Hey Guys,
Well I am starting this, because of the real bad after sales experience that I am going through as I write this entry from a brand (SAMSUNG) which I considered to be good at it; based on what, well not sure...asking the question to myself n number of times in last 5 days or so.
It all started with on Sunday 17-Jun-12 when my almost year old Samsung 43" Plasma TV (still under warranty) blacked out when I was playing Uncharted on my PS3; Immediately raised a complaint on customer care
My Complaint #8443416871(registered on 17-Jun-12 [Sunday])
The Service engineer visited on 18-Jun-12 and confirmed that there is a problem with power supply and he need to get the spares from service centre and would give a call following morning (19-Jun-12) by 10:30am. But he called in the evening and informed the spare parts is not available in Bangalore and is available in Delhi and hence would take 3 days time (not sure why a part available in Delhi takes 3 days to reach Bangalore; should admit, great supply chain the company has).
I waited patiently till Thursday (21-Jun-12), called up the customer service and was promised the engineer would call and fix an appointment for the same day to fix the issue, but it never happened.
I again gave a call this morning (22-Jun-12), spoke with same representative and asked for his supervisor; I was informed the supervisor is busy on another call and I would get a call back in 30mins (max); again as always it never happened.
I waited for one hour and gave a call back (after once we buy a product, what chance we have as a customer, except to spend more money on calling customer service); this time I spoke with the supervisor, who did not even have an email id for escalating this issue, so has to wait for his manager to join in the call and I was told that my issue would be fixed on Monday???
More than 5 follow ups for a TV (for which I have spent almost Rs.50,000) the TV does not even work for a year, it is still under warranty. Does it take 8 days to fix a power supply issue?? Now I have a TV which is nothing but a box and of no use to me, 6 days are already gone waiting for spare part?
Which brings me back to the basic question
Please share your experience, would really like to know if I am one off case here or is this the reality in India???
Well I am starting this, because of the real bad after sales experience that I am going through as I write this entry from a brand (SAMSUNG) which I considered to be good at it; based on what, well not sure...asking the question to myself n number of times in last 5 days or so.
It all started with on Sunday 17-Jun-12 when my almost year old Samsung 43" Plasma TV (still under warranty) blacked out when I was playing Uncharted on my PS3; Immediately raised a complaint on customer care
My Complaint #8443416871(registered on 17-Jun-12 [Sunday])
The Service engineer visited on 18-Jun-12 and confirmed that there is a problem with power supply and he need to get the spares from service centre and would give a call following morning (19-Jun-12) by 10:30am. But he called in the evening and informed the spare parts is not available in Bangalore and is available in Delhi and hence would take 3 days time (not sure why a part available in Delhi takes 3 days to reach Bangalore; should admit, great supply chain the company has).
I waited patiently till Thursday (21-Jun-12), called up the customer service and was promised the engineer would call and fix an appointment for the same day to fix the issue, but it never happened.
I again gave a call this morning (22-Jun-12), spoke with same representative and asked for his supervisor; I was informed the supervisor is busy on another call and I would get a call back in 30mins (max); again as always it never happened.
I waited for one hour and gave a call back (after once we buy a product, what chance we have as a customer, except to spend more money on calling customer service); this time I spoke with the supervisor, who did not even have an email id for escalating this issue, so has to wait for his manager to join in the call and I was told that my issue would be fixed on Monday???
More than 5 follow ups for a TV (for which I have spent almost Rs.50,000) the TV does not even work for a year, it is still under warranty. Does it take 8 days to fix a power supply issue?? Now I have a TV which is nothing but a box and of no use to me, 6 days are already gone waiting for spare part?
Which brings me back to the basic question
- Is there something called After Sales Service?
- Do Companies really care about their customers once their product is purchased?
- Why do companies spend so much on advertising but not on supply chain or spare parts availability?
- If this is what I have to face sitting in a city like Bangalore, how about people in other small cities or rural part of India?
Please share your experience, would really like to know if I am one off case here or is this the reality in India???
....... all Samsungs in your signature!? BTW, what did you see in them? They don't even have a Katrina Kaif on their Ads to peddle their goods! 
