toshiba-3

To me, this case is not about my laptop computer. It is not about my feelings. Instead, it is about respect. It is about conflict resolution. It is about abuse of power. It is about a better society.

I believe there is too much resentment in society. I believe resentment often leads to hatred which leads to violence, such as that committed on September 11.

The way I have been treated by both Toshiba Canada and Toshiba Australia has caused me deep resentment. I am trying to manage this resentment so something constructive comes from it, rather than something destructive. But not everyone is as committed to non-violence as I am.

I have tried repeatedly to make this a win-win situation. So far I have gotten very little cooperation towards this goal from anyone with the exception of the staff at Computerquest.

During this process I have felt evaded, ignored, misled, lied to, disrespected, and invalidated. I when I express a feeling, my perception is negated. For example, I tell Daniel Deschamps that I feel ignored. He responds, "I am not ignoring you." I tell Brett Ponton that I sense no one is taken me seriously. He replies that they are taking me seriously. I feel offended by people telling me my perception and my feelings are not valid.

I am sure that I am not the only customer of Toshiba Australia or Toshiba Canada who has felt similar emotions. I am probably unique, however, in how I express those emotions.

I have a few beliefs about a better way to serve the customer. A better way to resolve conflicts. So far, no one in Toshiba Canada or Toshiba Australia has shown much interest in my ideas. This is one reason I feel dismissed, unimportant, unvalued, not taken seriously.

I have asked repeatedly to speak with someone who specializes in conflict resolution in either country. I have asked for the name of someone in the human resources department. I have asked for the names of higher level managers. My requests have repeatedly been rejected, and rejected in an insulting, disrespectful, uncaring and insensitive way.

My complaint is not just against Toshiba, it is against the modern way of doing business. Toshiba Australia tries to defend itself by hiding behind its international warranty. Frankly, I strongly resent this tactic. I have had to edit this letter, in fact, to remove the profanity, so strong are my feelings.

My complaint is also against the abuse of power. Toshiba is in position of power. They can "make the rules". Once I have purchased a computer from them, I am at their mercy. I have felt nearly powerless in this process, yet I have one source of power which many others do not. I can write. I can put this story on my website where it will be seen my at least a few people. I can also submit it to business journals. I am beginning to see myself as somewhat of a consumer advocate, just as I am an advocate for abused children and teens.

The name Ralph Nader comes to mind. He is one lone individual who was sufficiently aroused by the way he was personally treated to begin a crusade against General Motors. There is another lone individual who launched an Internet crusade against Walmart and rose to the second position for Walmart searches on Google before Walmart evidently paid him to buy the domain and take the site down. (walmartsucks.com). When the feelings of the individual human are not treated with respect, eventually a lone voice rises up and says, "Enough."If the emotional climate is right, others may then echo this voice in large numbers.

My approach, however, is different than that of most others before me. I believe in win-win situations. I advocated cooperation. I will continue to follow this course until I have reached the end of the chain of command at Toshiba. I will go to Toshiba Japan if necessary. I want to be noticed by top management at Toshiba and I want other international companies to take notice as well. I am opposed to the creation of more laws to protect the consumer. Instead I want to see corporations act in socially responsible ways on their own so as to make such laws unnecessary. I feel frustrated that corporations have not learned by now that it is better to be proactive when it comes to consumer issues, rather than letting the consumers become so infuriated that they approach the legislators. I don’t put my trust in legislation or politicians.

I feel determined to be heard by someone. If Toshiba will not hear me out, take me seriously and make what I consider a reasonable effort to satisfy my concerns I will do my best to share this story as widely as I possibly can.

Throughout this process no one has exercised what I would call the most basic conflict resolution skills. I feel incredulous that an organization as large as Toshiba would not have a well-thought out conflict resolution model well established, one which considers the customer’s feelings as well as the technical issues.

I still see an opportunity, however, if anyone in either country wants to capitalize upon it. When I studied business I was taught that customer complaints were valuable feedback. But my feedback does not seem to be valued much, excepting Trevor Dantas of Toshiba Canada and Laurie Quigg of Computerquest Australia.

Dale Carnegie said one of the strongest needs of every human being is to feel important. For most of this process I have been treated as if I were not the least bit important. In fact, I have felt nearly invisible. One of the managers in Canada said that problems like mine "don’t affect the bottom line."

But is this all that is important in human life anymore? Is this what all our advancement and evolution as a species has brought us to? To only considering what affects the bottom line?

I was a business major. I have an MBA degree. I graduated in the top 2% of my class. But I no longer believe in the infallibility of the capitalist system. (Nor in the infallibility of the Pope, as my father was taught!)

