Excellent Customer Service from Sharp!

[FG Lurker]

[plaid_knight]

Congrats. That was an awesome move on Sharp's part. I'm in the middle of setting up a small cottage and am looking at either a Sharp or Sanyo wall-mount air conditioner for it ...

[Jack]

Flew Air Canada to Tokyo on this trip. ANA handles all the ground operations for AC in Japan. They broke my suitcase. I reported this to ANA at Narita. They noted everything and gave me a telephone number to call. The next day we called thinking that we might have to take the suitcase to the shop in Narita City. Nope, the lady said, someone will come pick it up. Within 20 minutes the delivery truck picked up the suitcase and after 3 days it was delivered back to us fixed and wrapped in a box.

I had a suitcase repair experience in Canada and it was totally retarded.

[Russell]

Though this is a very positive experience, it is not an isolated incident.
It is one of these things that I like so much in Japan.

I just keep thinking, with that kind of superior service and correct
handling in this country, how is it possible that things like Fukushima
can happen?

[FG Lurker]

Congrats. That was an awesome move on Sharp's part. I'm in the middle of setting up a small cottage and am looking at either a Sharp or Sanyo wall-mount air conditioner for it ...

Whichever way you go get a 200V air conditioner that is rated for more space than you actually need to cool. If your cottage is anything like mine it'll get hotter than hell in the summer and you'll really appreciate that extra cooling power.

[FG Lurker]

Though this is a very positive experience, it is not an isolated incident.
It is one of these things that I like so much in Japan.

While this sort of experience is not isolated it's also not universal.

In 2007 I bought the absolute top of the line Subaru Legacy B4 with pretty much every option they offered (leather, sunroof, McIntosh audio, etc, etc, etc). With taxes and everything it was about 4.5 mil yen I believe. I really like the car but it has a few niggling problems that Subaru has refused to fix and some other annoyances that really shouldn't be there. The most annoying thing is that the speedometer consistently displays a speed 10% faster than the car is actually moving. Subaru tested it on a dyno and agreed that it is off by 10% but refused to do anything about it, claiming it is within spec. Next problem is that the hazards don't always come on when the button is pressed. If you turn them on and off a few times they will eventually come on. They claimed to not be able to reproduce the problem and therefore wouldn't fix it. It's now past its electronics warranty (3 years) and of course still has this problem, something it has had since day 1. My other big complaint about the car is that the included navigation system (which cost about 400,000yen) is a total piece of shit. It's Panasonic so I suppose this isn't directly Subaru's fault but damn if it isn't one of the most frustrating pieces of electronic equipment that I have ever had the displeasure of using.

So, although I really like the car I am totally unsatisfied with Subaru's service. This is my second Subaru and it will be my last.

I've also experienced horrible service at the hands of NTT, though in fairness I have also received excellent service from them at other times.

I just keep thinking, with that kind of superior service and correct
handling in this country, how is it possible that things like Fukushima
can happen?

The most recently released data says that the tsunami was ~13m high and the plants dropped 50cm to 60cm from the quake itself. I suspect that this exceeded the calculated worst-case scenario by such a huge margin that there were no plans at all for a disaster of this scale. That doesn't at all excuse the bumbling that has continued over the past 4 months but it would somewhat explain the complete clusterfuck of the first few weeks.

[nikoneko]

Have had great experiences with Sony too (of all). Laptop fan died once, they sent a guy to come and take it the next day and it was back fixed in a few days. Same thing with the blu-ray recorder which suddenly bricked it itself for no apparent reason. The blu-ray recorder doing said bricking kinda set me off a bit but I was pretty impressed with the service.

[Russell]

While this sort of experience is not isolated it's also not universal.

In 2007 I bought the absolute top of the line Subaru Legacy B4 with pretty much every option they offered (leather, sunroof, McIntosh audio, etc, etc, etc). With taxes and everything it was about 4.5 mil yen I believe. I really like the car but it has a few niggling problems that Subaru has refused to fix and some other annoyances that really shouldn't be there.

....................

So, although I really like the car I am totally unsatisfied with Subaru's service. This is my second Subaru and it will be my last.

That price takes you in the luxury category, and then you should definitely expect better. Thanks for warning me. I won't go into that brand then... (have to replace my two cars in the coming couple of years)

The most recently released data says that the tsunami was ~13m high and the plants dropped 50cm to 60cm from the quake itself. I suspect that this exceeded the calculated worst-case scenario by such a huge margin that there were no plans at all for a disaster of this scale. That doesn't at all excuse the bumbling that has continued over the past 4 months but it would somewhat explain the complete clusterfuck of the first few weeks.

The most recently released data also says that there was already serious damage to some reactors before the tsunami arrived. The nuke disaster is mostly caused by problematic design and lack of maintenance.

Regarding the height of the tsunami to which the plant should have been resistant, that was at most 7 meters. Big margin with 13 meters isn't it? This was due to an attitude of assuming that it was very unlikely that strong earthquakes would occur in the area and that thus high tsunamis would not happen either (though they happened before if you study the history of the area). Even worse, there were specific warnings that the complex was insufficiently tsunami-proof. And then there is of course the question why they would build a nuke plant on a fault line. Speaking about ticking time bombs...

This was total human error. No excuses.

