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We contact Apple with angry complaint, they defuse our hostility with a single word

Master Blaster Mar 19, 2016
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Dealing with angry customers all day is harrowing work, but Apple’s team was able to quell our reporter Hatori Go’s rage with but a single word.

It all began when Hatori purchased a Lightning Digital AV Adapter which connects Apple devices to monitors with an HDMI input. He bought it through Amazon where he read several reviews stating that it “broke after only a few uses.” Although these comments gave Hatori pause, he went ahead with the purchase anyway, thinking those people probably just didn’t use it properly.

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A post shared by Go Hatori （GO羽鳥） (@mamiyak46)

When the Adapter arrived, he excitedly began connecting his iPhone to a monitor. However, about 30 seconds into his adapting session the transmission went dead and the cable was broken. At a price of over 5,000 yen (US$45), any business expert will tell you that is some seriously bad cost performance.

Not only that, the Amazon reviews even said it broke after “a few uses” for them and Hatori couldn’t even get that much mileage out of his new 5000-yen cat toy. Needless to say he was pissed off, and he wanted to vent this frustration at the source itself: Apple.

Unfortunately, Hatori was at the office and hesitant to call the company over the telephone. Things could get heated and he wouldn’t want his coworkers to overhear what could be some colorful language. But then, he found that at Apple, customers can contact the company through “live chat support” instead of telephone.

Perfect! This way he could unleash his full wrath without disturbing those around him. All he had to do was input his product’s serial number and he was on his way.

Disclaimers and explanations popped on the screen as Hatori gazed at the two Apple support staff pictured in the chat window. They were interesting specimens who had the physiques of superheroes and yet looked like they also play in a prog rock band on the weekends. “Are these the people on the other end of this line?” he wondered when suddenly…

▼ Apple
“Mr. Hatori, I’m very sorry to have kept you waiting. If I may, I am [name removed] with Apple Beats. Thank you for contacting Beats Support with your questions. I hope I can be of service today.”

▼ Hatori
“Okay.”

The support member’s name seemed Chinese but he typed with very polite and proper Japanese. We won’t reveal the person’s real name so we’ll call him “Mr. Chan” instead.

Hatori laid out the entire story, telling Mr. Chan about the negative Amazon reviews, the 30-second breakage, and he even copy and pasted a link to a Facebook friend who had a similar problem with their cable.

Mr. Chan thanked Hatori for the information again in very polite terms. However, Hatori was still burning with the anger of someone who had an expensive product go bust after half a minute. He had made his case enough and now it was time to get some answers from Mr. Apple Beats Chan once and for all!”

▼ Hatori
“Why are these problems happening so oft…”

As Hatori was in the middle of focusing the fiery sun of his rage through the magnifying glass of his keyboard into one succinct query that would blow this whole case wide open…the system went down.

▼ Apple Chat Window
“Due to a temporary system failure the chat has ended. Please wait for a while until we connect you with another available adviser.”

“WHAT THE HELL!” screamed Hatori in his mind while still maintaining the silence of the work place. His partially typed and unsent deathblow hung in the chat window, unseen by anyone.

Despite all his swirling rage, Hatori didn’t hold it against Mr. Chan. This was clearly a technical problem and Mr. Chan, while not terribly helpful, was courteous enough.

Hatori sat in anger and despair for a while longer until a message popped up again. This was a new person, who also had a very Chinese sounding name and whom we will call Mr. Chow. He also introduced himself very formally and used very polite Japanese.

▼ Mr. Chow
“Mr. Hatori, I’m going to review the past conversation. Would you mind waiting a couple minutes?”

▼ Hatori
“Yes. Okay. I’ll have a cigarette.”

▼ Mr. Chow
“Thank you very much. Just a minute then, please.”

Although the cigarette was a chance for Hatori to cool off, the change from Mr. Chan to Mr. Chow did little to assuage his frustration. He had spent several minutes with these people – most of them waiting or being thanked for waiting – and hadn’t gotten anywhere with them.