My goal is to bring increasing awareness of the importance of human feeling into the business world. Daniel Goleman started this process in 1995 with his international best selling book, Emotional Intelligence. He has widely promoted the believe that out emotional intelligence helps us achieve our goals. Unfortunately, however, he missed the main value of our emotional intelligence: to set goals worth achieving.

I was schooled in the USA. I do not want Canada and Australia to follow the mistake of the Americans: to put profits ahead of people. In fact, I am working on a book to be called Don’t Follow America. One of the chapters of the book will address the failures of the American capitalist model.

Australia and Canada are still places where there is more of a human element involved in business decisions. But I see that changing, a trend which frightens me. Americans are the wealthiest, most powerful people in the world. Yet are they really the happiest? Is their country the safest? I say absolutely not.

In each human interaction feelings are generated. Will these be feelings of trust, cooperation, helpfulness, satisfaction, understanding and appreciation? Or feelings of distrust, cynicism, resentment, bitterness, and hostility?

Toshiba is an international leader in the field of technology. Will it also lead in its treatment of the human individual?

No one offering to make me any kind of restitution for the way this has been handled.

The amount of time I have spent on this. The wasted energy which could have gone into something else such as my work to protect emotionally abused children and teenagers.

Unit would not come on the day after I bought it. Sent it back for repair and it was returned two days later.

Sept. 18 (Approx) Spoke to Genamation and they said it needed parts which would take 2-3 weeks to arrive.

Oct 18 Called Genamation again after checking website which said my parts had come in and unit would be shipped to me the next day.

Oct 18 Called back to get shipping tracer number and I was told it didn't get finished in time to make the Purolator pick up and it would be shipped Monday.

Oct 21 (Monday) I received an email saying an additional part was needed and the unit would not be shipped to me as promised.

Oct 22 Called Toshiba. Spoke to a Toshiba rep DF who said would email someone in Australia and he and they would both get back to me.

Oct 25 Called Genamation and asked for name of manager. Was told it would be emailed to me.

Oct 26 Did not receive the email so I called Genamation again and left my phone number, again asking for the name of the manager.

Oct 29 Called Genamation again. Allison told me the manager was out of town, but still did not give me his name.She said she was next in charge. Said she would talk to Dave Fletcher .

Oct 31 (Approx) Called Genamation again. Left message asking them to let me know what was happening. Left my email and voice mail number.

Nov 1 No reply yet from Genamation. Emailed DF, asking for the name of his manager. Emailed two different email address from Toshiba's website asking if they had a conflict resolution department.

Nov 5 Called Toshiba around 10 A.M. Left message with DF's manager, DD asking him to look into things. Left my email address. Was told he did not have an email address; that there was no conflict resolution department.

Nov 6 Called Toshiba & spoke with Daniel Deschamps. He reassured me that Toshiba Canada was in contact with Toshiba Australia. He also said he would ask them to extend the warranty. He said he would send me an email letting me know what is happening. He also said they were concerned about me using full names on this page so I have changed the names to intials. Felt somewhat understood, encouraged, cooperative, reassured, helped, informed.

After that, I repeatedly expressed my concerns about getting the unit back before I left for Australia on November 12th. By the time I left North America it had not been shipped. I finally received the unit around December 16 in Australia. At that time it was missing the cover for the PCMIA cards and one of the cover screws. The case had not been replaced nor the keyboard, though both were obviously worn down.

When I emailed Deschamps and asked him for them name of the person in Australia who had been contacted about my unit, so I could start to follow up on getting an extended warranty or an exchange unit, he began evading me. Since then I have sent multiple emails to Daniel Deschamps and Brett Ponton (Australia) which have only resulted in me feeling more resentful. Appendix 4 contains a history of those emails.

Now I am having trouble with the floppy drive and the fan motor seems to be going erratic.

NOVEMBER

From: "Daniel Deschamps" <ddeschamps@toshiba.ca>
To: steve hein
Subject: Update
Date: Tuesday, 6 November 2001 5:04 PM

Steve,

I just received confirmation that the part needed arrived this afternoon.
Once the repair is complete, the service centre will bring over to Toshiba.
What I need now is the co-ordinates for shipping.

As mentioned today, we will contact Toshiba Australia on your behalf to make
arrangements for warranty extension.

