Indians spend roughly Rs 2,400 on out-of-warranty smartphone repairs, Oppo has most satisfied after-sale customers

One in every four smartphone users in metros and tier-I cities have to visit service centres within six months of buying a new smartphone, while they spend Rs 2,4000 on an average for getting their out-of-warranty handsets repaired, revealed a study by research firm Counterpoint. The study based on a consumer survey also found Oppo, Xiaomi, Vivo and Samsung having the most number of satisfied customers with their after-sales service.

The survey questioned 1,000 customers who completed after-sales service by visiting authorised service centres in cities like Ahmedabad, Chennai, Bengaluru, Noida, Kolkata.

Oppo emerged as the brand with a maximum number of satisfied customers with 93 per cent finding their after-sale service ‘excellent’ or ‘very good’ followed by Vivo at 83 percent and Xiaomi and Samsung at 81% each. Oppo also held the top position in faster after-sale service with 73% respondents saying they received their serviced handset on the same day as registering the complaint. The second position was for Realme, with 72 per cent customers receiving their phones back the same day. Vivo came third.

Waiting time was also the least for Oppo customer service. 50 per cent of the respondents claimed they were called within 15 minutes of arriving at the service centre. Realme, Samsung and Xiaomi also closely followed in the customer wait time. The survey also found that Oppo had the best standards in repairing phones with spare parts kept ready compared to its competitors.

While Xiaomi explained problems to customers the best, it delayed visit to centres after registering complaints owing to the huge number of customers using its devices and coming up to resolve software issues. Oppo and Xiaomi users the least number of times had to visit the service centre twice for the same problem.

Due to the pandemic, many smartphone companies after-sales service have been affected. The companies had tried to digitise the process and maintain contactless delivery as much as possible said the senior Analyst of Counterpoint, Pavel Naiya.  In this aspect, Samsung has the most number of satisfied customers. Covid protocols like wearing gloves, face shields were most followed at Vivo centres.

Counterpoint also said the most number of complaints were regarding charging, display not found and software (hanging).