Toshiba No-compensation Policy Violates China's Law

Toshiba company's no-compensation policy towards Chinese customers owning its laptops, violates China's law of protecting consumer rights, said a senior official with the China Consumers Association.

``The no-address decision by Toshiba violated Chinese law by depriving consumers of their rights,'' said Dong Jingsheng, deputy secretary-general of the government-sponsored China Consumers Association.

In a press briefing arranged hastily in Beijing Monday, Toshiba company stuck to its ground that it refuses to compensate Chinese customers who have purchased its laptops if they malfunction.

Defects are common to all Toshiba notebooks manufactured before November. The major problem is data loss.

According to Chinese law, Toshiba must notify all Chinese users in Chinese language about its computer glitch, the official said.

``But it didn't, nor did it post such messages on its webpages until the Chinese media reported the matter," he said, stressing that by doing so, "the electronic giant obviously broke the Chinese law."

``The China Consumers Right Association is going to resolutely protect the rights and interests of consumers and will keep a close eye on the development of the Toshiba issue," he said.

Toshiba Vice-President Masaichi Koga told the press conference Monday that the company would not compensate Chinese users as it had in the US because China ``does not have as stringent consumer protection laws as the United States.''

Koga, who arrived in Beijing Monday to deal with the problem, told reporters that its glitch will not cause any loss of data ``under normal use.''

However, the problems could possibly lead to data loss under some extreme conditions when a laptop is overloaded, but the "chances of this happening are slim," he said.

Asked if it was fair to compensate US consumers but not Chinese customers, Koga replied that under US laws Toshiba was obligated to compensate its American customers 1 billion US dollars.

``But in other parts of the world, including China and Japan, we need not pay anything in compensation for damage potential," said Koga. He insisted that Toshiba did not lose its US case, saying the compensation was just an amicable settlement.

Koga said that Toshiba will do everything to help its Chinese laptop purchasers except providing compensation.

Chinese customers have bought more than 200,000 Toshiba laptops.

Beijing-based Internet news provider 21dnn.com reported that some Chinese online computer shops intend to refuse to offer Toshiba laptops to Chinese consumers.

It reported that more than 100 Toshiba laptop consumers from Northeast China have organized a team requesting Toshiba compensation.





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