Regards,
Daniel

==========

From: Steve Hein
Sent: Wednesday, November 07, 2001 12:57 PM
To: ddeschamps@toshiba.ca
Subject: Re: Update

Daniel,

Here is the address in Australia where you can ship the unit:

Steve Hein
c/o
Glenn & Lee Robinson
Bundanoon YHA
Railway Avenue
Bundanoon 2578 NSW
Australia

Phone: 61 (02) 4883 6010

Could you please send me the shipping tracer number when it goes out?

Thanks again for your help.

Steve

==========

From: "Daniel Deschamps" <ddeschamps@toshiba.ca>
To: Steve Hein
Cc: "Dave Fletcher" <dfletcher@toshiba.ca>
Subject: RE: Update
Date: Friday, 9 November 2001 4:35 PM

Steve,

We are ready to ship the unit. We also need additional info such as when did
the notebook leave Australia, along with the purchase price in Australian
funds.

Once we have this we will ship and provide you with the waybill number for
tracking.

Regards,
Daniel

==========

From: Steve Hein
Sent: Wednesday, November 14, 2001 11:55 PM
To: ddeschamps@toshiba.ca

Subject: RE: Update

Hi Daniel,

Just checking to see if you got my message and if there is a tracking number
yet. I am over in Australia now.

Steve

==========

From: "Daniel Deschamps" <ddeschamps@toshiba.ca>
To: Steve Hein
Subject: RE: Update
Date: Thursday, 15 November 2001 9:09 AM

Steve,

Sorry for the delay, I have been ill for the past week, but will follow up
today.

Daniel

(I never receieved a tracer number. S. Hein)

==========

JANUARY 2002 (Deschamps)

From: "Steve Hein"
To: <ddeschamps@toshiba.ca>
Subject: request for contact info
Date: Monday, 7 January 2002 5:25 PM

Hi Daniel,

Just want to make sure you got my message from just before Christmas asking
for the name and email of your VP of Support
Services who was in touch with the folks over here.

Thanks,

Steve

(No reply.)

==========

From: "Steve Hein"
To: ddeschamps@toshiba.ca

Subject: Third request for contact info.
Date: Friday, 11 January 2002 4:30 PM

Daniel,

When you failed to give me the contact info in Australia the first time I
felt a little evaded. Now that feeling has intensified to the point I am
feeling ignored and offended by your lack of response. I have tried to be
patient but it is getting harder for me to believe you are just out of the
office this long and not checking your mail.

I thought we had a reasonable understanding of each other when we talked on
the phone, so I do not know what the problem is.
I am wondering of there is there some reason you do not want me to contact
your VP of Support Services.

Steve

Below is a copy of the message I sent on 12/20.

Daniel,

Thanks for reply. Could I get the name and email of your VP of Support
Services so I can try contacting him first? I suspect that would be faster
than starting the process without a name of anyone here in Australia.

Thanks.

Steve

==========

From: "Daniel Deschamps" <ddeschamps@toshiba.ca>
To: "Steve Hein"
Subject: RE: Third request for contact info.
Date: Monday, 14 January 2002 10:14 AM

Steve,

I have not ignored your request, as mentioned in prior e-mails, it was my VP
who made the request to his counterpart in Australia. What I would recommend
you do at this time is call TAP directly and ask to speak to the VP of
support services.

Regards,
Daniel
==========

From: "Steve Hein"
To: ddeschamps@toshiba.ca

Subject:
Date: Thursday, 17 January 2002 2:26 AM

Daniel

It is one thirty in the morning here. I have been laying awake thinking
about your message. I feel troubled by it for several reasons.

I have been making a list of my feelings. This is something I have found is
helpful when I am troubled. I don't know if you are interested in how I am
feeling, but I believe someone somewhere will be. So here is list I have
come up with so far.

Underestimated, Untrusting, Brushed off, Stonewalled, Hostile, Less
cooperative, Resentful, Invalidated, Determined, Unimportant, Powerless,
Suspicious, Unhelped, Unappreciative, Disillusioned, Discouraged,
Power-played, Motivated (to write more about this)

At this point it seems clear that you do not want to give me the email
address of your VP of Customer Support. Yet I want this information. So we
have a conflict.

I would now like to know if you are willing to tell me what the procedure is
at
Toshiba Canada when there is a conflict at your level of management.

I would also like to know if you are willing to give me the name and email
of your immediate supervisor. My biggest problem right now is with Toshiba
Canada because I feel very unsatisfied with Toshiba Canada at this point.
You told me on the phone that Toshiba Canada was always able to resolve the
customer complaints. My complaint with Toshiba Canada is not resolved as far
as I am concerned.

