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[JimDunlop2]

[saloc]

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[Nagoyaguy]

Not a video shop rant, but a car shop rant;

Went to a local branch of Yellow Hat (car parts and maintenance superstore) to get some new tires for my car. Picked the size, some new aluminum wheels to go with them, got the discount they are offering this week all lined up. Then, I see a sign above the cash register that is offering a no interest payment plan. Split the price into 12 monthly payments over the year. "Good idea" says I, and I fill out the necessary forms. Total cost of my purchase was about 90,000 yen- not a lot of money, but a zero interest plan sounds good. .

Well, it takes about 20 minutes for the paperwork to go through to the finance company. It is turned down unless I can find a "sponsor" or a "guarantor" for the paper. WTF?!?! I ask if my wife can be the sponsor (she is Japanese and also works) and I got the sucking teeth in return. They would prefer my boss, or my father in law. I asked the sales guy why I was turned down, he didnt know- he says he didnt ask the company. So, I watched as he put the application documents in the shredder.

Half an hour of my life wasted.

Unbelievable. I have been here for 6 years, have 3 credit cards, zero debt, no mortgage, worked at the same place for 5 years, have successfully paid off a car loan already, yet I am not trustworthy enough to be given a set of tires.

And people wonder why the economy here isnt recovering quickly.

[J.]

Two words--predjudice and stupidity. My guess is that these stores are using some fusty old Pre-Meiji era set of qualifications that state that you have to be AN OLD MALE JAPANESE before you are worthy of trust. Notice that the only thing lower (or equal) on the scale of credit-worthiness to a male "foreigner" was a Japanese woman. I wonder if they wouldn't have asked her to get her father or boss as a "sponsor" too? They stupidly lost your business, I hope?

[bshabu]

Same thing happened to my at "Yellow Hat" I have been here for 6 years and have a credit card that I always pay ontime. And yet they refussed me. What the....! The credit card company has no problem giving me money.

[Birdog3344]

That kind of stuff never happens in the States.

[Nagoyaguy]

Of course. I went down the road a kilometre to JMS (James?), got the same tires and wheel set and got a bonus of 8000 yen cashback. The staff was friendly, it took all of 20 seconds to do the transaction.

For all your car service needs, go to JMS!!

[JimDunlop2]

Well, you guys all know me to be first in line to condemn racism or xenophobia whenever I see it on Dave's, but let me play Devil's Advocate for a minute. I'm not saying this is what happened in this case, but sometimes there are all sorts of strange factors at play that we don't see.

I used to work at Future Shop for a while (in Canada) -- that's the Canadian equivalent of Circuit City for you Yanks...

We always had 0% interest promos going on and whatnot. We were also supposed to push the store credit card, as that gets people spending more and making you more money (FS staff works on raw commission only, BTW -- now you know why they're so aggressive when you walk in).

We would process card applications on the spot, for obvious reasons. There were MANY times when I would process an application that sounded VERY much like what Nagoyaguy described (has a Gold card, good job, working for the same company a number of years, etc, etc) and the computer returned a "rejected" notice for credit.

The two main reasons for this were: overextended credit. Doesn't mean you have BAD credit or even that you can't pay your bills -- but the company doesn't like people to have a zillion credit cards. You have a couple of Visas, an M/C, Amex, a Sears card, a couple of other store credit cards and you mention that you have a mortgage and car loan... Badaboom badabing.. There you have it. No soup for you.

The other main reason was insufficient credit. You'd get young guys walking in to buy a car audio system but because they were young, maybe never owned a credit card before, they had no credit history so the computer would also summarily reject them.

There were other miscellaneous reasons why people got rejected... Sometimes I don't think we knew half of it. Although in the case of a rejection, it was standard practice to inform the customer and ask if they minded that we try to call the company, find out why and maybe get them to change their mind.... Every so often, the customer service rep at the credit company said, "Sure, no problem" and extended them a few thousand bucks just like that. No rhyme or reason to it, seemingly.

[Nagoyaguy]

Good point Jim, except;

1/ I dont have a mortgage
2/ my car loan (4 years) was successfully paid off in March
3/ my credit cards have and have never carried a balance- all are paid automatically from my account every month.

There was no option to talk to anyone. Just a lot of tooth sucking. Funny how I could qualify for a car loan with no cosigner, yet not qualify for a loan for rubber for said car.

[Birdog3344]

Nagoya Guy,

I think what I wrote was sort of an anti-rant, it wasn't directed at you per se. I just feel a bit indignant after hearing so many complaints about how things are done here. How people are so quick to point to racism/xenophobia and generalize a few bad experiences into problems that are endemic to the entire country and its people, as if they're unique in the world; "Its the Japanese way....sigh". Kind of ironic, don't you think? Again, I'm not saying that you made that leap; yours was a ridiculous experience and you have a right to vent. I just think we should be carefull when we complain about 'how things are done here'. All this negativity can engender a dangerous pattern of blame, anger and its own racism.

And btw, I am from the States and I know from first hand experience what beauracracy looks like in North America. It ain't much prettier. I also lived in Canada for a bit and saw it from a foriegner's perspective. I too needed to jump thru all sorts of hoops just to rent a video, etc. And I think we needn't even begin to compare the quality of service b/w here and home. What's more, how many of our home city's offer free English lessons to foreign residents?

[Nagoyaguy]

BD;

I agree that Japan, like all places, has it's good and bad sides. I am not a 'love it or leave it' type by any means. To me, one of the bad sides is what appears IMHO to be 'common sense'. Although that is probably a culturally loaded term.... Actually, closer to reality would be the inability for people here (generalizing grossly) to think on their feet, and to make decisions based on factors other than predetermined ones.

Plus, let's face it. People love to bitch. It feels good, and it also feels good to hear the stories of others in the same situation. If all was sweetness and light, boards like this would have precious little to talk about!

As to this;

[Albright]

[Nagoyaguy]

[JimDunlop2]

Nagoyaguy: Are you trying to pick a fight? Or was that meant tongue-in-cheek? I sure hope it was...

French is the mother tongue of 6.6 million Canadians. Most Francophones live in Quebec, but almost one million Francophones live in Canada's other provinces and territories. About 76 percent of Francophones living outside Quebec live in Ontario and New Brunswick. Manitoba, Alberta and British Columbia each have approximately 50,000 Francophones, while Nova Scotia has 35,000 and Saskatchewan has fewer than 20,000. The areas with the smallest French-speaking populations are Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, and the three territories.

(http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/newcomer/guide/section-07.html#5)

That's just over 20% of Canada's population. That does not include an additional 10 million or more who are actually bilingual and speak both languages.

[Celeste]