Chapter 90: The “Counterfeit” Outstripped The Imported Originals
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Su Yun? How did she come to be in Chen Jin’s home? Ever since she paid a visit there during the Lunar New Year, she had been coming at regular intervals. She would come at least once a week and would frequently stay over for lunch.
Chen Jin asked his Mom, Why did Su Yun come over to our home so frequently?
He Li had explained that it was mainly for the demands of work. She planned to impart much of her accounting knowledge and experience to her “disciple” Su Yun. He Li would be 51 this year. She would be able to retire in four years, so she had to make adequate preparations beforehand. Therefore, she often used her weekends to personally tutor Su Yun.
Chen Jin had nodded, but was still very doubtful. Well, tutoring is all fine and good, but why do you always drag Su Yun along to go shopping with you? You even drag me along on those shopping trips too.
A few days ago, she even gave him two movie tickets, telling him to catch a movie with Su Yun. She recommended the movie “The Poor of Eastern Hong City” produced by Happy Mala. It was a comedy that was well-praised by many.
Chen Jin looked at the tickets and then turned to look at Su Yun. He felt rather confused. “Why are the two of us going?”
He Li explained, “There were only two tickets left. The movie is for youngsters too so I won’t go to spoil the fun.”
“Mom, you are young too, why can’t you go to see the movie? I’ve been exhausted recently so I plan to rest early. It’s better for the two of you to watch the movie.”
“Son, it’s because you are tired. That’s the reason why you need to watch a movie to relax.” After He Li persuaded him in every way she could, she finally got the two of them out of the house. She sneaked a meaningful glance to Su Yun that caused Su Yun’s face to blush.
Chen Jin impatiently went to watch the movie. The movie was indeed good. Su Yun, who was sitting beside him, remained quiet and did not talk much. She gave off an air of being sn.o.bbish and cold, but Chen Jin rather liked it. He disliked girls that were chatty and too clingy. An intangible sense of distance and a gentle and quiet personality. He thought those traits were pretty good. Slowly, he became accustomed to Su Yun’s presence.
Never once did he think that he might have fallen into his mother’s brilliant trap.
…
After understanding that Xing Hai Technologies had fallen into a very troublesome situation, Su Yun could not help but ask, “Will there be too much trouble? The rumors on the internet are too wicked. Even if there were a few issues with quality, they can call the after-sales service for maintenance and repair. If it was really impossible, they can just ask for a refund. Why cause such a big fuss?” She had taken a look at the related news. The comments were filled with calls for punitive measures to be taken. Messages such as “Unscrupulous and dishonest merchant – close down!” were left all over the internet. It caused her heart to tremble in fear. How would Xing Hai Technologies deal with this?
Chen Jin looked at her. “I’ll let you do some corrections. Since the first day of sales, 1,500,000 units of Wa-wah robots have been sold. Of those, there were a total 23 customers who responded that there were faults. After-sales staff from Xing Hai Technologies resolved those issues within 24 hours. Before yesterday, there was not a single customer who requested a refund. It’s because they know that they can earn a few thousand dollars by selling them to the scalpers instead. We should ask this – If the Wa-wah robot had a substandard quality, how did it come to enjoy such a good word-of-mouth reputation? If product quality was not important to Xing Hai Technologies, why would we waste the time and energy to build an excellent after-sales system so as to provide a better after-sales service to the customers? The fact is that it’s slander, this is a despicable smear campaign! The number of hits have exceeded 500 by far. Maybe they’ve already reached a count in the tens of millions. This would satisfy the condition for one to be sentenced to prison for three years! Once the number of hits have exceeded 50,000,000 and caused an enormous impact, one could even be sentenced to five years or more! Depending on the situation, Xing Hai Technologies might even hold the sword of the law!”
“Oh…” Su Yun’s eyes sparkled with an extraordinary light. “It seems like you already know what to do in response?” She was smart; she could see that he already had a plan in mind! She immediately felt relieved.
…
Somewhere in the country, 10 computer screens were lit up in a mysterious workroom. The sound of people typing on keyboards rose and ebbed in waves, click clack ~ click clack ~!
“Introduce yourself to the editor of the Cape Forums and enlist his help in transforming this post into a premium post and making it viral. It will be pinned for 24 hours. Then, transfer $800 over to him.”
“There aren’t enough page views for this news article and the comments are too little. Refresh the page one million times immediately! Refresh the comment section one thousand times.”
“Have you introduced yourself to the VIPs of the microblogs? There are serious problems with the quality of the Wa-wah robots. Ask for their help in spreading the message.”
“I want you to capture Post Bar, WeChat Friends, Bihu, all of them! Expose the ma.s.s quality defect of the Wa-wah robot on all platforms!”