I realize that to you I am more of annoyance than anything else. I realize
that I don't affect the bottom line for Toshiba Canada, and I understand
that this is your primary concern, or at least that is the impression I got
from you when we spoke. I have mixed feeling about this approach to
business. I was a business major in college and I have my MBA degree, so on
one hand I can see your point. On the other hand I am starting to believe we
are now focused too much on profits and not enough on people's feelings.
Somewhat ironically though, I actually believe that in the long run paying
attention to feelings is in the best interests of businesses. I am not sure
if you have ever visited my main website, or if you are familiar with the
topic of emotional intelligence, but there seem to be many people in the
business world who agree with me. That is one reason I have not let this
matter drop. I believe other people can learn from it, even if Toshiba
Canada does not care to. I still am not convinced though that there is no
one in Toshiba Canada who would not be interested in my feedback.

On that topic, I wonder if you would be willing to give me the email of your
VP of Human Resources. That may be a better person for me to talk to these
things since I realize it may be getting out of your area.

While I am asking for things, I would like to know if you are willing to
give me the name of the owner of Genamation. I would like to offer them my
feedback as well. Sometimes I find the top management is interested in
hearing from the customer when others are not. Besides other issues I would
like to give my feeback on,
There actually was one small problem with my unit when I received it. The
doors covering the PCMIA slots
were missing. I was going to bring this up with Toshiba Australia after I
got the contact info from you.

Just for the record, the other day a screw fell out of the bottom of the
unit. I found it laying on my car seat. I have had trouble with screws
falling out before, as I believe I indicated in my previous documentation.
Another problem with the unit is the keyboard has worn down so the small
bumps to let you know where to position your fingers is completely missing
on the letter F. This may seem like a small thing, but as I often do writing
at night, it is an irritation.

Something else that troubles me is why you don't want to give me the contact
info I have requested. I also feel troubled by why you did not initially
tell me that your VP of customer services was handling my case. The first
time I heard any mention of this person, whose name I still do not know, was
in your reply to me when I asked for the name of the person you contacted in
Australia. At that point I was under the impression you were contacting
Australia yourself.

Now I just checked your email from November 6, you said:

Steve,

I just received confirmation that the part needed arrived this afternoon.
Once the repair is complete, the service centre will bring over to Toshiba.
What I need now is the co-ordinates for shipping.

As mentioned today, we will contact Toshiba Australia on your behalf to make
arrangements for warranty extension.

Regards,
Daniel

When you said "we" I did not know there was anyone else working on the case
besides you and Dave Fletcher, so I was surprised when you said you could
not give me the name of the contact in Australia.

Since I have not heard from anyone in Australia I am assuming that as of
right now no one has extended my warranty as you requested. Because I bought
my unit in January of last year, I am now beginning to worry that if it
breaks again I will have problems getting it fixed under warranty.

Even if I were to get an extended warranty, that would still not resolve my
other, perhaps larger, concern about having a unit which is not sold in
Canada.

Looking at things from your stand point I must admit I will probably never
be a customer of Toshiba Canada as far as purchasing a
new unit goes. In fact I will probably never buy another new computer when I
realize now I can by several second-hand models for the price of one new
one. Thus I understand why you might believe you have more important things
to do than spend time on this. Toshiba Australia might also believe they
have better things to do. For me, though this is a major concern.

I can not force you to do anything. I can't threaten you with canceling a
large contract like a corporate client might. This is one reason I don't
feel very powerful or important. But I can tell you that I feel motivated to
write about this, not only my web page but also for business magazines. So
far I have had just one article published in a business magazine, so I can't
even say that it would affect your bottom line if I wrote about my
dissatisfaction.

I would still prefer for this to be a win-win situation,
rather than for me to think that the only consolation I have is to write
about my grievances as a way of punishing Toshiba Canada, but as a last
resort, I know that is one thing I can always do.

I have told you how I am feeling and I have explained myself fairly
thoroughly. I invite you to share your thoughts and feeling as well.

Please excuse any grammatical mistakes as it is now about quarter past two.

Steve

(no reply)

==========

FEBRUARY - Ponton

From: Steve Hein
Sent: Saturday, February 09, 2002 3:41 AM
To: bponton@toshiba-tap.com
Subject: Satellite 30 CDT

Hi Brett,

I got your name from Andrew McIntyre at Compuquest.

I bought a 30 CDT in January of last year from Compuquest. I have had a
series of problems with it since then. The biggest problem is that the unit
is not carried in Canada where I spend 6 months each year. This year I had
to have the unit serviced in Canada and I was without it for just over three
months.

