All Our Customer Care Agents Are Busy at This Moment

It was the second week of August 2024. We realized that the television in our family space had suddenly stopped working. It would start, flash blue for a moment, and restart.

If we left it running for a while, the boot logo would appear with parts of the panel garbled.

This was no cheap, no-name, no-brand “smart” TV—at least that is what the salesperson told us when we bought it. It was a well-known brand.

To protect their identity, I will refer to the brand as Famfung throughout this blog post.

We were surprised, to say the least, to see the Famfung QLED TV failing within less than a year.

At this point, you might be wondering: wasn’t it covered by warranty?

When you live in a country lacking human rights, customer rights are a luxury.

Warranty Card

We reached for the warranty card after we tried a few “turn it off and on” troubleshooting techniques. It had a customer support telephone number on it.

The telephone number belonged to the organization that ran the outlet from where we had bought the TV.

We called them, but they wouldn’t pick up the phone. Their business hour ended at 6 PM that day, and we were calling at 5:50 PM. Fair enough.

We called them again the next day.

They wasted no time confirming that they were not responsible for providing warranty support. They said that we have to contact Famfung’s call centre.

Call Center

I have always wondered why call centres exist: Is it to provide support to customers? Or, to shield the suits from us whinning plebs?

We called the Famfung call centre and told the call centre representative about our situation. He told us that he was extremely sorry to hear that our TV had failed and that a representative from Famfung would be visiting us within a few days to confirm the issue with the TV.

Did the representative visit us within a few days? Of course not. We had to pursue them again for it.

But once they did visit, they confirmed that the panel of the TV had failed and that they would repair it for us. Since the TV was under warranty, we would not have to pay anything for it. And that someone from the Famfung service centre would call us soon to confirm a schedule for the repair.

Are you wondering how soon? So did I. The representative assured me that they would call within a couple of days.

Did they call within a couple of days? Of course not.

They called the next week and estimated that they would repair the TV by the end of the month.

Did they repair the TV by the end of the month? No.

Deaf Ears

I have to admit, Famfung’s call centre representatives are trained well. They can evade questions better than a husband caught with lipstick marks on their shirt collar for the 15th time.

We attempted several times to find out from Famfung’s call centre if and when they can repair our TV. Their unassuring responses were getting frustrating.

After several weeks of contacting them for the first time, they began blaming the unavailability of spare parts for the delay.

And they still could not give us an estimated time of when they will be able to complete the repair.

At one point we requested that if they are unable to source the spare part quickly, they should replace the unit entirely. Their response: “We will convey your request to our appropriate department.”

And that is all they would say.

“Your Call Is Being Recorded”

I spoke to my father about the situation and came to the understanding that Famfung is using their call centre to keep the customer busy while they will take their sweet time to do what they please when they please.

We decided that enough is enough, Famfung must replace our TV unit or refund us the money for the failed unit. And, we decided to start recording our communications with them, with their permission. We also decided that we wouldn’t threaten legal action, but would make subtle hints of it.

Every time I called Famfung’s call centre and a representative would pick up the phone, I would start by gently greeting the person, and informing him that I would like to record the call with their permission. Their flustered reaction to it brought a bit of entertainment in those frustrating times. They would eventually approve and I would begin recording the call.

I explained the whole ordeal to the first person I spoke to and asked him for help.

At one point, I took the opportunity to tell him that “bhokta hishabe amar tto kichhu odhikar acche” in an inquisitive tone. The line translates to “I do have some rights as a customer, don’t I?” where I could have used the word “customer” instead of “bhokta”. But, I intended to use the words “bhokta odhikar” in the same sentence to remind them of the government agency of the same name relevant to ensuring customer rights.

This would not have helped if it was before August 5, 2024. But that would be a different topic to write about someday in sha Allah.

The call centre representative assured me that they would involve their “urgent team” (whatever that means) to resolve my case quickly. And that they would contact me very soon with an update.

They never did.

It was a pattern with Famfung. They never reach out to you with any updates.

Call Center Continues

I reached out to Famfung’s call centre again after a few days.

It was an enlightening phone call. That I recorded with their permission, of course. The last person I spoke to didn’t record some details about the TV so they never escalated it to their “urgent team”.

Nice.

Why Emails are Better

Emails are better because you don’t need to seek permission to record the communication.

And, that’s exactly what I reminded Famfung’s email support team in my first email to them:

I am writing to inform you and document that I have been struggling to get a warranty service for that TV for almost a month.

I wrote in some detail about my entire experience so far and requested that they either replace the failed TV or refund the money.

They responded with some assurances:

• Famfung is always determined and dedicated to achieving satisfaction from its consumers
• I am one of their valuable clients
• They deeply regretted the challenges I was facing
• They have escalated my complaint to our concerned service centre
• They hoped that the relevant department would take the necessary steps to complete the repair service as soon as possible

Did they complete the repair as soon as possible? No.

Did they acknowledge my request for either replacement or refund? No.

Did they contact me about it on their own? No.

Canned Emails

Every time I would write an email to them, I would get similar assurances, but no real answers.

After waiting for a week for them to get back, I emailed them. This time I suggested a deadline for my first option (replacing the TV):

Can you replace my TV within this week (before the end of the day on Thursday, September 12, 2024)?

If not, I request that you refund the money I had paid for this terrible [Famfung] product.

