Proven Corporation

For several years, my policy about obtaining computing hardware in Thailand was simple: avoid domestic vendors completely. Being dependent upon the domestic Thai service industry and supply chain is both more costly and less predictable than simply ordering everything from overseas. While this policy is quite prudent, I am very happy to say that I have discovered an exception to this rule: a shop called Protocol over in the IT Mall in Fortune Tower (4th floor, 4P41 to be exact).

I discovered them through my wife, who is an operations manager for a well-known multinational computer company based in Santa Clara, California. This company tends to use Fujitsu and other high-end laptops, and Protocol is one of their local providers for these systems. You would not know this fact merely looking at their store front but that’s the way it is. They of course also carry the standard notebook and workstation inventory one would expect.

Here is the specific experience I had which prompted me to write about them:

1. I bought a Thinkpad from them two years ago and for some reason opted for the three-year manufacturer warranty.
2. Recently, it began randomly failing to power up, emitting a tone which indicates a motherboard failure.
3. I called Protocol’s sales manager, K. Ton (ต้น) and he sent a courier to my office to receive the broken device.
4. Later, Lenovo called me and asked how to log in so they may test whether it crashes. This worried me as it meant that they hadn’t replicated the problem and they were preparing to return the unit unrepaired.
5. Lenovo indeeed returned the unmodified system to Protocol; however, Protocol took the initiative to test the unit themselves, and when it failed to boot, they sent it back to Lenovo for further investigation. I simply got a telephone call updating me about the status. This is why they work with multinationals from Silicon Valley. I can’t begin to explain how rare this is in Thailand. It’s incredibly valuable. Had K. Ton not gone to bat for me, then I would have had to take the time to prove to Lenovo that the problem was genuine, and frankly I would have opted to reduce my business uncertainty and time cost by cutting my losses and buying a new Thinkpad.
6. Finally, Lenovo saw the problem, replaced the motherboard, and returned the Thinkpad to Protocol.
7. Protocol again sent a courier to my office to give me the working system.

The process took a few days and cost me no money. So, I have found Protocol’s service to be so exceptionally good that for a large class of hardware, my first choice now is to buy from them before placing an international order from the West.

(Incidentally, I never spoke with Protocol staff in English so I couldn’t ascertain their proficiency in the language; however, assuming that it is average for Bangkok, their service is worth enduring the language barrier.)