Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Global brand does not mean global service

I'm in the middle of a protracted service debacle because my Mitsubishi dehumidifier has a faulty fan. I bought the damn thing in NZ but have since moved to Australia. As surprising as it might seem, Mitsubishi Electric Australia can't fix it without me having to arrange for parts to be shipped from NZ. Each country builds its own products obviously to different standards. So what to make of this statement from Mitsubishi global:

"The Mitsubishi Electric Group is concentrating its efforts on business expansion from a global perspective in an aim to foster and strengthen operations that will prosper on the world stage. We aim to further bolster our business structure through greater global integration and by tying together our worldwide management infrastructure. Specifically, we will foster manufacturing collaboration between mother factories and local plants..." (emphais added).
What's the point of having a global brand if global service is not available? Are these things franchises? Shits me big time! So much for borderless capital, weightless economies, symbolic analysts, servicisation of manufacturing and all that shite to do with globalisation - all I want is the fan fixed and this seems to require first arranging a new free-trade agreement between Australia and NZ...

At least BDT in NZ is giving me a refund on the motor and have provided excellent service, its on the Western side of the Tasman that I'm getting the run around!

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