DETERIORATING SERVICE

Service issues increase with poor quality products... 

Selling Samsung products has become a big headache for SIs like us. The main reason for this is the poor quality of products supplied by the vendor. This is added to by the deteriorating service provided by the most authorized service partners (ASP). 

Computer hardware most affected... 

Recently, 15" Samsung monitors supplied by me and many of my SI friends have developed some problems. All of them have screen alignment problem. Some have strange color patches showing up on the display. The situation is even worse in the case of HDDs and printers. The same problems exist with modems and LAN cards also. 

Vendors don’t speak the whole truth... 

Vendors claim that the turnaround time for replacement is around three or four days. But this is not true. The minimum average replacement time for any products is not less than 15-20 days. There are instances when we have not got replacement of products even after two months. In such situations, we always end up giving a stand-by product to customers at our own expense. 

Service centers staff ill-trained... 

The annoying part is the ASP’s inability to rectify the problem. There are instances where the service center’s staff make statements like “such problems are normal and it cannot be fixed”. A single problem is never addressed in a single service call. Most service centers take a minimum of two to three attempts. In the process a lot of time, energy and days are lost. This proves that most ASPs are not well-equipped with trained and experienced manpower. Besides, the behavior of service center personnel towards resellers is often rude and unprofessional. Vendors should seriously look into the matter and take some pro-active steps before it is too late. 

Problem is common in all cities... 

Poor service by ASP is a problem faced by resellers and SIs in most cities. SIs in smaller cities have another problem of accessing ASPs. There aren’t many ASPs in smaller cities, because of which SIs have to travel to the nearest city that offers these services, incurring more expenditure. 

Vendors have to look at service issues seriously... 

Vendors should remember that it is in their own interest to provide the best support to retain brand loyalty. Otherwise they should be prepared to lose their customers. If buyer satisfaction is not considered as an important factor, sustaining marketshare will become a difficult task. I think big vendors and suppliers are taking the Indian market place for granted. When will they grow up and provide some world-class support?

There are no issues in terms of quality of services... 

There are no issues in terms of quality of service rendered by us. We keep a very close watch on service and failure rates and there is no significant change in the rate of complaints. A small increase in service problems after the summer/monsoon season is normal. This occurs due to increased electricity problems/fluctuations during summer. However, in absolute numbers the number of defects of course goes up due to an increase in the installed base. 

Service problems are sorted now... 

We did have some issues in the past due to a changeover in our service partners. Due to certain issues, we had to change one of our key service providers recently which was again aimed at providing better and higher levels of service to the customer. We have taken various pro-active measures to ensure best service to customers. 

Helplines are now in place... 

We have received feedback from our dealers regarding problem in getting through our telephone lines. This is precisely why we have just added IT products also through our Customer Contact Center in
Mumbai. No matter where you are, Samsung Service can be contacted by just dialing 9628112233. Dealers who need any support from Samsung’s service headquarters can write to us on our hot-line email ID which is
doctorsam@samsungindia.com .We are able to reply to mails within 24 hrs of receiving the same (excluding Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays). 

We do help service partners perform... 

To improve efficiency of the personnel employed at service centers, we provide training to the owner as well as employees of our ASCs on all technical details about our products as well as customer handling. Recently, a two-day training program was carried out for all ASCs with a specific purpose of ensuring greater service orientation and support for customers. We have also mobilized buffer stocks to ensure that the promised turnaround time is met. 

Criteria to appoint ASCs are credible... 

We have certain key attributes that we take into account while appointing a service partner. These are a track record of his performance as a service center, customer orientation, location of the premises to ensure easy access to customers and his infrastructure and technical knowledge. Mechanism to monitor efficiency is in place... To monitor the quality of service rendered by
ASC, we have surprise audits on the service center. Additionally we organize regular training sessions for all technical and customer service staff and monitor customer feedback as well as the TAT.