AKITDA angry over Intel's lack of accountability

The All
Kerala IT Dealers Association ( href="https://www.dqweek.com/akitda-to-open-three-training-centers-in-kerala">AKITDA)
members complain that even
after

2-month long
settlement over Intel policy change on motherboard replacement in
Kerala, Intel doesn't seem to keep up the promise.

On July 22,
2011, Intel and AKITDA members reached a consensus after a meeting
with Intel service head at Digicare Service Center at Kochi. The
minutes of meeting included an agreement on certain points between
them. One of the major concerns was to replace the defective
motherboards under warranty at the earliest, which created trouble
after Intel appointed Digicare as the service partner and all dealers
faced problem to replace motherboards through Digicare.

“Around 30
days have passed and I think we have been fooled. Intel says that the
replacement is in process but fails to authenticate anything in
writing or through email. This seems to be a bleak sign of progress,”
said Suresh Babu, state president, AKITDA.

Perturbed
Kannur-AKITDA members recently walked off from a meeting with Intel
in Kannur.

“There was
a regular meeting with Intel where AKITDA members enquired about the
development in motherboard replacements issue. But Intel did not gave
satisfactory answers, so we walked off,” said John G Kotara, state
PRO, AKITDA. Kotara added, “Not even 1% of the motherboards are
replaced yet as agreed. The agreement was reached between us but all
went in vain.”

AKITDA plans
to boycott all sales meeting with Intel until there is a significant
development in the process. Till then the impasse continues to hit
the motherboard market in Kerala. Commenting on the issue, R
Ravichandran, director, sales, Intel South Asia said, “We are
closely working with our customers and channel partners to resolve
these post-sales service issues in Kerala. We made a transition from
one service provider to another over the last few weeks and there
have been some teething problems. Overall, we have made progress in
closing pending orders and are working to ensure all pending open
cases are addressed as early as possible.”