▼ Mr. Chow
“Thank you very much for waiting such an awfully long time.”

▼ Hatori
“Yes! It’s alright!”

▼ Mr. Chow
“Again, we are truly sorry for the inconvenience and shock you have received.”

▼ Hatori
“Yes! It is a big shock [sad/angry face] It broke after 30 seconds… [sad/angry face] I wanted it to work four or five times at least.”

Hatori was glad he could get that last sarcastic jab in. They’ve been screwing around long enough and it was time to shake things up. However, what happened next put our reporter over the edge.

▼ Mr. Chow
*“*Watsi understand that this must be a huge shock for you.”

▼ Mr. Chow
“Excuse me.”

▼ Mr. Chow
“I understand that this must be a huge shock for you.”

Watsi?!

Watsi!

WATSI!!!

In Japanese, the standard first-person pronoun is “watashi” and with the keyboard set to Japanese you can type the “shi” character by simply typing “s” and “i.” When typing quickly, though, it is not uncommon for someone to miss an “a” keystroke thus creating the nonsensical pronoun “watsi.” It’s pretty similar to someone typing, “I’m sorry for teh misunderstanding.”

Normally, this isn’t an egregious error, but Hatori was already in fighting mode and began to question this watsi-typing guy’s ability to help him at all.

▼ Mr. Chow
“First of all, please rest assured that Apple will do our best to help you see this problem through to the end.”

▼ Hatori
“Watsi am okay!”

▼ Mr. Chow
“Thank you very much.”

▼ Mr. Chow
“I’m sorry.”

▼ Mr. Chow
“First, because the Apple Lightning Digital AV Adapter MD826AM/A is a genuine Apple accessory, if it was purchased less than a year ago, you can exchange it free of charge.”

Just then, like pulling the plug out from a bathtub filled with hate, the anger steadily drained out from Hatori and onto the floor. The way Mr. Chow humbly said “Thank you very much. I’m sorry.” in the face of Hatori’s venomous “watsi” reference, really struck a chord.

Not only did Hatori find that to be a classy move, but the simplicity of it was downright adorable. “Mr. Chow is cute!” he thought, “Super cute!”

▼ Mr. Chow
“Thank you very much again for the long waiting you have done for us today.”

▼ Hatori
“Hey…thank YOU!”

▼ Mr. Chow
“Unfortunately, since you bought the product at Amazon you will have to contact them for details on the exchange.”

▼ Hatori
“Yeah, that makes sense…I’ll do that!”

▼ Mr. Chow
“Thank you very much.”

▼ Mr. Chow
“That’s one way, or if you’d like we can deal with Amazon and exchange the Apple Lightning Digital AV Adapter with you directly ourselves. I think it will be faster for you that way. How does that sound?”

▼ Hatori
“Oh? But I don’t have time to get to an Apple Store. Could you send it to me?”

▼ Mr. Chow
“I think it will take about two or three days. Is that okay?”

▼ Hatori
“Ohhhhh! Well then by all means, that would be great!”

▼ Mr. Chow
“Okay, we’ll send it right out to you.”

▼ Hatori
“Would you like me to tell you my address?”

▼ Mr. Chow
”Just to be sure, I’ll guide you through the best way to do it, but do you have an iPhone or iPad?”

▼ Hatori
“I do! I have an iPhone and a MacBook Air!”

▼ Mr. Chow
“Thank you very much.”

▼ Hatori
“I bought the iPhone and MacBook Air at the Apple Store!”

▼ Mr. Chow
“Thank you for choosing Apple.”

▼ Hatori
“Oh sorry, actually I bought the iPhone from Softbank. But I bought a MacBook Air twice from the Apple Store.”

As Hatori continued to gush like a starry-eyed Arashi fan, Mr. Chow took an identification code that allowed him to get the address.

