My brother Arvind having had no assistance from the Samsung Chennai team finally wrote a letter to a local paper giving the history.
What transpired subsequently is reproduced below in a follow up letter that he wrote.
“Sirs.
I wrote a letter to your paper which you had published on17th January.
Obviously, some one higher up In Samsung had read that letter, and realised the damage caused by it to their name. On the 18th, I was contacted by them and was assured that a replacement oven would be sent to me by the dealer from whom I had purchased the oven. They trotted out some lame excuses for the delay in replacing.
Today, a new oven was sent to me. I owe this entirely to the publishing of my letter by your paper.
Besides the replacement, I received a few phone calls from similar disgruntled customers of Samsung with similar complaints. I suggested that they write to you, as I had done. But, before doing so, they seem to have contacted the dealers from whom they bought their appliances, and threatened to write to you, citing my letter to you. the dealers, invariably, stirred into action, and requesting them to give them a few days time, got the replacements done.
You had posed a question yesterday, to your readers, of the efficacy of publishing such letters. Well, here is your answer.
You had also asked about the reader’s views on editing their letters. As long as the gist of the letter is intact, you are at liberty to edit a long winded letter to a short one, keeping other legalities in mind.
I once again thank you.”
What a pity that action is taken only when customers write or threaten to write to local news papers!