Note 7余波不断，三星被指区别对待中国消费者
中国天津——张思童正要把朋友的电话号码存到自己的三星Galaxy Note 7智能手机上去，突然手机开始震动，后冒烟。他把手机扔到地上，并让朋友进行拍摄。
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.
张思童说，三星电子的两名员工在当天晚些时候出现在他的住所，要给他一部新的Note 7手机，以及约合6000元人民币(约900美元)的赔偿，条件是他不公开视频。张思童愤怒地拒绝了。就在几周前，虽然三星已在美国和其他地方宣布召回逾200万部Note 7手机，公司却仍在向张思童和其他中国客户保证，国行版的手机是安全的。
“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.”
“他们说，中国出售的手机没有问题。这是我为什么买了三星的原因，”23岁的张思童说，他曾经当过消防兵。“这是一个欺骗的问题。他们在欺骗中国消费者。”
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尴尬且损失重大的决定，停止生产Note 7，这已经让公司受到重挫，而公司在中国则面临着尤其令人烦恼的问题。周二，中国强大的官方媒体中央电视台批评了三星检测手机的方法，并责问公司，声称手机安全可靠是不是“虚假捏造”。
“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.
央视报道问道，“如果三星继续侵害中国消费者的合法权益，继续拒绝向中国消费者公开其检测过程和样品，谁又能帮助中国消费者找到真相呢?”
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.
这家韩国公司正在为区别对待中国市场付出代价。三星最初曾说，国行版Note 7用不同的电池，是安全的。但上周，在中国出现了手机着火的报道之后，三星终于决定召回中国市场上的Note 7，并在那以后宣布，在全球报废这款手机。
“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.”
“公司品牌已经受到损害，”技术研究公司IDC的中国研究经理金迪说。“三星将很难在不久的将来恢复其市场份额。”
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.”
三星在一份声明中表示，“由于我们没有对产品安全性进行细致的说明给大家带来的不解，我们向广大消费者表达真诚的歉意。”声明说，三星的质量控制在所有的国家都一样。“三星电子非常重视中国市场，从未且永远不会对中国采用双重标准，”声明说。
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.
三星一度是中国市场上最大的手机制造商，中国目前有世界上最大的智能手机市场。在一个厌倦了廉价产品的国家，三星享有高质量的声誉。韩国流行音乐和文化也在中国深受欢迎，让这个韩国名字的公司受益。
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，三星已经成为在中国市场受到挑战的最新全球品牌，其中国对手在质量和价格上都有竞争力。三星在中国的市场份额已受到华为、小米，以及广东欧珀移动通信有限公司(Oppo Electronics)等本地公司的侵蚀，这些公司都制造具有先进功能的竞争产品。据IDC统计，三星在中国的市场份额从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.
中国人的民族主义情绪很高，外国公司对待中国消费者的问题在这里能产生深厚的共鸣。官方新闻媒体曾斥责过诸如麦当劳、肯德基、苹果和星巴克等外国公司，认为它们对中国客户有不平等的待遇。
“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.
“看似对中国市场采取了任何不太优惠政策的外国公司，都很快会陷入一种公关困境，”总部设在北京的迈博瑞咨询有限公司(Marbridge Consulting)的执行董事马克·纳特金(Mark Natkin)说。
“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.’ ”
“处理中国市场问题最成功的公司，是那些明白它们不可能赢得每场战斗的公司，”他说。“有时，为了维持一种愉快的关系，最好只是说‘对不起。我爱你。’”
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.
随着中国消费文化的发展，中国的官方新闻媒体对国内外的公司也有越来越多的批评。批评声在每年3月达到高潮，在每个消费者权益日，中央电视台都会在黄金时段播放批评公司做法的特别报道，还伴有歌曲和舞蹈。
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.
外国品牌在应对来自中国官方新闻媒体的攻击上做法各异。苹果在央视批评其中国保修政策之后马上道歉，从而在接下来的几年里继续在中国市场享有强劲的销售。星巴克的拿铁生意在中国依然红火，尽管央视三年前曾批评其咖啡售价过高。央视对肯德基的母公司百胜(Yum Brands)的供应商做了调查报道后，百胜的中国业务受到了打击。
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.
张思童是中国东北地区抚顺市的一名推销员，他曾是三星的忠实用户。他拥有四款三星生产的智能手机，部分原因是他喜欢三星Note手机的手写笔。
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.
张思童拒绝了三星的赔偿之后，辞去了工作，走上了寻找真相的道路。他与一位回先生一起，为了弄清他们手机的问题，去了几家检测机构，回先生说自己的Note 7也爆炸了。他们的旅行和检测费是央视支付的，央视周二的报道主要是关于他们的。
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.
央视在报道中说，独立实验室无法推定张思童手机的起火原因，因为手机毁坏严重。报道还说，外部热源不是回先生手机着火的原因。
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.
回先生说，三星多次拒绝当着他的面检测手机着火原因的要求，也不回他打过去的电话。
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.’ ”
回先生说，他的手机是从电子商务网站京东买来的，京东的一名代表告诉他，三星已表示要赔偿他烧坏的手机和笔记本电脑，电脑受损是因为手机掉落其上。对此，回先生说：“我让京东转告三星：‘见鬼去吧。’”