The service I received from Toshiba Canada and heir authorized service
centre was very unsatisfying to me. I have been trying to resolve my
complaints through the VP of Marketing at Toshiba Canada, but he is now
evidently blocking my emails!

Could you let me know who I might talk to in order to discuss the
possibility of exchanging my unit for a model which is sold in both
Australia and Canada? I would also like to get the email address of the
President of Toshiba Canada if you could help me with that or if you know
who would have this info. I would like to give him some feedback on my
experience.

Thanks in advance,

Steve Hein
=========

From: "Brett Ponton" <BPonton@Toshiba-TAP.com>
To: "'Steve Hein'"
Cc: "Brett Ponton" <BPonton@Toshiba-TAP.com>
Subject: RE: Satellite 30 CDT
Date: Monday, 11 February 2002 6:01 PM

Thanks for the email Steve.

I think there are 2 ways we can deal with this issue - firstly you can email
the Technical Services manager in Toshiba and voice your concerns and need
for a higher quality of service from the service provider, his name is
Trevor Dantas ( tdantas@toshiba.ca <mailto:tdantas@toshiba.ca> ).

Secondly, please feel free to use me as a reference point for any repairs
you are having done when you are in Canada. If you can get the Canadian
Service Provider to send me details of the part order they need to place I
can hopefully speed up the delivery of these parts and make the turnaround
time far less than you have previously experienced. Keep my email address
for any future dealings.

If you have any extra thoughts please let me know.

=========

From: "Steve Hein"
To: "Brett Ponton"
Subject: Re: Satellite 30 CDT
Date: Monday, 18 February 2002 3:24 AM

Hi Brett,

Thanks for your message. I will write to Trevor in Canada about the problems I have had there.

My more immediate concern though is getting my unit exchanged for a different model. I am not sure I explained this well in my last message.

I do not want to take any more chances with the model I currently have. Even with your offer to help in getting parts and service through Canada in the future I still do not feel at all comfortable with the idea of returning to Canada with this unit.

I am leaving Australia in April and I would like to have a different model with me when I leave. I do not want a unit that is not carried in Canada, and I do not want a unit that I do not have confidence in. I have lost confidence in this unit and this model.

Could you tell me who is the right person to talk in Australia to about exchanging this unit for a different model? The people in Canada already said they could not help me with an exchange since I bought the unit here.

Thanks again.

Steve

==========

From: "Brett Ponton" <BPonton@Toshiba-TAP.com>
To: "'Steve Hein'"
Cc: "Brett Ponton" <BPonton@Toshiba-TAP.com>
Subject: RE: Satellite 30 CDT
Date: Wednesday, 20 February 2002 9:46 PM

Thanks for the mail Steve.

Unfortunately swapping your machine is something that we can not organise at
this stage, this situation that you are in is the reason all notebooks carry
a International Warranty.

In saying that you should certainly be able to expect the highest service
from our Service Providers no matter where you are in the world.

Also, if future problems occur with your machine It would be more than wise
to contact me as continuing faults on your machine is something I can assess
possibly look at swapping your machine, this is not an option at this stage.

I thank you for your mail and once again extend my availability if further
issues arise.

Thanks.
==========

From: Steve Hein
Sent: Thursday, February 21, 2002 2:00 PM
To: Brett Ponton
Subject: RE: Satellite 30 CDT

Hi Brett,

If you are not authorized to swap the unit, could you please send me the
contact info for your supervisor or whoever you believe would be authorized
to make such a decision?

I am willing to take this to the highest level necessary. I feel very
strongly about it.

Steve
==========

From: "Brett Ponton" <BPonton@Toshiba-TAP.com>
To:
Subject: RE: Satellite 30 CDT
Date: Thursday, 21 February 2002 12:11 AM

I have raised this with my management, please expect their reply.

==========From: "Brett Ponton" <BPonton@Toshiba-TAP.com>
To:
Subject: RE: Satellite 30 CDT
Date: Thursday, 21 February 2002 12:47 AM

Thanks for the email Steve.

I have discussed this with my Management and we agree that we have met our
obligations under the International Warranty of your machine.

As such we will not be replacing this machine.

Thanks and regards.

This message is confidential; its contents do not constitute a commitment by
Toshiba except where provided for in a written agreement between you and
Toshiba. Any unauthorised disclosure, use or dissemination, either whole or
partial, is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient of the
message, please notify the sender immediately.

==========

-----Original Message-----
From: Steve Hein
Sent: Friday, February 22, 2002 3:05 PM
To: Brett Ponton
Subject: Re: Satellite 30 CDT

Brett,

I am not at all satisfied with the response from your management. It showed
no empathy for my situation or my feelings and no willingness to work with
me to help me feel more satisfied or to reach a mutually acceptable
agreement.