▼ Mr. Chow
“Thank you very much.”

▼ Hatori
“Thank you very much! I feel relieved!”

▼ Mr. Chow
“Thank you very much. So, in order to finalize the exchange could you wait a little longer?”

▼ Hatori
“Yes! I’ll wait! If it’s for you I’ll wait however long!”

▼ Mr. Chow
“Really, thank you very much.”

▼ Mr. Chow
“I’m back. The exchange has been approved to go ahead. Here is the receipt number for the current repair.”

▼ Hatori
“I want to say really thank you very much, too. I’m very impressed with your honest emotion. Your responses were god-like. I’m very impressed!”

▼ Mr. Chow
“I’m delighted to hear you say such things.”

▼ Hatori
“Receipt number, got it!”

▼ Mr. Chow
“We apologize again for the many inconveniences you’ve had this time.”

▼ Hatori
“Impressive! Wasti am impressed! My heart is warmed by what you just said!”

▼ Mr. Chow
“The repair will take place at the earliest possible time. Thank you in advance.”

▼ Hatori
“Not at all! Truly, thank you very much!”

With customer service thoroughly administered, Hatori was still feeling high off how well everything went. However, he wanted more, so he decided to take the relationship with Mr. Chow to the next level.

▼ Hatori
“Got it! Can I ask you one last question?”

▼ Mr. Chow
“Yes. Go ahead.”

▼ Hatori
“Your Japanese is very good, but what country are you from?”

▼ Mr. Chow
“Thank you. I’m Chinese.”

▼ Hatori
“Ohhhh! Xiexie*! I’m impressed! There’s a picture of a black man so I thought that was…but your name didn’t seem to match.”*

▼ Mr. Chow
“I studied Japanese for five years. I’m happy to hear that.”

▼ Hatori
“Really xiexie*! I’ve been to many places in China! I love that country!”*

▼ Hatori
“Thank you for everything today.”

▼ Mr. Chow
“Thank you very much. And thank you again for giving us your valuable time up till now.”

▼ Hatori
“Yes!”

▼ Mr. Chow
“And thank you for continuing to use Apple!”

▼ Hatori
“Of course!”

Clearly Mr. Chow must have been a diligent student to have come so far with five years of Japanese study. It was a testament to his character and all the more reason for Hatori to admire him. But all things must come to an end, and it was time for these lovebirds to part ways.

▼ Mr. Chow
“Well, if you’ll excuse me. Thank you very much for contacting us.”

▼ Hatori
“OK! Thank you very much! Xiexie*!* Zaijian*!”*

▼ Mr. Chow
“I’m happy to have chatted with you today, Mr. Hatori.”

▼ Mr. Chow
“I too am happy to have been able to chat with you.”

▼ Mr. Chow
“Really, the pleasure is all mine.”

▼ Mr. Chow
“Well, if you’ll excuse me. Thank you very much for contacting us.”

▼ Apple Chat Window
-The session has ended. Thank you very much for contacting us on chat.-

And the chat ended. Hatori would receive his new functioning cord in a few days. But as he held that device he thought back on that conversation and wondered about that “watsi.”

Could it have been that Mr. Chow deliberately made that typo and apologized knowing that it would disarm our reporter? Maybe even that system crash was just a way for Apple to put in a ringer – an expert customer service technician of the human soul – to deal with what they thought was an exceptionally irate customer.

It’s the same dilemma that you, the reader, must handle once we tell you that Hatori Go himself actually once worked for the Apple’s support hotline back when the company was much smaller than it is now. Is it possible that Hatori wasn’t angry at all and just wanted to brighten the day of someone who constantly gets shoveled emotional toxic waste for a living?

Both men are sure to take these answers to the grave, but regardless, this story shows us how much can be achieved with some humility and positive energy when dealing with other people no matter what the circumstances are.

Source: Apple Support
Original article by Hatori Go
Images: RocketNews24
[ Read in Japanese ]