Sounds just like my bank… having no end of trouble with them and pretty much the same issue every single time… ask for a manager and they tell you the manager doesn’t speak English, yeah right…
Best thing ever was when I got money transferred via western union from a client once and the girl at the western union counter expected me to sit and wait until western union called her! 
:loco:
Luckily I’m friends with someone at the phone company, so never had any problems there. 
I have had the worst experience with Taiwan Mobile. It all started when my old Blackberry Bold needed a new track bar. Back home, you can easily buy a new one for about $100 NT. Here, they are impossible to find. So I gave it back to them and asked them to fix it. Friday comes and I get a phone call saying to not pick it up until Monday. They couldn’t tell me why.
Monday comes and they called and said it would cost $5000 to fix. I asked what was wrong that it would cost $5000. They had no idea. I told them to call me back once they find out.
Tuesday, I get no phone call so I call them back. No manager on duty.
Wednesday, they call me back, but only with information that it would cost $5000 to repair. No other info.
Thursday, they finally tell me: there seems to be some moisture in the screen that MIGHT cause it to break later. I reply I just want the ball fixed. They say it is fixed and will ship it back to the store tomorrow.
A week later (not the next day), it’s available for me to pick up.
I may have mixed up certain days, but you get the gist of the story. I FINALLY talked them into discounting the time I did not have my phone. BUT it NEVER showed up on my bill. They are ignorant of it when I call.
What’s more interesting: my data card broke for the internet. I took that in and they seemed to have lost it for a few days. Now, when I go into the store to ask about it, they seem to have no idea about it. I have given up.
The only reason I am still with them is they carry Blackberry products. Otherwise, their coverage seems mediocre and their service has been REALLY below poor. There is one guy who works late at night at their call center that is fantastic. He needs to be running the company. He is limited in what he can actually do, though. Too bad. He’s the only one with a decent head on his shoulders.
What I hate is “foreigner invisibility syndrome”. Yes, I know I’m big and scary, and I might speak English…the horror! But that doesn’t give you the right to simply pretend I haven’t been standing in front of the register for three minutes, and go on and take all the Taiwanese customers who are behind me before you wait on me. I admit to having a poor attitude about this, but when it happens I often comment to the nearest Taiwanese, “Gosh, I hate it when we foreigners suddenly go all transparent and can’t be seen.”
I can totally 100% relate to that. That is a great phrase for it as well. Totally spot on 
Parkview hotel in Hualien…
I called there today to book eight rooms for when my family gets here in May (or at least see what it costs in order to compare it to other hotels). So wanting do this in English (my Chinese is ok but I want to get everything correct without any misunderstands), I called the hotel and asked to book some hotel rooms.
First lady asked me to hold, and transferred me to someone else.
Second lady asked me to hold, and transferred me to someone else.
Third person was a guy he asked me to hold, and transferred me to someone else.
The forth person was a girl (I kid you not she sounded like she was 14) when I told her I wanted to book some hotel rooms all I got was a “uhh”, so I explained that I want to book 8 hotel rooms on May first, the response was “mmm ni hao” so I said “Yes, I Would Like To Book Some Hotel Rooms” (slow and clear so she would understand this time the response was “(pause) hotel (pause)” I got upset and said “suanle (算了)” and hung up.
Then I called Fullon hotel and book my rooms in English, no problem what so ever…
Hahaha, they’re playing pass the foreigner 
Had that happen a few times when I call companies looking for specific people…
Great fun and no-one seems to grasp what you’re after even if you say the persons name.
Oh, my bank does that as well, which I really hate as I’m calling an extension where they’re supposed to speak English…
If they don’t have the English skills it is hard to blame them. It is usually much easier in Chinese. I deal with my credit card provider on their hotline quite often, pretty good once I can get through to them and always very polite. I’ve had my notebook fixed by Benq before and the engineer personally called me a couple of times to offer solutions on fixing the issue. Banks do not have poor customer service per se but their procedures are very cumbersome and some banks are stripped down versions of banks, you need to go to the larger bank outlets to get better service.
Being based in Taichung now I noticed there is a bit of a different culture here than up North. Ideas of time keeping are completely foreign, so nobody ever turns up at exactly the time they are expected, or they say they will drop by during the afternoon or morning…and maybe they will drop by or maybe not. That’s the most frustrating aspect for me. SOme of the taxi drivers have a poor attitude compared to Taipei also even though they earn more per customer here (they complain a lot), although I never liked taxi drivers pretty much anywhere. Shops only open at 10 or 11am. General attitude to everything is more laid back. ?Many places are closed on Sundays. It’s surprisingly different than Taipei.
