HP faces raft of complaints in China
By Kathrin Hille in Beijing
Chinese lawyers have filed a complaint on behalf of more than 170 consumers against Hewlett-Packard, requesting that the Chinese government order a recall of allegedly faulty notebook computers.
file a complaint: 投诉, 向… 投诉; file a lawsuit against HP 则是起诉惠普。 例如,The 400 consumers will file a suit with a US court and asked HP to recall the faulty HP computers and compensate them. 400个中国消费者将在美起诉HP, 要求HP召回问题电脑,并赔偿他们。 更多例句请参考:http://17bdc.com/voc/ex/2617/
allegedly: 据说是。 这是外国新闻媒体经常使用的一个词语, 表示我不能确证, 但已经有报道这么说。 allegedly faulty notebook computers 据说有质量问题的电脑。
The move is the first time the world’s largest PC brand has faced organised action from overseas consumers.
这是惠普遭遇的第一次来自美国之外有组织的消费 者的对抗和投诉。
It is a sign that shoppers in the world’s most populous market are increasingly aware of their consumer rights and more willing to fight for them. The complaint, seen by the Financial Times, was delivered to the General Administration for Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) on Monday.
aware of: 意识到。 这句话的意思是,这象征着世界上最大的买家(中国消费者)开始越来越意识到自己的消费权利,并且愿意为自己的权利而抗争。 aware 有比较多的意思,有时候也表示知情,知道。 例如,HP says Fiorina was not aware of alleged bribes. HP声明菲奥莉娜(前 HP首席执行官)此前并不知道报道中的贿赂情况。 (这里指欧洲调查惠普员工在俄国和欧洲收受贿赂的情况。链接)大家又一次看到了alleged的使用,这个词语在英文的报道中广泛使用,值得学习啊。
AQSIQ: 国家质量监督检验检疫总局,简称质检总局。 如果下次你要想翻译, 又记不起来, 不妨记一下这个缩写, 不过缩写也念不来。
质检总局近年来问题不断,针对笔记本在中国依然 没有出台召回政策,和它的名字一样,效率可见一斑。
It requests that the quality watchdog investigate the quality of HP notebooks and order the company to buy back or exchange allegedly faulty machines bought by the plaintiffs and to compensate them for losses. It also calls for AQSIQ to request a recall of the notebooks.
Laweach, a not-for-profit website that helped organise laptop users for the case, said Chinese buyers of certain HP laptop computers sold since 2007 had faced malfunctioning screens and overheating problems on a massive scale.
watchdog: 直译是看门狗。 这里当然是指监管机构, 意思是忠实的看门人。 至于是否忠实, 这个不影响这里是否应当使用watchdog.
buy back: 回购。 是一个资本市场上的常见动作,指公司从投资人手中回购股份, 用在这里指要求惠普召回有问题的电脑。 召回一般用recall. 例如, Consumers should immediately remove the recalled battery from their notebook computer and contact HP to determine if their battery is included in the recall and to request a free replacement battery. 消费者应当立即从笔记本上卸下待召回的电池,然后联系惠普,看自己电池是不是属于召回的列表中,并要求惠普更换一个免费的电池给自己。
The complaint said the problems were due to faulty graphics cards produced by Nvidia, a chipmaker which supplies several PC makers with this component.
In July 2008, Nvidia publicly acknowledged quality problems with some graphics cards and announced it was paying PC makers to deal with resulting problems.
The complaint said that although HP had offered an extension of warranty periods for some notebook models, that was not a thorough solution to the problem.
“We have also noticed that HP in the US offered consumers extended warranty periods for even more models and compensated them for transport costs, but in China, it has not made a statement or offered services, and openly discriminated against Chinese consumers,” the complaint said.
transport costs: 运输成本,也就是邮寄费用。 就像卓越的书是免费的,我们可以说, The trasport fee is included in the payment for the books. 实际上,在美国,惠普会补偿消费者将产品送修的开销,而在此类待遇和中国消费者无缘。
Jiang Suhua, a lawyer at Yingke Law Firm in Beijing, said the group was not taking HP to court because the absence of class action in China meant the prospects for such action were dim. He said he hoped AQSIQ would order a recall, and consumers could then negotiate compensation with HP.
recall: 召回,这个词语在这里出现了,前面有讲到。
AQSIQ has increasingly muscled in on consumer rights. So far this year, in the car market alone, the quality watchdog ordered recalls of two Mitsubishi models, two Peugeot models, one Citroën model and one Chrysler model.
A decision in the HP case would set a new precedent, however, as Chinese law so far has clear rules only for recalls of cars, food products, drugs and toys.
“We hope we can set a precedent and help strengthen the protection of consumer rights in China,” said Mr Jiang.
precedent: 可供参考的实例。 此处文章的意思是说,希望质检总局作出的决定可以为今后类似的事件设立一个标杆,可以推动笔记本召回方面的立法。 下面这句话中:But I’m still sad to see how far HP has fallen. The lamented and long-gone “HP Way” set a precedent for treating employees with respect and delivering the best possible benefits — not seeking to blend into the pack. 但是我仍然很难过的看到HP 正在堕落。 我们惋惜曾经的惠普之道一去不复返,往昔的惠普在尊重员工,为员工提供最好福利的方面在业界树立楷模,而非随波逐流。
HP said it was not able to comment by the time of going to press. AQSIQ declined to comment.
The issue has come to light just as HP announced it would sue MicroJet Technology, a Taiwanese maker of printer ink cartridges, and three other companies, alleging their products infringed its patents.
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HP 于今天早些时候宣布收购Palm, 试图通过收购Palm进军智能手机领域,加入到移动互联网的领域中。 HP对Palm的收购,投资者给出了合适的评价,股价略有上扬。
而作为中国消费者的我们,希望惠普能够重新学会如何尊重自己的顾客。如果这家号称全球最大的电脑公司,却动辄用诸如蟑螂或者机器进水这类借口来搪塞用户和推卸责任,我们有什么理由去购买他的产品呢?