Well, I've been stressing about my wedding to be held in less than three months, and a friend of mine sent a lovely email full of encouragement, which ended with the following remark and picture:

Nothing will dare go wrong. Everyone knows what's going to happen if the bride isn't happy on her wedding day.

On June 19, I bought a pink Samsung NC10 in the States. The unit had a manufacturer's sticker stating that it came with a 1 year international warranty. This is a big deal to me since I'm not usually in the States. If the unit hadn't come with the international warranty, I would not have bought it. (I would have bought a Toshiba netbook since Toshiba has a worldwide warranty, and I've used its service before.)

On October 6, the unit booted, but had a problem with the monitor. It'd sometimes go blank white during boot-up, so that I couldn't see the BIOS or Samsung logo. (This is a very bright white screen, not just going blank.) Also when I adjusted the angle of the monitor, the blank white screen would flicker. At some angles, the monitor remained completely white.

I researched the matter by googling and going to a couple of netbook forums, including sammynetbook.com, and saw that there were many other Samsung NC10 users with similar monitor issues. I decided that it was probably a hardware problem.

So on October 7 at 12:41 p.m. I called Samsung in America. I spoke with two different agents. We've checked VGA driver and firmware. I have the latest version, so we ruled out updated driver/firmware problem. The agent thought it was a hardware issue. He gave me a claim number, but told me that I cannot get my unit fixed until I returned to the States as the warranty is only good in the States.

I explained my situation (the manufacturer sticker promising international warranty, etc.), but the agent said he couldn't help me. He transferred me to another division. The new agent told me I needed to send her a picture of the sticker as a proof. I emailed one to her.

On October 8 at 9:20 a.m. Eastern Time, I called Samsung again as I hadn't heard any status update and I wanted to make sure the picture was delivered. I managed to get the same agent, who told me she'd received my picture and was able to see that the sticker indeed said 1 Year International Warranty. She told me she'd talk with her supervisor and let me know. I never heard back.

On October 9, I sent an email to the agent requesting a status update. She didn't respond.

On October 12 at 10:44 a.m. @SamsungService contacted me. I sent him a detailed email explaining the situation. He responded that NC10 comes with an international warranty and that I should contact Samsung Japan.

So on October 13 (now all date & time in JP), Hero Material called Samsung Japan for me since they do not speak English. They told him to call another number. The new number is for Samsung International Warranty Japan, and I called since they have three language options: English, Korean and Japanese. I chose English, and the service center automated menu said they were too busy to take my call. So I left my number as instructed. No call back. I was very very unhappy — ready to start #SamsungFail on Twitter because I was that upset. (It would've been satisfying, but I'd still be without a working netbook.)

Today I called again. I tried both the Korean and English lines, but they were all busy, so I left my number with both. An hour later, a Korean rep from Samsung HQ called. He was very pleasant, very professional and apologetic. He explained that their system can accept up to twelve digits for phone numbers. Mine is thirteen. So he was missing the last digit. So he tried to fill it in from 0 to 9. Unfortunately the last digit of my phone number is…yes, you guessed it: NINE.

He asked me what was wrong. I told him about the problems, and he said it was probably a defective cable. He said Samsung doesn't have a repair center in Japan, but they'll fix it at the Samsung Repair Center in Korea. He assured me that Samsung will arrange for pickup and delivery and that I don't need to pay for anything. Furthermore, he told me I don't even need to pack it myself. He said FedEx will take care of everything once I hand over my netbook. After taking my address and contact info, he said FedEx will call within two days.

Two hours later, FedEx Japan called to schedule pickup. I asked them to come after lunch, and they said they'll be pick my NC10 up between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m.

W00t!

Lesson learned: Bypass American call centers as much as possible if I need a defective unit serviced while overseas.

Things Samsung can improve on:

• Making sure that their American service reps know what kind of warranties their products have.
• Ensuring that their reps respond to customer requests on status updates.

Things Samsung did well:

• Contacting dissatisfied customers on Twitter to resolve the issue.
• Having great service reps in Korea. (If it weren't for the rep who went above and beyond the call of duty, I'd be launching an FUQ campaign against the company. As it is, I think I may use NINE as the title for a book at some point.)

Based on my experience, will I buy Samsung products again? Yes, as long as they're covered under international warranty.

I'll post an update to this once I get my netbook back from the Samsung Repair Center in Korea.

After years of talking about it on my blog, I've decided to post some pictures of the place. (I went there today to gorge myself…! :mrgreen: )

The place is up on a big mountain in Yamaguchi Prefecture, and it has its own altar. It also has a nice shrine and several stone statues of Buddha, although I have no idea why the small ones wear red hats and bibs.

