You can meet God

With the advancement in technology and the evolution of the human mind, the value that entertainment brings to its viewers becomes directly related to the size of the TV screen. I soon realized my TV was not performing to the best of its abilities in the 21st century. Hence I decided to upgrade my TV screen to 29″ and walked into this big electronics departmental store in suburban Mumbai to make choice. Being an ardent brand loyalist, I opted for this TV brand which I had already owned twice earlier. The choice was therefore easy to make and the TV entered my house on the promised day.

Everything about this device was quite superb–the 1200W speakers, surround sound and woofer, the true to life picture quality. I enjoyed all the movies and the matches. Not to mention the free matte silvery shaded trolley which came along with the box, on which this behemoth rested–they both complimented each other well. Unfortunately my cable operator couldn’t keep his promise of providing better sound and picture quality despite my repeated requests. Correspondingly after giving a serious thought, I finally decided to shift to a DTH (Direct-to-home) service. Technology spoiled me again!

Soon after, the sound and picture improved a great deal. The TV must be happy I thought but my problems were just about to begin. It’s important to note here that the DTH service uses the A/V (audio/video) output ports while the cable operator uses the single cable port at the back of the TV, to beam the channels. After this immediate transition, I started noticing a thin black line appearing at the left of my screen and it made me nervous. I feared for my picture tube which might go bust at anytime. Since I was already covered under the 1 year product warranty clause, I relaxed a bit and called up my dealer. Immediately a man from the TV brand was dispatched to my house. The bad news was that he gave up in the very first instance by proclaiming that the problem would remain unresolved since the A/V circuit board has a manufacturing defect which has been rectified in the later models.

I couldn’t believe the company representative’s statement. He put a question mark on his work ethics by saying that, so I went back to the dealer with my set of bills and warranty proof. I met the floor manager for the TV section named Robert and informed him of my plight. He assured me of full support although saying that the servicing electronic items and especially the notion of customer care was completely flawed in India leaf a lot to be desired unlike in the western civilization. A few days later another man visited my place with some more pitiful solutions. Circuit boards were being replaced and all kinds of methods were being tested out while I starved in the late evenings but the line simply refused to budge an inch. I felt overall that good efforts were being wasted to salvage my TV set and I was unnecessarily being subjected to mental stress while the TV could simply be replaced. With each passing day, the words of the service guy echoed in my mind and all hopes of getting a reasonable solution was being lost. I spent sleepless nights, bitter and angry at how my favorite TV brand was treating its steadfast admirer. I felt cheated and dejected which was reflected in my umpteen conversations with the service center in-charge. My meetings with Robert was also not making any headway into this prolonged issue. After all why should the dealer be tormented for a bad product manufactured by the someone else? Losing hope for any foreseable solution, I decided to get in touch with someone senior from the company itself. I found the Vice President, Sales and Services’ contact number from someplace and got on-line with him.

Things started moving swiftly from then on. Very soon the COO (Chief Operating Officer) called me and assured me of full support. That evening 4 executives from the company visited my place and worked on the TV set relentlessly, to get rid of the line which they finally succeeded in doing. They asked me to wait for a week before I can give them my feedback. I was happy and overwhelmed to see that my brand had not betrayed me in my moments of grief. I had surely decided then, to part ways with it after this one harrowing but sad incident but all’s well that ends well now.

Yesterday, I went to see Robert at his store after several days, to express my gratitude for his assistance in resolving this matter. He had since become the floor manager for the audio section and was busy testing out a home theatre. I knocked on the studio door and went inside and asked “Do you remember me, Robert?”. That look on his face said it all. With a smile he asked “How’re you doing?”. We shook hands. He couldn’t have forgotten a customer who was so emotional about his TV the last time we met! “My problem finally got resolved, Robert. I spoke to the VP-Sales and Service and the company sent some executives over at my place to fix my TV”, I said with happiness gleaming across my face. Considering that he wasn’t optimistic about the solution to my problem, he was pleased to hear that. “That’s really nice” he said possessing that bewildered look, surely thinking how could me, who’d lost hopes a few months ago was able to achieve this unachievable feat. I continued, “with a little persuasion and perseverance Robert, you can even meet God”. He looked at me and nodded in agreement.