I don’t rant much online, but I had a very unpleasant shopping experience the other day that I really have to share…
Now, I’m used to shopping being a baffling ordeal since I live in China and only have a very basic grasp of the language. However it’s usually a straightforward matter, you hand over the money and get your damn stuff, makes sense to me.
I decided to buy a stand alone region free DVD player and found out through some friends where I could get one, a large electric appliance store in a shopping area in Beijing.
I went there and found what I was looking for easily enough, without the assistance of the many salesclerks that I couldn’t communicate with. Little did I know that my transaction was only about to begin a long journey through the intricate system of this ridiculous company.
I indicated my purchase to a clerk who then went to get someone authorized to actually sell the machine, as opposed to advise on purchases. I didn’t have to wait long for the middle aged woman, but she had to fill out some pretty intensive paperwork and stamp it twice, then filing away one leaf of it after stamping that. I was then greeted by the sales advisor again, and she took me to a desk where a grumpy looking man sat with stacks of paper on his desk. I handed him the invoice and he went into the back, I assumed he was getting my machine. No such luck.
He came back with more paperwork, stamped and filed and ready to go, and pointed me towards the counter where I could pay.
I sighed and walked the long trek across the store to pay for the machine (conveniently enough these various departments of operation all seemed to be placed as far away from each other in the gigantic shopping complex as is architectually feasible). I handed over the new invoice, paid and waited while some more paperwork was filed and stamped and then handed over to me, I was of course pointed back towards the opposite end of the store where the grumpy man had sat all along.
I handed him the elusive document and finally, finally he went into the back and brought back not only more paperwork, but the blessed machine.
On my way out I had to stop at the counter and pay some additional fee I didn’t understand and was of course issued the appropriate paperwork, but it was so cheap it didn’t matter anyway.
When I was going to walk out of the store with my purchase, I was of course stopped by some army officers who demanded to see all relevant paperwork and inspect the box to see if they matched. After I had been verified as a non-thief I was at last free to leave with the DVD player.
Now, has ANYONE ever experienced ANYTHING even remotely like this? I was grinding my teeth and laughing at the same time, the situation was completely ridiculous. I have shopped all over China for various things, but if getting appliances is always going to be like this I think I’ll ask someone else to go pick it up for me next time!
My father actually told me this was just “the old way of doing business”.
Pleeaaassee don’t tell me shopping was ever like this in the west!! I want to stay nostalgic about the sixties…
— G. Raven