Please let me know who you have spoken to and who is the next level above
them. I assume you have not talked to the President of Toshiba Canada yet,
but if you have I would like to contact him directly with my feedback.

I am sorry to be so persistent, but I still feel very strongly about this
for many reasons. I have spared you the details, but I have had a very
unsatisfying experience with the unit, with Toshiba Canada and now so far
with Toshiba Australia.

Steve

=========

From: "Brett Ponton" <BPonton@Toshiba-TAP.com>
To: "'Steve Hein'"
Subject: RE: Satellite 30 CDT
Date: Thursday, 22 February 2002 6:10 PM

Thanks for the email.

I am unaware of your experience with Toshiba Canada, however Toshiba
Australia will not replace this unit.

Thanks.

==========

From: "Steve Hein"
To: "Brett Ponton" <BPonton@Toshiba-TAP.com>
Subject: Re: Satellite 30 CDT
Date: Saturday, 23 February 2002 7:46 PM

RE: Satellite 30 CDTBrett,

Does Toshiba Australia have someone who specializes in resolving conflicts? I would like to contact someone else to voice my complaints, whether or not my unit is ever replaced. If there is not someone in particular then please give me the name of someone who is intersted in my feedback about the service I have received from Toshiba Australia.

It seems clear to me that you do not wish to continue corresponding with me, and frankly you have not been very helpful to me or shown a sincere interest in my situation, so please let me know who another person would be that I can contact.

Steve
==========

MARCH - Ponton

From: Steve Hein
Sent: Saturday, March 02, 2002 5:37 AM
To: Brett Ponton
Subject: 2nd request

Brett,

I am quite serious about talking to someone else at Toshiba. I am asking you again to give me someone else's name. Otherwise I will pursue other channels to find someone else who will take my complaint seriously.

Steve

==========

From: "Brett Ponton" <BPonton@Toshiba-TAP.com>
To: "'Steve Hein'"
Subject: RE: 2nd request
Date: Thursday, March 02 2002 10:54 PM

Steve, thanks for your mail.

Toshiba have taken your request quite seriously, we have made our decision
as outlined in the below correspondence.

Toshiba has met its responsibility here and supported your machine under
International Warranty Terms and Conditions.

Thanks.
==========

From: "Steve Hein"
To: "Brett Ponton" <BPonton@Toshiba-TAP.com>
Subject: 3rd request for your manager's details
Date: Saturday, 9 March 2002 8:49 PM

RE: Satellite 30 CDTBrett

You don't seem to get me at all. I have asked you very very specifically for the name of your manager. I am just getting more pissed off. Don't you guys have a clue about how people feel when you blow them off like that? Do you think I am going to stop at your level? I feel very underestimated, provoked and resentful. Is this how you want your customers to feel? Have you ever given any thought to the customer's feelings? Has your manager? I also feel determined to reach someone above you, above that.

When you tell me that you have taken me seriously I feel highly invalidated. I don't feel taken seriously at all. I feel blown off. And each time you say "Thanks" I feel resentment. You sound very fake.

Now can you cut the crap and just tell me yes or no: Are you going to give me your manager's name, email and title or not?

And do you really think telling me that you have lived up to the international warranty is gong to make me feel better?

It seems to me you don't have a clue about how people feel when they get treated like that, or at least not how I feel. I would expect a big company like Toshiba to give its managers better training when it comes to the customer's feelings, and showing respect to each individual customer. I do not feel respected by you. On a scale of 0-10 I would give it a 1. I intend to be heard by someone at a higher level and let them know how I feel, very specifically.
I am sick and tired of companies disregarding the customer's feelings while professing to give top quality service.

(no reply)

=========

MARCH - Dantas

From: "Steve Hein"
To: <tdantas@toshiba.ca>
Subject: Info request
Date: Monday, 18 February 2002 3:31 AM

Hi Trevor,

I have a unit I purchased in Australia which I have had some service problems with while in Canada.

A Toshiba rep in Australia suggested you might be able to give me the name and email of the VP of Support Services in Canada.

Thanks.

Steve Hein
=========

From: Trevor Dantas To: 'Steve Hein'
Sent: Monday, February 18, 2002 5:39 AM
Subject: RE: Info request

Hi Steve, I am the VP, Technical Services. How can we help?

==========

From: "Steve Hein"
To: "Trevor Dantas" <tdantas@toshiba.ca>
Subject: Re: Info requesst - clarification
Date: Tuesday, 19 February 2002 1:35 AM

MessageThanks for your quick reply, Trevor.

