So I Tried Out The 1-For-1 Exchange Policy

Technology hates me.  That is an open secret.  Millions of people may have no problem with a particular product or service.  But when it comes to my hand, things just go wrong.  Friends would point their fingers at me and say: It is you!  Fair enough.  How am I to dispute?  Like the two phones of the exact model I bought a year ago.  One for Cynthia and one for me.  Mine has to die first.

I always return to a particular shop to buy technology related stuffs.  Not only because they allow me to do a bit of bargaining.  But also at the bottom of the pricing sheet it says 30 Days 1:1 Exchange.

This is the first webcam of my life!

One day after work, I drove 20km shopping for two webcams.  One for my front view.  One for my side view.  Yes, that is how much I love myself.  I bought Logitech HD Webcam C525.  Two of them.  And I have bargained the price down by 10%.  That is fair, I think, since the sales assistant has no value add except telling me that most people buy Logitech webcams.

I am sure millions of people have no problem with Logitech webcams.  I did.  Cynthia and I tried out Google Hangout (you don’t think both are for me, do you?!)  One with acceptable quality.  The one was blurry.  The white balance was off.  Could it be the subtle difference in lighting condition?  I put both webcams side-by-side.  The difference in quality was vast and obvious.  Had I bought one, I guess I would accept either one as it was.  But I bought two.

I have tried re-installing driver and software, swapping the webcams from the two computers of ours.  Nothing changed.  When I held out a piece of Sudoku newspaper cutting as the yardstick, one webcam was clearly blurry.  Perhaps something to do with auto-focus.  The only thing I haven’t tried was to flash its firmware.  On a hindsight, had I done that and purposely killed the webcam by interrupting the update, I could have had a much easier job in asking for an exchange.

So I packed the sort-of-faulty webcam back into its original packaging condition.  On the next day, I drove 20km and requested for a 1-for-1 exchange.  I first approached the Filipino.  He is a friendly guy and he has assembled a few of my computers.  I explained my problem, he looked at my receipt and said, “Talk to the blue shirt guy, the one who sold you the webcam.”

I moved deeper into the shop and approached the Blue Shirt Guy who looks like one of the vampire from Twilight Saga.  The better looking one.  Blue Shirt Guy remembered me and I explained my problem.  Yada, yada, yada.  From his expression, I could almost mind-read him saying, “Hold on a sec.  Let me get you a new one.”

In reality, he said, “Let me talk to my boss”.  His boss looked scary, located at the deep end of the shop.  The most unfriendly looking guy on this floor.  Blue Shirt Guy explained my problem – yada, yada, yada – in Chinese.  Somehow his speech didn’t seem to have the punch.  Therefore I offered my help, put on my charm, trying my best to present my case on why this working webcam has to be replaced.

Then there was whispering between Blue Shirt Guy and the Boss.  Like some sort of argument.  After what appeared as an eternity, Blue Shirt Guy said, “Come, walk with me”.  He led me to his back office operation center, which is a few shops round the corridor.  New computers are assembled in there.  Faulty computers are fixed in there.  As we walked, he explained, “I told my boss we don’t have a computer to test but he insisted.”  He then let out a long sigh.  All these seemed like an extra unnecessary job for him.  I got it.  It was an extra unnecessary walk for me too.

I always bond well with back office guys.  Because I am one too.  After Blue Shirt Guy explained Boss’s request, Back Office Guy protested, “We don’t have a spare computer for testing!”  Blue Shirt Guy concurred, “That is exactly what I said to him!”  Almost too comical.  I would have laughed out loud had my fate not hung on these two’s hands.  Blue Shirt Guy left shortly after the brief introduction and returned to the shop.  What was I suppose to do again?

Casually, Back Office Guy grabbed a newly assembled computer from the ground.  One that I assumed to be delivered to a customer very shortly.  We installed the driver and software, turned on the webcam.  I almost felt sorry to the unknown customer who now has some irrelevant stuffs installed into his or her computer.  Once we started the software, lo and behold, the sort-of-faulty webcam worked almost too perfectly.  The color seemed right and the auto focus seemed fine.  I was dumbfounded.  Without a comparison, it was hard to tell if the webcam was at its finest quality.  I wished I have brought the other one along.

So I stood there, totally awestruck.  And I tried to reason with the Back Office Guy that I wouldn’t have driven 20km had this thing worked perfectly.  We stood in front of the webcam for ages, with me trying to making faces to it from near and afar.  It just worked.  But I could not bring it back because I knew this one was not as good.

What’s next?

The Back Office Guy looked at me sympathetically and said, “I tell you what to say.  You say the image is a bit blurry and I have tested it.”  I repeated the password after him, word-by-word, and he nodded.  I almost wanted to give him a hug when I bid him goodbye heading back to the shop.

The Boss looked too fearsome.  So I approached the Blue Shirt Guy and repeated my password.  He smiled, more than willing to grab a new one for me.  I was pleased and said, “Would you like to call your guy to verify?”  He waved and mouthed: no need.  While he explained this glorious and groundbreaking finding to the Boss, I chitchatted with the Filipino for a bit.  Blue Shirt Guy returned with a white piece of paper and he asked, “What shall I write?”

I suppose he needed to return this sort-of-faulty unit to Logitech with a report.  I repeated the problem – yada, yada, yada – and he said, “Is that all?”  I was unsure how to make the report more dramatic so I nodded.  He passed me a new unit and I bagged it.  Then it was my turn to ask, “Is that all?”  He nodded and I left the shop.

The replacement unit definitely works much better than the sort-of-faulty one.  The same quality level as the other one I have.  Why this inconsistency in product quality?  Now I recall.  I once imported a Logitech Squeezebox from US.  My buddy bought one too.  His remote control worked well with a headphone while mine did not at all.  Perhaps with Logitech, there is a 50-50 chance that you would end up with a faulty unit?

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