[quote=“headhonchoII”]If they don’t have the English skills it is hard to blame them. It is usually much easier in Chinese. I deal with my credit card provider on their hotline quite often, pretty good once I can get through to them and always very polite. I’ve had my notebook fixed by Benq before and the engineer personally called me a couple of times to offer solutions on fixing the issue. Banks do not have poor customer service per se but their procedures are very cumbersome and some banks are stripped down versions of banks, you need to go to the larger bank outlets to get better service.
Being based in Taichung now I noticed there is a bit of a different culture here than up North. Ideas of time keeping are completely foreign, so nobody ever turns up at exactly the time they are expected, or they say they will drop by during the afternoon or morning…and maybe they will drop by or maybe not. That’s the most frustrating aspect for me. SOme of the taxi drivers have a poor attitude compared to Taipei also even though they earn more per customer here (they complain a lot), although I never liked taxi drivers pretty much anywhere. Shops only open at 10 or 11am. General attitude to everything is more laid back. ?Many places are closed on Sundays. It’s surprisingly different than Taipei.[/quote]
Ya I have always prefered Taipei to Taichung apart from the Beetle Nut girls who win hands down in Tai Chung. They are always happy to serve me.
Sounds just like my bank… having no end of trouble with them and pretty much the same issue every single time… ask for a manager and they tell you the manager doesn’t speak English, yeah right…
Best thing ever was when I got money transferred via western union from a client once and the girl at the western union counter expected me to sit and wait until western union called her! :loco:
Luckily I’m friends with someone at the phone company, so never had any problems there. [/quote]
Hey LostSwede.
The manager at my bank was horrible. I had my ID stolen in Taiwan (long story), and so my ATM card was also stolen. I said I needed to get a new one and she made it her mission to ensure everyone in the bank knew not to give me a new one until I showed them a passport, even though everyone in the bank knew who I was. The passport was also stolen and I needed to withdraw money to get it, and they wouldn’t give me money until I showed them a passport :fume:
Everyone in the bank was afraid of her, but one teller stuck his neck out and gave me a few thousand NT from my account on the side.
I have other stories regarding phone companies and others, but I won’t go there 
I changed branches within the same bank and the service was like night and day.
So yes, I can believe your story, as some of the things that are done are pretty outrageous.
[quote=“Puppet”]I have had the worst experience with Taiwan Mobile. It all started when my old Blackberry Bold needed a new track bar. Back home, you can easily buy a new one for about $100 NT. Here, they are impossible to find. So I gave it back to them and asked them to fix it. Friday comes and I get a phone call saying to not pick it up until Monday. They couldn’t tell me why.
Monday comes and they called and said it would cost $5000 to fix. I asked what was wrong that it would cost $5000. They had no idea. I told them to call me back once they find out.
Tuesday, I get no phone call so I call them back. No manager on duty.
Wednesday, they call me back, but only with information that it would cost $5000 to repair. No other info.
Thursday, they finally tell me: there seems to be some moisture in the screen that MIGHT cause it to break later. I reply I just want the ball fixed. They say it is fixed and will ship it back to the store tomorrow.
A week later (not the next day), it’s available for me to pick up.
I may have mixed up certain days, but you get the gist of the story. I finally talked them into discounting the time I did not have my phone. BUT it NEVER showed up on my bill. They are ignorant of it when I call.
What’s more interesting: my data card broke for the internet. I took that in and they seemed to have lost it for a few days. Now, when I go into the store to ask about it, they seem to have no idea about it. I have given up.
The only reason I am still with them is they carry Blackberry products. Otherwise, their coverage seems mediocre and their service has been REALLY below poor. There is one guy who works late at night at their call center that is fantastic. He needs to be running the company. He is limited in what he can actually do, though. Too bad. He’s the only one with a decent head on his shoulders.[/quote]
I knew this one person in Taiwan who had a similar issue. She sent a computer in to be repaired, and they said they would have the parts within the day. Each day that went by, she would call to see what the status was. They kept pushing things forward until she finally called and asked for the manager. The manager conveniently was never there when she called.
Finally she had enough and told them to giver her back the computer so she could get someone more useful to repair it, using similar words. Interestingly enough, they called back the same day and said it was repaired. :loco:
Its funny you bring up the foreigner invisibility syndrome.
I was lost at one point while driving, so I asked in Mandarin for directions from a girl at a gas station. She looked horrified that I would potentially speak English to her . I clearly stated where I was looking to go in Mandarin, and she kept repeating “ting bu dong”. She finally went to get the manager, and I repeated the same request. He understood and told me where I needed to go, and asked her why she couldn’t understand me afterward.
It seems that a lot of people freeze up when they see a foreigner that might not understand Mandarin, and so they will put you on ignore hoping you go away.
[quote=“TheLostSwede”]Hahaha, they’re playing pass the foreigner
Had that happen a few times when I call companies looking for specific people…
Great fun and no-one seems to grasp what you’re after even if you say the persons name.
