This article is from the WeChat official account:Zhu Si Ma Ji (ID: zhusimaji88), Author: Fox Ann, the title picture comes from: Visual China
Dear Mr. Lei, Mr. Lu, and friends of Xiaomi Group:
Hello!
Today, on behalf of myself, as an ordinary Xiaomi user and future Xiaomi electric vehicle owner, I am seeking your help from the old rice fans who have used and accompanied this company’s products for more than 10 years.
On April 9, 2020, I officially ordered a 98-inch TV from Redmi priced at 19999 through Xiaomi, order number 5200409269347245 in Xiaomi Mall. This is the first time I have purchased a product with a total price of more than 20,000 yuan in the Xiaomi platform and Xiaomi product series. It is not only a recognition of Xiaomi’s previous products and services as rice noodles, but also a digital enthusiast’s affirmation of Xiaomi’s pioneering use of domestic TV panels and Chinese quality.
At the same time,It was also the first batch of seed users nationwide after Xiaomi entered the super-large-screen TV track.
Due to the over-sized size of the 98-inch TV, it took more than a month from placing the order on April 9 to surveying the site and finally completing the installation on May 13. For the smooth installation of the TV, I agreed with Xiaomi to help me find a crane.The hoisting operation is carried out 40 meters above the ground at a cost of more than 2,500 yuan.The above-mentioned shocking photos quickly sparked heated discussions after being shared through social networks. Mr. Lei and Mr. Lu’s Weibo both affirmed my action in the form of forwarding Weibo. Mr. Lei’s Weibo evaluation at the time was: If you buy 98 inches, you will not be low-key.
My friends in the media, public relations, investment, and boss circles all have fresh memories of this incident.
Due to the fact that the hoisting operation of 98-inch TVs was too popular on Weibo and Douyin platforms, the students of Xiaomi Group followed up and found me, asking if I was willing to authorize the provision of photos of the operation as a follow-up use by Xiaomi. Based on my affirmation of Xiaomi and my trust in Mr. Lei and Mr. Lu, I readily agreed to all Xiaomi’s requests for the use of the above photos for promotion. From placing an order for Redmi98 to hoisting and installation,Until Xiaomi authorized the use of photos, the whole process was my voluntary and spontaneous behavior at my own expense. The subsequent official promotion content did not have any form of cooperation with me.It is based entirely on the passion of a rice noodle.
At the press conference of Redmi’s 86-inch TV on May 26, 2020, the photo of the blue sky and white clouds and the crane on Mr. Lu’s background was from the hoisting operation of my house. As a crazy rice noodle who buys a TV regardless of the cost of the broken window of the crane, Xiaomi’s large-screen TV is famous all over the world, and it has since become a good story.
However, this was not the end of happiness, but the beginning of trouble.
After only 38 days of normal use, Redmi98 experienced regional splash screen and large areas of dark spots.
In the case that the replacement panel was invalid, it was decided to replace the whole machine. As a result, the same failure occurred again 146 days later. Xiaomi once again had to replace the whole TV, but only 44 days after the replacement, the TV still had the exact same problem.When Xiaomi asked for a third replacement, I rejected it. After questioning the product design flaw and asking for a refund of one to three, I had to find a friend from Xiaomi’s Beijing headquarters through personal connections. With the assistance of my friend, the engineer team of the manufacturer made a special trip to Hangzhou for on-site inspection and maintenance.
However, less than a year after this repair, the TV still suffered from a large area of dark spots. In the past three years, Xiaomi engineers and after-sales staff received a total of 5 TV repair reports from me, and completed two complete machine replacements and three complete replacements of the back panel. However, the problem still persists.
Although the engineer team of maintenance and after-sales worked hard, the problem still exists today. When I raised the problem again and did not solve it, Xiaomi after-sales refused to continue to provide after-sales services on the grounds that the product was over-insured. According to incomplete statistics, the normal condition of this TV is only about 55% of the overall time since the purchase. During the five maintenance and replacement processes in the past three years,Xiaomi refused to recall the whole machine and insisted on replacing it with replacement repair, which puzzled me deeply.
Until the last repair in November 2022,It is common to learn from maintenance engineers that the same problem with the same model is common.It is not limited to my case. So from then on, I decided to let go of the rice noodle mentality and try to defend my rights as an ordinary consumer according to China’s consumer protection law. During the process of defending my rights, I told my friends about the many situations I encountered when I purchased a Redmi98 TV, and accidentally discovered through overseas friends that there is a clear difference between Xiaomi in China’s domestic and overseas markets:
Xiaomi has not had an official information disclosure announcement of recall and return to the factory in China, and Xiaomi’s official website has never had an information announcement column setting for suspected recall.However, overseas Xiaomi has a special information prompt column, and regularly publishes relevant information about products with safety and quality hazards due to design defects of relevant Xiaomi products.
Information Tips for Overseas Xiaomi
Such as the above-mentioned global recall notice of Xiaomi’s M365 electric scooter being sold overseas with potential safety hazards, there is a clear contrast with the so-called "domestic recall" of the previous 2022 Xiaomi 11 mobile phone with quality problems and only providing replacement panels and extended warranty services in China. The above behavior immediately reminded me of Tesla China, which had disappointed me before.
