Service issues cause concern

Amrita Tejasvi New Delhi, Oct 4

HP's channel partners in Shimla are grumbling about the
various issues that they have been facing for the past few months related to
warranty, DoA cases, backend and poor replacements of products, and are
complaining about lack of attention from the principal. Dealers put forward
their concern over the absence of any HP service center in Himachal Pradesh and
alleged that it causes a lot of inconvenience to partners.

The dealers also alleged that they have not been getting their
claims for the last six to eight months and have not got any satisfactory
response when they conveyed their issues to the HP representatives based in New
Delhi.

Ashwani Sharma, Proprietor of Ace Infotech Systems, a dealer of
HP in Shimla said that whenever they come across any DoA case, the dealers never
get replacement on time and even if the replacement comes, its is below standard
and customers do not accept it.

"The replaced products are of such low quality that nobody
accepts it and we have to replace it at our own cost. Recently, a dealer got a
replacement monitor and it was covered with scratches. This kind of service adds
to a lot of frustration, and we have to face the customers," exclaimed
Sharma.

The dealers further narrated that there is no service center of
HP in Himachal Pradesh and whenever any service is needed customers have to wait
for two to three weeks, which further causes lot of inconvenience to them and it
generates mistrust towards dealers.

"We have tried conveying our message to HP a number of
times but have not got a positive response. Actually, we do not get much support
from the vendor. Shimla is a small place and we want more attention from our
vendors," said Neeraj Sood, Proprietor of Microbridge.

Incidentally, the partners' site of HP, which is used for
making claims, has not been working for some time. This has also added to the
inconvenience partners have to face while making claims, which is done on a
monthly basis.

On this matter, a representative of HP assured that the site was
being revamped to make the claims process more efficient. He added that once the
technical problems were addressed, the site would help partners get their claims
without any delay. Regarding the other issues, HP officials could not be
contacted to speak on the matter.

However, when contacted, dealers in other regions like Kanpur,
Bhopal, Jammu, Chandigarh and Jalandhar, opined that the only problem they were
facing with HP was with their site, which was a temporary matter. As such they
claimed that they were not facing any other big issue. Sanjay Langer, CEO of
Jammu-based AGM Sales Corporation shared, "Once the site starts working
properly, we are hoping that we will get the claims on time. Other than that we
are not facing any problem with the vendor."