...in West

Resellers in West are not quite happy with the post-sale service of HP.
According to the channel community in the region, the quality of post-sale
service given by the IT major has touched an all time low. This has got them
feeling that the vendor is only bothered about its marketshare. The channel
allege that HP is not bothered about servicing because all their products are
selling like hot cakes in the market. Similarly, channels are not willing to
take on the vendor fearing bad relationship with the major.

”HP holds a monopoly in this segment and thus are not very bothered about
their services. More so because despite their service being really unorganized
and bad, all their products are doing well,” said Prashant Ugemuge, President,
Vidarbha Computer Media Dealers Welfare Association (VCMDWA). He also said that
the response at the HP meets is not very encouraging since, “Everybody wants
their own problems to be addressed first, everyone keeps shouting about their
problems and no larger solution is reached,” he added.

Shital Nahar, President, Computer and Media Dealers Association (CMDA), Pune
expressed similar sentiments. “When an end customer goes to an HP service center
he is asked to produce original distributor invoice, which is not supposed to be
with him as there are channels involved in between. Secondly, people at the
service center insist that the serial number of product should be printed not
hand written. And lastly, service center people refuse to give on-site service.”
said Nahar.

When contacted, M Vinayagamurthy, Country Manager-Consumer Support, Imaging
and Printing Group, HP India Sales clarified, “At times, the customer is
requested to share the purchase invoice, only if the particular product is
showing out of warranty in the system and the product is within the warranty
period as per the date of purchase.” With regard to on-site warranty,
Vinayagamurthy said, “We offer our customers after-sales support on the basis of
the standard warranty terms, which can be either carry-in or on-site, depending
on the product range.”

Prashant Ugemuge President, VCMDWA