In the literal sense, replacement repair is indeed a clever after-sales processing method and clever text narrative method compared to recall means. For small-sized, low-tech value-added mobile phones and smart home products in the early years, the labor cost of engineer maintenance is much higher than replacement, so for a long time as a rice fan, I have been praising Xiaomi’s service system.
However, as Xiaomi’s products and technologies gradually moved into the deep water area, more and more high-end product sequences began to be laid. After large-scale, high-tech value-added products entered the market, the consumption-upgraded rice noodles and Xiaomi after-sales services inadvertently changed on the demand side.Rice noodles that buy high-end serial products hope to get reliable and safe quality. Xiaomi after-sales service must also take into account user requests and practical cost issues while providing convenient services.As Xiaomi, which is about to enter the new energy vehicle track, and as a rice noodle who is watching with coins, I can’t help but ask Mr. Lei four questions:
Finally, thank you for taking the time to read my letter in your spare time. Although the current situation of rights protection is very difficult, it may be fruitful after suffering and tossing, because I firmly believe in the famous saying – "always believe that good things are about to happen".
Looking forward to your reply from Mr. Lei.
One Hangzhou Rice Noodles
Attached: Redmi98 rights protection time series
On June 20, 2020, the first after-sales warranty was provided to Xiaomi 38 days after the installation was completed. The 98-inch TV had the problem of frequent regional splash screens. After remote assistance from engineers, the software settings and function key operation resets were invalid, and the after-sales service said it was waiting for the company’s material accessories to arrive.
On July 2, 2020, the Xiaomi engineer team carried out the first door-to-door dismantling and installation, and replaced several panels on the back of the TV. After the power-on test was successful, the after-sales service was completed. Unexpectedly, in the early morning of the next day, the TV flashed again. After giving feedback to the after-sales service, the after-sales service had to report to the leader.
On July 8, 2020, Xiaomi informed the after-sales service that the TV would be replaced and told to cancel the maintenance order. After a few days of confirmation, the familiar crane, the familiar onlookers, and the familiar 40-meter broken window operation happened again, but this time compared to the last hot search, the onlookers found a TV that was taken away from a height of 40 meters.
On December 1, 2020, the regional flash screen of the new Redmi 98-inch TV was again replaced. The difference is that the position of the regional flash screen has changed from the bottom left to the bottom right. At the same time, there are also multiple black shadow blocks on the TV(Disappears after reboot, but will still appear later.)…
On December 7, 2020, the after-sales service conveyed that the application for the second replacement of the 98-inch TV set had been approved. For the first time, I raised doubts about the replacement repair treatment method, but the after-sales service said that the 98-inch TV set was repaired on the spot, so it could only be replaced.
On December 25, 2020, the Xiaomi engineer team carried out the second replacement, which was still a hoisting operation. I said that the two replacement and hoisting were the limit of my tolerance for Xiaomi products, and I don’t want another one.
On February 7, 2021, the second replacement of the 98-inch TV failed again, causing a large area of dark spots to continuously expand, affecting normal use.
On February 9, 2021, the after-sales service expressed whether to accept the third replacement, but I rejected it. At that time, two plans were proposed: 1. Refund one to three according to the elimination insurance, and recycle this paranormal TV. 2. In the case of no replacement, the cause of the TV failure must be found and repaired.
On February 22, 2021, the after-sales service conveyed the leader’s meaning: either return it or change it. The 98-inch TV did not refund one to three, and the door-to-door maintenance was said.I had to contact my friends at Xiaomi headquarters in Beijing through my identity as a media person other than an ordinary user, and directly give peer-to-peer feedback to the executives of the Redmi team, expressing my willingness and determination to solve the problem, hoping to end the torture before the arrival of 315.
On February 24, 2021, a team of experts from the Redmi factory in Jiangsu drove hundreds of kilometers to Hangzhou. They conducted tests and inspections at my house for several hours. For the engineers who came from afar, I treated them with sincerity. Not only did I smoothly report the problems encountered before to the engineers and put forward some opinions and guesses of quasi-professional users, but I even entertained the technicians of the engineer team to have a hot pot together until nearly 6 pm that day. The engineer team finally came to a conclusion that the wall bracket installed by the TV had been damaged due to the tilt of the installation angle. After the engineers replaced the damaged parts and adjusted the installation wall hanger, the TV returned to normal.
On February 2, 2022, I reported to Xiaomi for the fourth time that there was an abnormality in the TV, and a large area of black shadows appeared. However, due to the severe epidemic in 2022, my community was sealed and controlled soon after due to confirmed cases. The door-to-door maintenance was delayed again and again, and I could only endure the dark spots and wait for the epidemic to improve.
On November 26, 2022, Xiaomi engineers came to the door for the fifth time and replaced the backplane. The engineer said that the previous backplane of this TV was no longer produced, and this time it was the latest model.And informed because my TV has been out of warranty, so this service is a special repair, but there is no next time.
On November 30, 2022, I reported to Xiaomi for the fifth time that the black shadow of the TV still exists, but the position has changed, appearing on the upper side of the TV center. However, Xiaomi after-sales said that it has reported to the leader, but has not received a reply so far.
As of March 15, 2023, the Redmi 98-inch TV has not been repaired.
This article is from the WeChat official account:Zhu Si Ma Ji (ID: zhusimaji88)Author: Fox Ann
