After Sales Services, The Bad Half, and the Bitter half
How often has it happened that your most recently bought appliance not older than 5 months just stopped showing any signs of life? Chances are that, it has happened at least to 50% of your appliances that you bought it in the past decade. Ever wondered why is that so? Read along as you might come to know some of the dark secrets of the manufacturers who are in this sector
The Bad Half : The Manufacturer themselves
Shocked aren’t you? You shouldn’t be, because they want you to buy their products and they want you to buy them more frequently than you want to. Sales is a big portion of these money-minded manufacturers as it contributes to a huge chunk of profit (Unless you are Volkswagen Group selling Bugatti).
“So Sahil, why is that a bad thing? Aren’t they in the business to make profit?”, Making profit it not a bad thing, unless there is a catch. Manufacturers design products that lasts only for a limited time. It’s around 10–12 years for appliances and less than 5 years (according to my personal opinion). Also this tenure is not “functional with no added costs”. It’s the tenure with you having to call the folks from the XYZ’s support desk, Which is the bitter half.
It’s also evident from the warranty period, is just too short for appliances that cost $1000 and above. Aren’t such products specially home appliances and laptops supposed to work a lot longer than that? Shouldn’t the warranty period be a reflection of how long the manufacturers want the product to exist in the market no matter how many updated models that they release during that warranty period. The manufacturers assume that the end of the warranty period is when the customer starts searching for an upgrade, and release products accordingly.
The Bitter Half : Warranty claims and Service Centers woes
Here is where things become annoyingly difficult.
For warranty claims: The service center, of course scrutinize your appliance/gadget (Fact: Any replacement that they have to make in this process is a loss). One of the most ridiculous of the reasons why service centre’s reject warranty claims is by saying “It was not meant to be used like that”. So according to them we are supposed to use in a “Normal” way which is decided by the service center folks and nowhere mentioned in the documentation that comes with the appliance/gadget.
Even if you agree to pay for the repairs, the repair centers kind of force you to pay for replacement parts(as I mentioned earlier, they cannot repair, it’s too advanced tech for them), which sometimes are so expensive, that an upgrade is lot better than that not so important replacement.
(Fact: Got a waterproof gadget? Liquid damage, including water damage, still voids warranty)
This is more of an Indian phenomenon where the Manufacturing giants give away their responsibilities to other dealers and the dealers do a sh*t job of doing them in the worst means possible (Redington India Pvt. Ltd., Maple).
These service centers are understaffed. The employed staff are basically carpenters who know what part goes where, hence all they do is replace, in case of Out-of-warranty products (not to mention inefficiently). For in-warranty appliances/gadgets hammer the product and pray that the product works.
If you are from a different part of the world this is what an average service center call looks like. This is what service you get for a phone which was under warranty, One of my friend had a tough time dealing with his laptop which you can read over here.
So what can you do about it as of now?
- If you have an extended warranty/Insurance as an option, for appliances/gadgets worth ₹ 30,000 and above, Go for it.
- If you have an Out of warranty appliance/gadget avoid the official services, instead try for a trusted local engineer instead.