Oh, my bank does that as well, which I really hate as I’m calling an extension where they’re supposed to speak English…[/quote]
I had started a thread on this earlier. You press 9 for English and someone comes on that doesn’t understand English. :discodance:
I don’t expect people to provide service in my language, but if you put a ‘press 9 for English’ option, you better speak English. 
[quote=“dan2006”]
Finally she had enough and told them to giver her back the computer so she could get someone more useful to repair it, using similar words. Interestingly enough, they called back the same day and said it was repaired. :loco:[/quote]
I couldn’t get my phone back. It was impossible. It was at the mysterious, unknown repair shop that nobody would tell me about.
[quote=“headhonchoII”]If they don’t have the English skills it is hard to blame them. It is usually much easier in Chinese. I deal with my credit card provider on their hotline quite often, pretty good once I can get through to them and always very polite. I’ve had my notebook fixed by Benq before and the engineer personally called me a couple of times to offer solutions on fixing the issue. Banks do not have poor customer service per se but their procedures are very cumbersome and some banks are stripped down versions of banks, you need to go to the larger bank outlets to get better service.
Being based in Taichung now I noticed there is a bit of a different culture here than up North. Ideas of time keeping are completely foreign, so nobody ever turns up at exactly the time they are expected, or they say they will drop by during the afternoon or morning…and maybe they will drop by or maybe not. That’s the most frustrating aspect for me. SOme of the taxi drivers have a poor attitude compared to Taipei also even though they earn more per customer here (they complain a lot), although I never liked taxi drivers pretty much anywhere. Shops only open at 10 or 11am. General attitude to everything is more laid back. ?Many places are closed on Sundays. It’s surprisingly different than Taipei.[/quote]
Yes and NO, if a bank doesn’t have English speaking staff at each and every branch that is understandable, but when a Hotel (a company that is geared towards tourist) doesn’t have English speaking staff then something is very wrong.
Anyone else here had problems exchanging cash into NT$? I’ve had major problems with my bank here not accepting certain serial numbers as they “might” be fakes, they won’t accept folded notes, notes with scribbles on them, notes with a small tear or a missing corner and so forth…
Yet, go and change some money and you’ll end up with exactly those notes, so last time I asked for brand new US$ notes and told them since they expect me to give them brand new notes, I expect the same in return… Well, at least I got what I asked for, but it took 15 minutes…
I really dislike that two faced nature here where they make all the demands and you get to put up with whatever shit they feel like giving you as a customers. I’m sure this doesn’t just apply to foreigners though, as it seems like most banks here are just shit in general.
[quote=“TheLostSwede”]Anyone else here had problems exchanging cash into NT$? I’ve had major problems with my bank here not accepting certain serial numbers as they “might” be fakes, they won’t accept folded notes, notes with scribbles on them, notes with a small tear or a missing corner and so forth…
Yet, go and change some money and you’ll end up with exactly those notes, so last time I asked for brand new US$ notes and told them since they expect me to give them brand new notes, I expect the same in return… Well, at least I got what I asked for, but it took 15 minutes…
I really dislike that two faced nature here where they make all the demands and you get to put up with whatever shit they feel like giving you as a customers. I’m sure this doesn’t just apply to foreigners though, as it seems like most banks here are just shit in general.[/quote]
This actually happens with NT dollar too if you want to move them from one bank to another.
My wife’s uncle asked my wife to help change into some new money for last Chinese new years (she works at a bank), so he cave her a few bunches with a 100k NT in each bunch that came directly from one bank in Taiwan. My wife brought them to the bank and tried to use the ATM/Deposit machine outside the office and usually the machine would not accept 15 to 20 bills from each bunch…
With US Currency, the biggest problem I found was when they introduced new bills (especially the 20) a few years ago.
I think aside from a few “ear problems” every now and then, like many of you have mentioned, my experience with service here has been pretty good. It’s bad where I expect it to be bad (most government offices), passable where it should be passable (Taiwan Bank, 7-11), but where it always surprises me is where the service is totally awesome when I was not expecting it.
There are more, but these are the ones that have always stuck out. They make up for all the times I’ve had to sit in Tainan’s ridiculous National Immigration Agency office and bicker with the iron-rice-bowl bastards.
In my personal experience, customer service with telecoms and banks is better when you choose the English option instead of Mandarin. They don’t seem to have much patience when you are taking 20 minutes idling on the phone trying to squeeze every bit of your brainpower to describe to them their your cell phone is not working or if there is a funny charge on your credit card in Mandarin.
Service at restaurants can be hit and miss at times. I hate having to pay a flat 10% service charge especially when there was either virtually no service or if it was downright horrible…
Haha, interesting topic. A few observations (I live in Shanghai now):