What did I get in response?

We have already forwarded the matter to the relevant authority, and they are working on it. Please be informed that the final confirmation is always given by the service centre. We hope that our service centre will communicate with you directly as soon as possible.

They keep saying that their “service center” would contact me “as soon as possible”. But they never did.

I tried to get the contact number of this “service center” during my phone calls to Famfung’s call centres earlier. But they never provided me with any way to contact their “service center”.

I asked for the same over a short email:

What is the contact number of your “service center”?

What did they respond with? A canned email of course.

I emailed them again saying that their “service center” never contacted me despite them assuring me this for several weeks.

Famfung Calls, Finally

An hour later, my phone rings. A call from an unknown number.

Could it be that Famfung has finally decided to call the customer?

I pick up the phone. Yes. It is Famfung!

Despite my excitement, I do not forget to ask the caller for permission to record the call and start recording it.

The caller, with all due respect, is not as eloquent as the call centre representatives. He admits some of the strangest things during the phone call. I have no idea how Famfung expects to be in the clear, legally speaking, with these details shared with the customer:

• They do not have an ETA for when the TV can be repaired
• They are usually very busy and suggest the customer not expect them to be reachable over the phone
• All this time, when they said that they had conveyed my messages/questions to the service centre, the service centre never really got back to them with any clear responses

And he wasn’t very polite with at least one of his responses. However, that particular response was in English. So I probably shouldn’t complain about it.

But hey! He at least gave me a phone number that I could call to reach the service centre directly.

Famfung Service Center

For the first time during this fiasco, I called a phone number where I was not put in a queue. A human being picks up.

I greet the human, tell him that I want to talk about a TV warranty and request his permission to record the call. He laughs, says that I can record the call, and then assures me that I have called the right place and he will have my case resolved very quickly. I do not trust him.

I start recording the call.

I briefly explain the ordeal I had to go through to get to this point and confess that I am just happy to be able to at least speak to someone from Famfung’s service centre.

He takes the details of my support case and tells me that he will get back in a couple of hours.

And he does.

He tells me that since the spare part for my TV is unavailable and the same model is out of stock they can replace my unit with a newer unit.

And for that, I need to pay BDT 25,000 (USD 200). That is like 20% of what the TV originally cost.

I asked him if I would get a brand-new warranty for this. He says that I would.

I asked him how soon would they deliver it to my home. He says that within 3 days.

I then tell him that BDT 25,000 is quite a lot of money. After all, I was looking for a warranty service, which is meant to not cost any money. He reiterated that I would be getting a TV of the “latest model” with a new warranty for just BDT 25,000. And that for my struggles he can sweeten the deal by reducing the cost from BDT 25,000 to BDT 24,000. “Sales pitch”.

At that point, I told him that I would call him back after discussing this with my family.

I look up the price of the TV on the Internet. And what do you know? The TV is available in the same store where I bought my current failed TV from. And, it costs a mere BDT 3,000 (USD 25) more than the price of my current failed TV that I am seeking a replacement for.

Famfung?

More Like Scamscum

I called that service centre person back and told him about it. He suggested that I should look at other stores and see if the cost is the same in those other stores as well.

I suggest to him that he can refund me the money for the TV, and I can go to that same store where it is giving me the lowest price.

He says that refunding is not an option. I reminded him that a refund would be the only option since Famfung was unable to repair the TV and replace it with the same model.

He said that he would get back to me and ended the call.

I immediately call that TV store to confirm that the price is real and that they have the TV in stock. I keep screenshots of the page where the price is listed.

Saturday

On Saturday morning, the service centre person calls back. He doesn’t sound very happy.

He reminded me that I saw the price on the Internet was a special price and that as a customer I don’t have much clue on how their internal pricing and stuff works. He reminded me that he had made an offer of BDT 25,000 (USD 200) for the replacement and that he had said he would reduce that to BDT 24,000.

And then he said he had talked to his management and they had decided to send me the replacement if I agreed to pay BDT 3,000 (USD 25), which is the price difference I had seen on the Internet. I would also have to pay an additional BDT 2,500 for transportation.

I will admit, I had a grin on my face.

I still haggle a bit. Just for the fun of it.

He reduces the transportation cost to BDT 2,000.

I agree with his proposal on the condition that he will deliver the TV to my home and have it installed on the same day. He agrees.

Take Away

So what had helped with this whole third-world customer support adventure?

Patience: These call centres and customer support representatives, etc are all trained to test your patience. You need to pass these tests. Don’t get angry at them. Don’t threaten them. I can assure you, that you don’t have to try very hard. Because they don’t expect you to be patient at all. And when you are patient, their customer support playbook fails.

Document: When you call a customer support number, 99% time you will be told that your call is being recorded for “training” purposes. Well, you should start recording the call too. And tell them that you are recording the call. Their customer support representatives will tell you all sorts of nonsense that can be useful later on. At least you can play them back later and have a good laugh.

Research: Do your research. I could have ended up paying BDT 25,000 (USD 200) because Famfung failed to provide me with a warranty for a TV I had already bought from them. Remember: Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

Refund: If these companies fail to provide a warranty service that you are happy with, ask for a refund. Money machines hate giving refunds.

Persevere: Don’t give up.

And, I want to remind you that these customer harassment practices are not unique to Famfung.