[matsuki]

In 2007 I bought the absolute top of the line Subaru Legacy B4 with pretty much every option they offered (leather, sunroof, McIntosh audio, etc, etc, etc). With taxes and everything it was about 4.5 mil yen I believe. I really like the car but it has a few niggling problems that Subaru has refused to fix and some other annoyances that really shouldn't be there. The most annoying thing is that the speedometer consistently displays a speed 10% faster than the car is actually moving. Subaru tested it on a dyno and agreed that it is off by 10% but refused to do anything about it, claiming it is within spec. Next problem is that the hazards don't always come on when the button is pressed. If you turn them on and off a few times they will eventually come on. They claimed to not be able to reproduce the problem and therefore wouldn't fix it. It's now past its electronics warranty (3 years) and of course still has this problem, something it has had since day 1. My other big complaint about the car is that the included navigation system (which cost about 400,000yen) is a total piece of shit. It's Panasonic so I suppose this isn't directly Subaru's fault but damn if it isn't one of the most frustrating pieces of electronic equipment that I have ever had the displeasure of using.

So, although I really like the car I am totally unsatisfied with Subaru's service. This is my second Subaru and it will be my last.

Hmmm, the speedo and hazards are pretty ridiculous problems. How much did you push them before giving up? Did you contact Subaru's head office?? I dunno if it's fair to blame Subaru as it sounds like just a shitty dealer not wanting to take responsibility as I've seen entire cars exchanged over less than that.

[FG Lurker]

That price takes you in the luxury category, and then you should definitely expect better. Thanks for warning me. I won't go into that brand then... (have to replace my two cars in the coming couple of years)

Pretty much the bottom end of the luxury market, but the absolute top of what Subaru sold at the time. Could have bought a nice used M3 for the same price but I suspect reliability would have been a bigger issue. The base Lexus was also in that range but it was much more luxury-oriented than I really wanted. I liked the Subaru AWD and the balance between fun and luxury.

The most recently released data also says that there was already serious damage to some reactors before the tsunami arrived.

Yup. Did you miss the part where I said the plants themselves had dropped by 50cm to 60cm? That doesn't seem like a huge amount but nuke plants aren't meant to be kicked around. ]Regarding the height of the tsunami to which the plant should have been resistant, that was at most 7 meters. Big margin with 13 meters isn't it? This was due to an attitude of assuming that it was very unlikely that strong earthquakes would occur in the area and that thus high tsunamis would not happen either (though they happened before if you study the history of the area).[/quote]
This has been debated endless times in the tsunami thread. Nuclear plants have a lifespan of a few decades, perhaps 50 years at the most. They were designed for a 1 in 100 year event and what we had was a 1 in 1000 year event. Now that we've had a 1 in 1000 year event it seems obvious that the plants should have been designed to withstand it. What about a 1 in 10000 year event or a 1 in 100000 year event? The line has to be drawn somewhere. It's like the lottery: The chance of "winning" is miniscule but the effects of a "win" are huge.

Perhaps we just shouldn't use nuclear power at all. That decision has its own set of issues of course, and there is a price to be paid for that too (environmentally, politically, economically). Everything is a tradeoff and a calculation of risk.

[FG Lurker]

Hmmm, the speedo and hazards are pretty ridiculous problems. How much did you push them before giving up?

I pushed them progressively harder on multiple visits to the dealer. I started out just asking them to take care of it and a bunch of visits later finished by telling them that if they don't fix the speedo problem that I will not purchase another Subaru product. Still didn't get it fixed. Not much I can do at that point except tell others of the experience (which I have done any time the opportunity has come up.)

Did you contact Subaru's head office??

No, but I guess I could. The dealer claimed the speedo problem was within Subaru's tolerance and that they would not fix it.

I dunno if it's fair to blame Subaru as it sounds like just a shitty dealer not wanting to take responsibility as I've seen entire cars exchanged over less than that.

I don't really know how dealerships work here but my impression is that dealerships here tend to be corporate-owned. I could be waaaaaay off base on that though, and it could even vary from brand to brand.

[Coligny]

This has been debated endless times in the tsunami thread. Nuclear plants have a lifespan of a few decades, perhaps 50 years at the most. They were designed for a 1 in 100 year event and what we had was a 1 in 1000 year event. Now that we've had a 1 in 1000 year event it seems obvious that the plants should have been designed to withstand it. What about a 1 in 10000 year event or a 1 in 100000 year event? The line has to be drawn somewhere. It's like the lottery: The chance of "winning" is miniscule but the effects of a "win" are huge.

nah... it was a 1 in 100 years tsunami (reminded to villagers by numerous stone and temples) And at the date of the construction the event was already overdue...

As for Subaru... from my experience with my air filter... garagist say iz okay, i wash it wish alcohol and nearly got a renewed car for free... they are not the most mechanically competent people in the world... which is troublesome with the current amount of lock in...

[Coligny]

Oupsy... we should wikify the tohoku thread. My answer is pointless since as of early july 2011 it appears that the plant was already damaged by the earthquake of a strenght supposedly for which it was specced to resist and the tsunami excuse was just given by Tepco to be covered by the "unforseable event so it's not my fault" clause of their rulebook to avoid liabilities...

[matsuki]

I don't really know how dealerships work here but my impression is that dealerships here tend to be corporate-owned. I could be waaaaaay off base on that though, and it could even vary from brand to brand.

Depends on the dealer and brand. I don't think all Subaru are corporate though. From my experience here when coming across defects and quality control issues, the few times I had any issues, taking it up with management or the company HQ has gotten everything resolved, usually with a million apologies. Nothing companies here fear more than bad customer service reviews.

Oupsy... we should wikify the tohoku thread. My answer is pointless since as of early july 2011 it appears that the plant was already damaged by the earthquake of a strenght supposedly for which it was specced to resist and the tsunami excuse was just given by Tepco to be covered by the "unforseable event so it's not my fault" clause of their rulebook to avoid liabilities...

Indeed, in the land of sekinin, TEPCO is king weasel.