a banquet, and as you’re introducing the speaker, you forget the speaker’s name.

– You write a check to your mother-in-law — and it bounces.

Gaffes are bad enough in your own circle of friends, associates, and family. They’re infinitely worse when they occur in the context of another culture. According to the Everest Group, the market for outsourcing of information technology and other business processes to China is growing at 38% a year. By 2010, according to Everest, that market could reach $7 billion.

These numbers mean huge opportunity, but also huge opportunity to make mistakes. If you’re doing business in China, or meeting with people from China, or want to work in China, watch out for these trouble areas, and avoid problems.

Note: This information is also available as a PDF download.

[to read the entire entry, please visit http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/10things/?p=385]

Someone posted a comment in reaction to the article, discussing how in fact there IS a written form of Cantonese. One learns something new every day...

Non-transparent technology

Tomorrow I am going out of town, on a Delta flight that is a Northwest code share. In other words, I made the reservation through Delta, and the flight has a Delta flight number, but the actual flight is operated by Northwest. I had purchased the ticket about two weeks ago, and received my e-mail receipt.

This morning, I signed onto the Delta site, brought up my itinerary, and tried to check in. No way, because the "check in" command button was greyed out.

I called Delta, and after about twenty minutes on hold, reached a live person, who of course said she couldn't find my reservation. After more searching, she finally did find it. However, she apologized and said even she couldn't check me in. Rather, I had to have my NORTHWEST confirmation number (which is different from my Delta confirmation number) and I had to check in at the Northwest web site.

I then visited the Northwest site and checked in. However, the experience left me puzzled and got me to think. Here was an example of where technology failed to mirror business processes. In order to have code sharing, Northwest and Delta had to have gotten together to negotiate the arrangements. There had to be communications between them and between their reservations systems. However, that communications and transparency didn't carry over to the Delta web site. If it had, that web site should have provided at least a link to the Northwest web site, and provided the Northwest confirmation number. In fact, to take transparency to its greatest level, I simply should have been able to check in at Delta.

Keep this incident in mind if you're developing a system. Make sure it mirrors the business process you're supporting. Make the technology as transparent as possible.

Cultural communications issues: high vs. low context styles

I recently came across some fascinating work by a man named Edward Hall. The research took place years ago, but still is relevant today. Hall developed the concept of high context vs. low context communications styles. The former refers to an environment in which communications occurs more by context and less by words. For example, I come into a room and see that everyone but one person has a beverage. So, without saying or asking anything, I give a beverage to that person. I obtained my information by looking and observing, i.e. from context.

Suppose, instead, I went to that person, and said, "would you like a beverage?" Then suppose I said "OK, I'll get you one." Then, after giving it, I said "Here it is." This second example illustrates low context communications. There's more use of words, and less on observation.

Problems can arise if a person is expecting one context level of communications and gets another. This issue arises particularly with people of different cultures. Hall posited, for example, that many Asian cultures have higher levels of context, while the US has lower levels. So, on the one hand, we could annoy people by telling them too much, but also by telling them too little.

Keep this concept in mind when communicating with people, especially from different cultures.