Qing Huohuo clasped his hand behind his back and walked past each computer unit as he commanded his internet mercenaries to launch a battle. He gained immense satisfaction from this moment. He felt as if he was an emperor who controlled thousands of troops and millions of horses. In the online world, he could move about freely and quickly, directing the movements of his empire. He could let his pa.s.sions soar and cast aside all restraints. n.o.body was his opponent. Those ignorant and stupid netizens were only capable of venting emotionally. They were blind followers without any ability for rational judgement. As such, they only acted as his cheap ammunition, and puppets controlled by his mercenaries. He could easily gather a force that was made up of millions.
He would wait until the situation reached its very worst phase and the government departments were forced to interfere before erasing all traces of himself. He would take the money and leave. There had never been a mistake in his plans.
Moreover, it was an indisputable fact that the Wa-wah robot used inferior counterfeit components! It was only a matter of time before quality issues would appear! Hence, this was not slander, he was just zooming in on the details and exposing the problem before it happened…
After Cheng Yunfeng had transferred $5,000,000 to him, he had immediately taken action by commanding his internet mercenaries. Their work had swept across the online world!
The netizens’ responses were within his expectations.
“Unscrupulous merchant, something that costs $3,000 can only be used for a month at most. Has your heart been eaten by a beast?”
“A domestically produced piece of rubbish counterfeit component only has a production cost of about $10 per unit. My G.o.d, do you want to make profits so much that you’ve gone mad?”
“Xing Hai Technologies is a big liar! They are just doing a one-off business. When quality problems with the product appeared, I couldn’t even reach the after-sales service. Friends; everyone, do not buy the Wa-wah robot from Xing Hai Technologies at all cost!”
“I say, how could they sell it for so cheap? Logically speaking, how can a robot that is worth $10,000 be sold for only $3,000? It’ll be stranger if there was no issues with the quality!”
“Refund! I want a refund immediately!”
“Yes, I want a refund immediately!”
In the face of the netizens agitation and outrage, as well as the tide of public opinion that became increasingly turbulent, Xing Hai Technologies’ response seemed rather placid.
“With regards to the quality issues, we are doing our best to investigate. We agree to a full refund for customers who need to return the items. The situation has been thoroughly investigated. We will hold a press conference on the 28th of April, 10am. We will openly answer all questions related to the Quality Control Process!”
…
There were also some rational observers within the netizen population.
w.a.n.g Xing, an ordinary salaryman who graduated from university not long ago, was prospecting for his future in a third-tier city. His monthly salary was only a little more than $3,000.
Even so, the Wa-wah robot had captured his attention. When the second round of pre-orders had started, he took out the money saved from working for more than two months to hastily buy a Wa-wah robot. His main purpose was to help his mother reduce her burden. She had a serious lumbar disc protrusion and was unable to bend her waist for a long period of time. It was extremely painful for her to clean the house each time.
The Wa-wah robot arrived after two weeks. However, his mother scolded him and complained to him. How could he simply buy something that costs thousand of dollars? Doesn’t he know that he should save the money as a betrothal gift when he marries? But, after using for half a month, even she, who usually nitpicked over cleanliness, had to admit that the robot was really useful.
After the “Quality Control Process Incident” had been exposed, causing a big uproar online, w.a.n.g Xing became doubtful too. Were there problems existing in the Wa-wah robot that he was using?
Armed with a mechanical engineering degree from his university days, he disa.s.sembled the robot using his tools. Indeed, he saw two types of uncertified components. At first glance, he did feel cheated. It was so obvious that those were uncertified counterfeits. The first impression he got from the components was that there must be a problem with the quality.
However, he possessed the rigor of someone who was from engineering, and did not apply for a refund at the first opportunity. Instead, he took those two “counterfeit components” to his workplace. After work, he made use of the company’s equipment to carry out a series of tests on them. The results of the tests were very surprising. The performance capability of the two counterfeit components were not that terrible. On the contrary, they were excellent.
On the night of the 27th, a video t.i.tled “This is the quality of our domestically produced core components” was simultaneously uploaded onto the official website of Xing Hai Technologies and the Taobao shop of the Wa-wah robot, as well as Bilibi Videos and Jingxi Mall.
w.a.n.g Xing clicked on this 20-minute long video. He felt his blood boiling with indignation! The impact test. The video was about the performance capability of the components from four different brands and two different products. How well could they stand up to an impact test? The “counterfeit” component versus the one imported from j.a.pan. What are the results of the comparison? They used the example of the brushless motor. The working lifespan of the “counterfeit” was 1.5 times that of the imported model. The greatest output of the “counterfeit” was 20% more than the imported model. In terms of reliability, the “counterfeit” won! In terms of operational control, the “counterfeit” won!
In the tests of falls, crashes, high temperatures, low temperatures, and the many other tests of extremes that were carried out, the “counterfeit” had emerged victorious in them all.
In all nine tests, the “counterfeit” brushless motor had outstripped the j.a.panese imports.
After watching the video, w.a.n.g Xing exclaimed, “How is this an inferior counterfeit component?! This is a superhuman component, the G.o.d of all cleaning components! This is a hunter that plays the pig in order to lure the tiger!”
The comment section under the video had also broken out in a flurry!