Upcountry dealers not happy with after sales service

The channel community in the upcountry market is facing a tough problem because of lack of proper services from the service centers. While the vendors swear by the services, the reality seems to be otherwise.

Balbir Singh Rathore, Director of Dehradun-based Best Computers, recounted his experience when a particular LG CD writer bought from an authorized dealer turned out to be non-workable. “As there is a problem of immediate replacements and the customer doesn’t want to wait, we decided to send it for repair at LG service center. We were told to collect it after two days. But even after that, the CD writer refused to work and again we were given two days time. The next time we checked it at their center and the CD writer was still not working,” he recounted.

The ordeal did not end there. It was only after a month, that the dealer received a replacement. The company’s respective distis too were not of much help and advised Rathore to contact the vendor.

“We were told by LG’s disti to get in touch with the vendor itself. But after waiting for a reply for more than a month we received the product and that too in poor condition. It had scratches all over and therefore, I was not able to sell it and now it remains with us. All our investment on this have come out to be zero and when we again contacted them to replace it, they refused,” he pointed out.

Rathore also informed that even when a new box is opened and the product turns out to be non-workable, it is not immediately replaced.

According to Ajay Grover, Director of Meerut-based Foretek Systems, the upcountry especially faces a lot of problem when it comes to service. “Both Samsung and HP have appointed a service center here, but it is of very little help. In the Samsung service center, most of the spares are not available. And with the HP center, the products are taken to Delhi. So what’s the point of having a service center,” he argued. “Even their toll free number is not much of use as they keep on passing the calls from one person to another.”

Grover who is providing after-sales service for TVS Electronics is also trying to provide this service of some of the major companies. “But right now, no response has come,” he said.

The upcountry dealers also face the problem of products being declared as Dead on Arrival (DoA). Dealers have to bring the products to Delhi before they can be declared as
DoA.

On the other hand, Jayant Kumar Upadhyay of Shimla-based Eline is happy with the service provided in the town. “We have service centers of LG, TVSE and HP printers. Its only for Samsung we have to take the products to Chandigarh. But yes, there have been two-three instances when we have not received good service. A Compaq Presario TFT monitor has been lying without service even though we registered our complaint through the toll free number.”

Karma Negi