I am a little confused. Is there a VP of Support Services and a different VP of Technical Services? I was looking for the VP of Support Services in particular because I was told he had contacted someone in Australia on my behalf a few months ago.

Would that have been you or someone else?

Thanks.

Steve
==========

From: "Trevor Dantas" <tdantas@toshiba.ca>
To: "'Steve Hein'"
Subject: RE: Info requesst - clarification
Date: Monday, 18 February 2002 10:58 AM

We have a Manager of Technical Support that I beleive has been working
with you and a contact in Toshiba Australia. His name is Daniel
Deschamps.

TD
==========

From: Steve Hein
Sent: Wednesday, February 20, 2002 1:11 AM
To: Trevor Dantas
Subject:

Hi Trevor,

Actually I was trying to work with Daniel Deschamps and he stopped
corresponding with me. He told me that the VP of Customer Support had
talked to someone in Australia, not him.

Anyhow, could you please give me the name and email of the president of
Toshiba Canada? It looks like I will have to go to him to resolve my
concerns.

Thanks.

Steve
========

From: "Trevor Dantas" <tdantas@toshiba.ca>
To: Steve Hein
Subject: RE:
Date: Wednesday, 20 February 2002 4:28 PM

Please let me know how we can help. Is there a problem with your unit?
Are you in Canada or in Australia?

TD
==========

From: Steve Hein
Sent: Wednesday, February 20, 2002 7:11 PM
To: Trevor Dantas

Subject:

Hi Trevor,

I appreciate your offer to help, but the problem I want to talk to the
President is not about my unit. It is about the service which I received
from Toshiba, including from Daniel Deschamps.

I requested information from Daniel several times and I felt evaded and
ignored. He then apparently blocked me from sending emails to him.

I would like to share my concerns with his supervisor, who I assume is
the President. I would also like to contact the VP of Human Resources to
ask if he/she is interested in my ideas on the importance of the
customer's feelings and in how to improve customer service. I reached
the stage where it seemed clear to me that Daniel was not interested in
my feelings, but I believe my feelings and those of all customers are
important and do indeed affect the bottom line.

Thank you again for your quick responses and interest in helping out.

Steve
==========

From: "Trevor Dantas" <tdantas@toshiba.ca>

Subject: RE:
Date: Wednesday, 20 February 2002 7:46 PM

Sorry for all the email tag. Daniel reports to me. I have no problem
providing you the name of the President if you wish, however I believe
that I will be tasked with responding to your concerns. I would be more
than happy to discuss the problems you had and understand how we could
make things better for our customers. You are correct in your feelings
about customer satisfaction and we take this seriously.

I will be out of the office tomorrow and will be back in the office Feb
22 afternoon. Please let me know if you would like me to call you. I
will also require your phone number.

TD
==========

From: Steve Hein
Sent: Friday, March 01, 2002 1:07 PM
To: Trevor Dantas
Subject:

Trevor,

I want to say again that I appreciate your last message and your offer
to give me the President's name as I requested. Before I contacted you I
felt no one was taking me seriously.

I have been very dissatisfied with the level of customer service in
general which I have received over the past years with a wide variety of
companies. I have started documenting case histories and putting them on
my website. In the next few years I intend to offer my services to
companies as a consultant in the area of customer and employee feelings.
You may be familiar with the term emotional intelligence. There is a lot
of hype about the term right now and a lot of people are exploiting the
term, but I do believe there is some merit to it and businesses have
certainly shown an interest in it. This is my area of specialty.

When I spoke on the phone with Daniel in October I believe it was, I
suggested to him that I would like to turn this into a win-win situation
where Toshiba Canada could get something of value from my knowledge and
experience. He did not see any value in my work at that time. That would
have been fair enough and I would have let things go at that point had
he lived up to my service expectations, or had he even shown me that he
was keeping his own word. By that I mean that he told me in writing he
(or
someone) would contact Toshiba Australia about an extended warranty.

His message from November 6 said in part:

"As mentioned today, we will contact Toshiba Australia on your behalf to
make arrangements for warranty extension."

When I contacted him later to see who he had talked to in Australia I
started to feel evaded and ignored. Instead of simply giving me the
contact details he sent me this message on December 17:

--
Steve,

Thank you for the follow up, as for the contact name, I cannot provide
this as it was sent by our VP of Support Services. You should be able to
contact the Australian office directly and make contact with their
customer service team who will be able to look after you. If they
require any documentation of what took place here in Canada, please feel
free to pass them my name as a point of contact.