When I first saw it, I thought maybe it was a baby Buddha and needed some extra…er…help to keep clean or something. Occasionally you see one yen or five yen coin offerings around the mini-Buddhas, but this time I didn't see any. Must be the recession.

This is a water outlet near the Shrine of Vending Machines. It has a huge Buddha surrounded by baby Buddhas wearing red bibs. Again, I'm not sure why the big one isn't wearing a red bib except that maybe it's because he's their father and thus needs to look dignified…? There are three spotlights around him as well, so that he can be lit at night. I've never been up at the Mountain Bandit Shack past four PM, so I have no idea if people worship him or pray to him or anything like that. I'm sure people do pray for good luck at the shrine though (the real one, not the one of Vending Machines).

Now, this is just a thing of awesomeness: the Shrine of Vending Machines. It's a little hard to see, but it's there in the background under the roof. Ever seen one anywhere else? No? Me either. It's near the parking lot, with seven separate vending machines that sell everything from Coke to cold chocolate to hot chocolate to ice cream. One thing it doesn't have is a beer vending machine. Not that the Mountain Bandit Shack doesn't have one of those, too — it does — but it's far from the Buddhas and the shrines. Maybe to show some respect?

Not that you have to go that far. Respect or no, the place has a beer vending machine. How can any hot spot in Japan be complete without one? Beer vending machines are everywhere you want them to be, except maybe at some somber war memorial or something.

And here's me looking around for a table. Guests get to sit wherever they want, so it's important to find a good spot — not too sunny but not too chilly. I look serious in the picture because it's a serious business. And the picture on the right is me wondering, “Is that ours?” every time a waitress walked by with food.

This is our waitress, doing double-duty at the gift stand. (Check out her uniform. Everyone there wears that funky head thing and a black shirt & pants.)

Finally, we get fed! Just look at all the food! My favorite steamed fried rice with veggies and meat and so on, my favorite saucy chicken on a stick and my favorite gyoza! Everything at the Mountain Bandit Shack is extra delicious.

Nom nom nom.

Oh…and we had a visitor. I think he was hoping for some scraps, but alas, there was nothing left for him.

Gomen ne, neko-chan!

My article on how I use Samsung NC10 is up now! Please go to SammyNetbook.com and check it out!

Confidence is the weirdest thing ever. When I was in my early twenties, I was a size 4 but could never wear a bikini because I was too embarrassed at how “huge” I looked. (Because I was not a size 2…I know, I know…misguided youth!) I'm bigger now, but got myself a bikini anyway in a color I like. Figured life is too short to worry about a little bulge here and there so long as my bloodwork looks good (and it does; the doc joked that maybe I should eat more junk food or something). Besides, if anyone mocks the way I look in my new bikini, I can always feature him/her as a villain and/or a weasel in one of my stories.

Interestingly, not giving a damn about what other people think gives me more confidence and a sense of liberation. I'm not sure why I wasted so much of my youth worrying about fitting in. Guess it was just part of the growing up process.

On the writing front, I started the first draft of my new WIP. Much to May's surprise, I'm pantsing this draft. I've never really pantsed. Everything I've written had a clear outline, but I figured why not? Maybe I'll do better this way. I'll never know unless I try.

Oh BTW — Amazon is selling Altec Lansing UHP336 earphones for less than $40 which I think is a great price. I love the clarity and the beautiful sound. I can hear everything, every little base note, the cellos, etc. (I'm a very aural person, and I love listening to music when I write, etc.) The only bad thing is that it highlighted how inadequate iPods are for playing music. The earphone is very sensitive so it picks up every hiss, etc. from your audio unit (should you have a crappy one), and iPods produce the worst static and hiss. (Naturally, you won't notice anything if you use the meh “earbuds” that come with your iPods.) What a disappointment. iPod Touch was the worst even if the wifi off. So if I want to listen to music on it, I'm stuck with earbuds.

P.S. I googled the problem, thinking that maybe it was just my earphones, but actually a lot of audiophiles have noticed the same issue. *sigh*

Recently, I've been slightly stressed about many things. Some of it was writing and some not. I basically let things get to me to the point that I wasn't quite as cool-headed as I would be normally. Things like planning for my wedding, a long trip to the States, etc. all just added up. I'm already going over what needs to be done for the ceremony and the banquet (and thinking about the budget too!) and what to do about our hamsters while we're gone, etc. Oh and let's not forget my wondering what directions I want to take with my WIPs, my family pressure (it's the wedding; my mom's already demanding to know when she can expect her first grandchild), several people insisting on XYZ for my wedding, etc.

Hero Material and May basically kept me sane during the insane time. Jill also helped me see that I'm not alone and that I just need to take a deep breath and communicate. My uber-agent of course was absolutely delightful (and helpful!), and I felt 100% better about everything after speaking with her.

So I want to thank you all for your support and kindness! :wub: