Note 7余波不斷，三星被指區(qū)別對待中國消費者

TIANJIN, China — Zhang Sitong was saving a friend’s phone number on his Samsung Galaxy Note 7 smartphone when it started to vibrate and smoke. He threw it on the ground and told his friend to start filming.

中國天津——張思童正要把朋友的電話號碼存到自己的三星Galaxy Note 7智能手機上去，突然手機開始震動，后冒煙。他把手機扔到地上，并讓朋友進行拍攝。

Two employees from Samsung Electronics showed up at his house later that day, he said, offering a new Note 7 and about $900 in compensation on the condition that he keep the video private. Mr. Zhang angrily refused. Only weeks before, even as Samsung recalled more than two million Note 7s in the United States and elsewhere, the company had reassured him and other Chinese customers that the phone was safe.

張思童說，三星電子的兩名員工在當天晚些時候出現(xiàn)在他的住所，要給他一部新的Note 7手機，以及約合6000元人民幣(約900美元)的賠償，條件是他不公開視頻。張思童憤怒地拒絕了。就在幾周前，雖然三星已在美國和其他地方宣布召回逾200萬部Note 7手機，公司卻仍在向張思童和其他中國客戶保證，國行版的手機是安全的。

“They said there was no problem with the phones in China. That’s why I bought a Samsung,” said Mr. Zhang, a 23-year-old former firefighter. “This is an issue of deception. They are cheating Chinese consumers.”

“他們說，中國出售的手機沒有問題。這是我為什么買了三星的原因，”23歲的張思童說，他曾經(jīng)當過消防兵。“這是一個欺騙的問題。他們在欺騙中國消費者。”

Samsung, already reeling from its embarrassing and expensive decision last week to kill the Note 7, has a particularly vexing problem in China. On Tuesday, China’s powerful state-run broadcaster, China Central Television, or CCTV, criticized the way Samsung tested its phones and asked whether its claims that the phones were safe and reliable were “fabricated falsehoods.”

三星上周做出了令其尷尬且損失重大的決定，停止生產(chǎn)Note 7，這已經(jīng)讓公司受到重挫，而公司在中國則面臨著尤其令人煩惱的問題。周二，中國強大的官方媒體中央電視臺批評了三星檢測手機的方法，并責(zé)問公司，聲稱手機安全可靠是不是“虛假捏造”。

“If Samsung continues to violate the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese consumers and continues to refuse to make public the samples used in its testing process as well as the process itself, who would be able to help Chinese consumers find the truth?” the CCTV report said.

央視報道問道，“如果三星繼續(xù)侵害中國消費者的合法權(quán)益，繼續(xù)拒絕向中國消費者公開其檢測過程和樣品，誰又能幫助中國消費者找到真相呢?”

The South Korean company is paying a price for treating China differently. Samsung initially said the Chinese version of the Note 7 had a different battery and was safe. But last week, after reports in China of phones catching fire, it finally recalled the Note 7 there before it scrapped the phone globally.

這家韓國公司正在為區(qū)別對待中國市場付出代價。三星最初曾說，國行版Note 7用不同的電池，是安全的。但上周，在中國出現(xiàn)了手機著火的報道之后，三星終于決定召回中國市場上的Note 7，并在那以后宣布，在全球報廢這款手機。

“The brand has been damaged already,” said Di Jin, research manager in China for IDC, a technology research firm. “It will be really hard for Samsung to regain its market share in the near future.”

“公司品牌已經(jīng)受到損害，”技術(shù)研究公司IDC的中國研究經(jīng)理金迪說。“三星將很難在不久的將來恢復(fù)其市場份額。”

In a statement, Samsung said it “would like to apologize for any misunderstandings this may have caused the Chinese consumers due to an unclear communication in the process.” It said its quality control was the same in all countries. “To Samsung, China is one of the most important markets and a crucial destination for foreign investment,” it said. “Samsung never holds a double standard against them.”

三星在一份聲明中表示，“由于我們沒有對產(chǎn)品安全性進行細致的說明給大家?guī)淼牟唤?，我們向廣大消費者表達真誠的歉意。”聲明說，三星的質(zhì)量控制在所有的國家都一樣。“三星電子非常重視中國市場，從未且永遠不會對中國采用雙重標準，”聲明說。

Samsung was once the top phone maker in China, which is now the world’s largest smartphone market. It enjoyed a reputation for quality in a country weary of cheap products, as well as the benefit of a Korean name in a country that adores Korean pop music and culture.

三星一度是中國市場上最大的手機制造商，中國目前有世界上最大的智能手機市場。在一個厭倦了廉價產(chǎn)品的國家，三星享有高質(zhì)量的聲譽。韓國流行音樂和文化也在中國深受歡迎，讓這個韓國名字的公司受益。

But Samsung has become the latest global brand to get hit by rising Chinese rivals that compete on quality as well as price. Samsung has lost market share in China to Huawei Technologies, Xiaomi, Oppo Electronics and other local companies making competitive gadgets with advanced features. The South Korean company’s market share dropped to less than 7 percent in the second quarter of this year from nearly 19 percent in 2013, according to IDC.

但是，三星已經(jīng)成為在中國市場受到挑戰(zhàn)的最新全球品牌，其中國對手在質(zhì)量和價格上都有競爭力。三星在中國的市場份額已受到華為、小米，以及廣東歐珀移動通信有限公司(Oppo Electronics)等本地公司的侵蝕，這些公司都制造具有先進功能的競爭產(chǎn)品。據(jù)IDC統(tǒng)計，三星在中國的市場份額從2013年的近19%下降到今年第二季度的不到7%。

The treatment of Chinese consumers by foreign firms is an issue that resonates in a country where nationalistic sentiment runs deep. The state news media has vilified foreign brands such as McDonald’s, KFC, Apple and Starbucks for what they perceive as unequal treatment of Chinese customers.

中國人的民族主義情緒很高，外國公司對待中國消費者的問題在這里能產(chǎn)生深厚的共鳴。官方新聞媒體曾斥責(zé)過諸如麥當勞、肯德基、蘋果和星巴克等外國公司，認為它們對中國客戶有不平等的待遇。

“Foreign companies who appear to employ any less favorable policy for the China market can quickly find themselves waist-deep in a P.R. quagmire,” said Mark Natkin, the managing director of Marbridge Consulting, an advisory firm based in Beijing.

“看似對中國市場采取了任何不太優(yōu)惠政策的外國公司，都很快會陷入一種公關(guān)困境，”總部設(shè)在北京的邁博瑞咨詢有限公司(Marbridge Consulting)的執(zhí)行董事馬克·納特金(Mark Natkin)說。

“Those who have navigated the Chinese market most successfully are the companies that have understood they can’t win every battle,” he said, “and that sometimes, to maintain a happy relationship, it’s better just to say: ‘I’m sorry. I love you.’ ”

“處理中國市場問題最成功的公司，是那些明白它們不可能贏得每場戰(zhàn)斗的公司，”他說。“有時，為了維持一種愉快的關(guān)系，最好只是說‘對不起。我愛你。’”

The official news media in China has become increasingly critical of both foreign and domestic companies as China’s consumer culture has grown. The push culminates each year in March, when CCTV takes on companies for their practices as part of Consumer Rights Day in a prime-time special complete with song-and-dance routines.

隨著中國消費文化的發(fā)展，中國的官方新聞媒體對國內(nèi)外的公司也有越來越多的批評。批評聲在每年3月達到高潮，在每個消費者權(quán)益日，中央電視臺都會在黃金時段播放批評公司做法的特別報道，還伴有歌曲和舞蹈。

Foreign brands have a mixed track record dealing with attacks from the official Chinese news media. Apple apologized after CCTV criticized its warranty policies but went on to enjoy strong sales in the following years. Starbucks continues to move lattes there at a brisk pace despite CCTV’s criticism of its pricing three years ago. But KFC’s parent, Yum Brands, took a hit after CCTV scrutinized its suppliers.

外國品牌在應(yīng)對來自中國官方新聞媒體的攻擊上做法各異。蘋果在央視批評其中國保修政策之后馬上道歉，從而在接下來的幾年里繼續(xù)在中國市場享有強勁的銷售。星巴克的拿鐵生意在中國依然紅火，盡管央視三年前曾批評其咖啡售價過高。央視對肯德基的母公司百勝(Yum Brands)的供應(yīng)商做了調(diào)查報道后，百勝的中國業(yè)務(wù)受到了打擊。

Mr. Zhang, a salesman in the city of Fushun, in northeastern China, was a Samsung loyalist. He has owned four smartphones made by the company, in part because of the pen-type stylus that comes with its Note models.

張思童是中國東北地區(qū)撫順市的一名推銷員，他曾是三星的忠實用戶。他擁有四款三星生產(chǎn)的智能手機，部分原因是他喜歡三星Note手機的手寫筆。

After he rejected the offer from Samsung, Mr. Zhang quit his job and hit the road. He joined up with Hui Renjie, another man who said his Note 7 had also blown up, to visit laboratories to figure out the problem with their phones. The trip and the testing were paid for by CCTV, which featured the two in Tuesday’s report.

張思童拒絕了三星的賠償之后，辭去了工作，走上了尋找真相的道路。他與一位回先生一起，為了弄清他們手機的問題，去了幾家檢測機構(gòu)，回先生說自己的Note 7也爆炸了。他們的旅行和檢測費是央視支付的，央視周二的報道主要是關(guān)于他們的。

In the report, CCTV said an independent lab could not determine the cause of the fire that consumed Mr. Zhang’s phone. It said an external heat source was not responsible for the fire that destroyed Mr. Hui’s phone.

央視在報道中說，獨立實驗室無法推定張思童手機的起火原因，因為手機毀壞嚴重。報道還說，外部熱源不是回先生手機著火的原因。

Mr. Hui said Samsung had declined his repeated requests to conduct an investigation into the cause of his phone catching on fire in his presence and had ignored his calls.

回先生說，三星多次拒絕當著他的面檢測手機著火原因的要求，也不回他打過去的電話。

According to Mr. Hui, a representative from the e-commerce site JD.com, where he had bought his phone, told him that Samsung had offered to compensate him for his burned phone and laptop, which he had ruined after throwing his phone on it. Mr. Hui, in response, said, “I told JD to pass this message to Samsung: ‘Go to hell.’ ”

回先生說，他的手機是從電子商務(wù)網(wǎng)站京東買來的，京東的一名代表告訴他，三星已表示要賠償他燒壞的手機和筆記本電腦，電腦受損是因為手機掉落其上。對此，回先生說：“我讓京東轉(zhuǎn)告三星：‘見鬼去吧。’”