Regards,
Daniel

--

Next I wrote him on Dec 21 asking him again for the contact details.

He did not respond to that message so I wrote him again on January 7. I
did not hear from him by Janu\ry 11 so I wrote him again and said I felt
ignored. He wrote back soon after and said he was not ignoring me, but
he still refused to give me the information.

I then wrote him once or twice more including one time when I listed
quite a few of my feelings, such as

Underestimated, Untrusting, Brushed off, Stonewalled, Hostile, Less
Cooperative, Resentful, Invalidated, Determined, Unimportant, Powerless,
Suspicious, Unhelped, Unappreciative, Disillusioned, Discouraged,
Power-played, Motivated

After that he evidently began blocking my emails because the next one I
sent was returned to me as being undeliverable.

Most people in the business world do not directly address feelings,
especially strong ones. Most likely Daniel has never encountered anyone
who sent him such a list. He could have taken me more seriously at that
time and realized that my negative feelings were increasing, but he
chose to try to avoid me completely. I believe this was an unwise move
from a strictly business perspective, not to mention a human one.

As I and others see it, feelings are data. Part of emotional
intelligence is processing data intelligently. I don't claim to be
highly skilled at this myself, but I do believe I am better than most at
the first step, which is identifying feelings.

I also believe I have some skills and suggestions which could be of
value to your department and to Toshiba Canada in general. I believe
they are of much more value than the price of one laptop computer.

Evidently others around the world think there is some value in my
knowledge as indicated by my ranking on the Internet in the area of
emotional intelligence. In the past two years my site on EI has been
consistently ranked in the top 3 according to google.com -- one of the
top ranked search engines. You can try a search with google on
"emotional intelligence" to verify my ranking.

I feel confident my ideas are of value to some company. I have not yet
begun to market them formally, but if you are willing, I would like to
begin with Toshiba Canada. We could thereby help each other out. You
could help me get my consulting business started and I could help you
improve your service. As I see it, we can be adversaries or we can be
allies. I prefer to be allies in improving the customer service and
human resource management at Toshiba. Some years ago I did human
resource consulting, but that was before I saw the value in directly
addressing feelings.

I'd like you to take a look at my website (eqi.org) and discuss my
letter with your Human Resource or Training Manager to see if you
believe there is some value in my ideas and potential services. This is
one way this could turn out to be a win-win situation. If you have other
ideas, I am open to hearing them.

Thank you again.

Steve

=========

From: "Trevor Dantas" <tdantas@toshiba.ca>
To: "'Steve Hein'"
Subject: RE:
Date: Friday, 1 March 2002 6:57 AM

Thank you for taking the time to write to us about your experience. Let
me assure you that you as a customer have never been blocked out of our
email system. Our main concern is the operation of your Toshiba
Notebook. Upon your request for support, we communicated directly with
Australia. I understand that you were in Australia at the time and we
assumed that you were contacted in a reasonable fashion by the Toshiba
Australia staff. Please let us know if this actually happened. We are
happy to hear that your unit is functioning and that you are productive
again. I will be discussing your experience with Daniel to further
improve our service delivery.

With regards to creating a win-win situation, I believe our first
obligation is to provide you with support. The idea of engaging with you
as a supplier of services is a business discussion. I will discuss your
proposal with our HR department and let you know if there is an
opportunity for us to engage.

Once again, thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to
keep us informed.

TD

=========

From: "Steve Hein"
To: "Trevor Dantas" <tdantas@toshiba.ca>
Subject: Re:
Date: Friday, 15 March 2002 12:25 AM

Hi Trevor,

Did you get my message from last week when you were out? I forgot exactly
when you were due to return. I realize you probably have a lot of email to
catch up on. I am just feeling pressured by time since I will leave
Australia in a few weeks and I really want to have this resolved before I
go.

Steve
=========

From: <tdantas@toshiba.ca>
To: "Steve Hein"
Subject: Re:
Date: Tuesday, 19 March 2002 8:24 AM

Hi Steve,

Thanks for your patience. I did get your previous email and we do understand
your concerns. I cannot change what has already occured. As I mentioned to you,
I have discussed the issues you had with Daniel internally and I can confirm
that we did communicate with Toshiba Australia and ask them to get involved.

With regards to your request for a unit replacement, I will ask Toshiba
Australia to review their decision and I will ask them to contact you directly.
I will be travelling on business this week and will try to get you an answer
before the end of the week.

We regrett having hurt your feelings and we will try to work with you and
Toshiba Australia to resolve this issue quickly.

TD

=========