The year 2001-2002 saw me take up my first ever international stint in Singapore. It was in Singapore when I purchased my first MacBook. I’d owned an iMac prior to this and was already a huge fan of the Apple Mac. The iPhone and other handheld products had not yet been launched and the main play at Apple was computers. It’s not like I couldn’t buy the MacBook in India, however, the configuration I wanted was not available in India.

My Singapore story has been written elsewhere so I won’t belabor that here. You can read more about it here: My Singapore Story.

I’m now assigned to the Singapore branch of my parent organization. This is a one-year assignment at a customer site. High on the agenda apart from the assignment, is to get a hold of the high-end MacBook. This was going to be some serious money (relatively) and I’m shoring up my balance for that purchase. I’ve now got the needed moolah and head to the mall. The Funan IT Mall houses outlets dealing in high-end audio and tech equipment.

I find this Apple dealership (not an apple Store) and I go in and give my desired spec to the owner. Apart from the spec, I also tell him I will buy if he’s able to demonstrate how I can get my MacBook onto a Windows Network. It is still early days of the MacBook and connectivity wasn’t as seamless at it is today. It wasn’t a cinch getting it to connect to a Windows Network. There is this software one needs to run called Dave to achieve not only Windows connectivity, but also to access fileservers and printers on a Windows Network.

The dealer is not too clued in to tech. He realizes that he’s out of his depth and as some people do, he hums and haws and is clearly stalling. He makes a futile attempt to deflect his lack of expertise on to me. He does and says things that pissed me off! Big time! He first questions why I need such a high end spec. He then goes on to question if I can really afford the 9k Sing Dollars for the product and software.

You must understand that I am so excited to buy this new toy and am not exactly pleased at this tone and attitude. Does the guy even want to sell the product? Yet, I patiently say, yes, I can afford it.

He’s clearly unhappy that my insistence is clearly demonstrating his ineptitude. So to deflect the matter away from his lack of knowledge, he says something that tipped the scales and got me livid. He says, “You Indians, have no money and coming to buy expensive laptops!”. You cut me and I bleed Indian, therefore when a person of Chinese origin, a damn vendor gets racist, I am ready to lash out. Chinese and Indians have this history 🙂

I’ve lost it, yet I say nothing. I storm out, cussing under my breath and am damn well determined to not let this kind of insult pass without repercussions.

I head back to the office and trawl the internet, looking for the email IDs of Steve Jobs (no introduction required) and Tim Cook, the then Head of International Sales. I find several ID’s but have no way to determine which ones are kosher. Therefore I wrap a mail citing the whole episode in graphic detail and copy all the email IDs I found. 

In reality I was just venting and just needed to do something to convince myself that I didn’t merely allow myself to be insulted by some insignificant minion. I never did expect a reply.

Therefore you can understand my surprise when I get a call from the then Head of Apple – APAC who goes on to inform me that his bosses Steve and Tim, have asked him to step in and get to the bottom of this glaring example how not to treat a customer.

He’s going to be in Singapore soon and asks to meet me and we do meet up. I give him the spec and he says he will get the order shipped out as soon as possible but, he’s going to need a few days. It was perhaps just two or three days later that I get a call and the MacBook is hand delivered to my office.

I’m elated but wasn’t really prepared for what was to happen next. Not only has my order been delivered in record time, along with all the software requested, but Apple has decided to give me the products as a gift. The APAC Head says, “Compliments of Steve Jobs”. Not only that, all the software has also been thrown in as part of the gift.

When I meet him he goes further to inform me that the dealership in question has been cancelled, because this is not how Apple customers are to be dealt with.

I was blown away, flabbergasted and amazed. Perhaps you can now understand why I am a die-hard Apple supporter and fan. This is how reputations and customer loyalty is built! I’ve narrated this anecdote to so may friends, at events and other speaking forums, as an example of exemplary customer service and retention.

In a previous article I wrote about my interaction with Ratan Tata and how he too, took my issue seriously and stepped in personally to address the feedback from an irate customer. The link to that article is here.

The long and short of this is an important lesson in Customer Satisfaction, about how people at the top don’t take customers’ for granted and how they deal with reputation risk. The other lesson is how as a customer or consumer of goods and services, it’s best to speak up as opposed to just accepting shoddy treatment.