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Living in Shanghai is not easy. You often find out something does not work or you were treated badly, you need to know how to complain. My reader sent me the story that his wallet disappeared when he passed he security check of Shanghai Airport. He put the wallet into the X-Ray machine but it didn't come out. The staff their didn't do anything and they didn't want to explain. He had his last choice to write to me to ask about how to complain.
Here are my suggestions.
Judge Type of the Business
Depending on the types of the business, you take different actions.
For private businesses, including those foreign invested businesses, to talk to the manager is an effective way. If the customer, which is you, is not happy, the business owner is losing money. They know that and they will try to fix it.
For state-owned business, well, forget about the idea to talk to the manager. I complained to Cui Gong Hotel, a five star hotel in Beijing for failing to ring my morning call and over charged me, I only got the response from their high level manager that "You know, it is a state-owned hotel. I hate to work here. I know many things went wrong, but there is nothing I can do to fix it. That is the reason I am looking for another job." Ha. It was funny. I complained to Bank of China. I drove there that day only to find out their computer system of the specific business was shutdown already. The Branch General Manager met me and said "I accept what you are complaining and I understand it, but there is nothing we can do. We have complained many time. I suggest you to complain to the head quarter. If you do, you are doing a favor of us." He even helped me on how to reach their complain department. I guess the Pudong Airport case falls into this category.
For specific industry, there are industry wide complain hotlines. For taxi service, call +86-21-63232150. They supervise all taxi companies in Shanghai. For consumer product, call Consumer Protection Line +86-21-12315.
Media Helps
If you cannot find the right channel to complain, try to call media. It sometime works. At least there is someone on the other side of the phone line, willing to listen to what you say. I called many times before (on the always-on-red-light, on the typo-in-Shanghao-metro), and reporters will come to talk with me.
Xin Min Wan Bao: 021-962288
Oriental TV: 021-58702626
East Radio Station: 021-62780792
by Jian Shuo Wang on February 5, 2005 under Living in Shanghai
Hi Jian Wang Shuo,
Funny, I have been writing about the same topic, the level of service, in my last two posts on http://www.chinasnippets.com
By the way, This is not comment spam, one of the topics at the last Shanghai Weblog meetup:)
Posted by: Gemme on February 5, 2005 7:05 PMYou're doing a great work here. I enjoyed visiting here very much. Thanks! So without further delays: http://www.allucher.com/sato_blog/archives/2005/04/post_110.html , amazing 3D effect
Posted by: Steven Armstrong on October 4, 2005 8:12 PMI don't know if it's true, people told me that in China, if a foreigner had an "non legally solvable" problem with a chinese local, the Russian would be here to fix it...
Posted by: Chinese Tools! on August 17, 2006 10:34 PMThere's no point in complaining about anything here. In China, if something unpleasant or bad happens to you, it is because you are a bad person, and you accordingly deserve the ill treatment. To complain in China is to announce to all within earshot that you are an immoral, ingracious troublemaker. On the other hand, if something good happens to you, it is because you are lucky. This is not my personal view; I am merely repeating what Chinese folks have told me, many, many times: "Take it (up the ass) with a smile, or get the f**k out of China."
Posted by: A resident foreigner in Shanghai on March 27, 2009 12:02 AM