The three guarantees service is in name only. Who is responsible for the chaos in mobile phone after-sales service?

While mobile phone manufacturers are constantly upgrading their product performance, functions, and cost-effectiveness, they seem to have forgotten to upgrade their after-sales repair services. A Beijing Business Daily reporter recently visited major mobile phone repair shops in Beijing and found that buying a mobile phone is not a difficult task for users, but repairing a mobile phone is difficult for many users. This includes complicated after-sales processes, chaotic management, and high costs, which make consumers feel dilemma about whether to repair their mobile phones, and the warranty period promised by the manufacturer has completely become a decoration.

Repair is worse than replacement

Smartphones are now becoming “disposable” products, just like small household appliances. Once a product is damaged, it is often “better to replace than to repair”.

Recently, the Redmi phone has been caught in a controversy because of its higher repair fee than the selling price. It is understood that the incident originated from the fact that the WLAN of the Redmi Note 2 of consumer Mr. Wang could not be turned on, so he wanted to repair it, but was told that the repair fee would be 875 yuan, while Mr. Wang only spent 699 yuan when he bought this phone on "Double 11" last year (the official original price was 799 yuan).

However, when Mr. Wang communicated with Xiaomi after-sales staff, he was told that the WLAN option could not be turned on because the motherboard was bent due to human factors, which was not covered by the warranty, so he needed to pay for repairs. The high price was because the phone could not access the Internet because the motherboard was bent due to human factors, and the host was integrated, so both the inner and outer screens had to be replaced.

In fact, the repair costs that exceed the selling price, as Mr. Wang encountered above, are isolated cases in the industry, but high repair costs are the real situation in the industry.

Last year, this newspaper reported that a consumer, Mr. Cai, spent 2,249 yuan to buy a Samsung Galaxy S4 mobile phone from JD.com. Then the screen broke. He went to the official after-sales service center designated by Samsung for repair, but was told that the screen breakage was caused by human factors and was not covered by the quality warranty. He needed to spend nearly 800 yuan to replace the new screen. The repair fee of 800 yuan is not cheap. If you add a little more money, it is enough to buy a brand new domestic smart phone.

Apple's screen replacement costs are also high. A Beijing Business Daily reporter asked the Apple after-sales service point in Shengxi No. 8 Shopping Mall in Haidian District and learned that it costs 860 yuan to replace the screen of an iPhone 6.

High repair costs are not limited to high-end mobile phones. Beijing Business Daily reporters learned that many thousand-yuan mobile phones also have high after-sales costs. Replacing the screen can easily cost 500 to 600 yuan, and even a simple repair can cost 200 to 300 yuan.

The three guarantees are useless

In fact, mobile phones are products that the state clearly stipulates need to provide three guarantees. On November 15, 2011, the "Three Guarantees Law for Mobile Phones" promulgated by the Quality Management Department of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of the People's Republic of China was officially implemented.

According to the Mobile Phone Three Guarantees Law, if a mobile phone has a performance failure within 7 days from the date of sale, consumers can choose to return, exchange or repair it. From the 8th to the 15th day from the date of sale, consumers can choose to exchange or repair it, and free repairs are available within one year.

Although the country has issued relevant regulations and mobile phone manufacturers also follow these regulations, in fact, the vast majority of users are often unable to enjoy the three guarantees service when accidents occur with their mobile phone products.

The first is the most common damage to mobile phone screens. A Beijing Business Daily reporter recently visited a third-party mobile phone repair center located in Zhongguancun Hailong Building and learned that since the Spring Festival, it has received more than 100 repair orders, and more than 60% of them were related to screen damage. Most of the screen damage is caused by users accidentally dropping or bumping it, which is usually not included in the free repair.

In addition to screen damage, some other mobile phone failures often end up being the responsibility of the user. A few days ago, consumer Mr. Jin complained to a Beijing Business Daily reporter that his phone was unable to charge for a while, and then he followed the customer service's advice to go to an after-sales repair outlet for testing. After the test results came out, he was told that the waterproof mark was red, which meant that it must have been soaked in water. This was not covered by the warranty, and a repair fee of up to 280 yuan was required. When Mr. Jin argued that the phone had not been exposed to water that morning, the other party said that if he had any objections, he could find an appraisal agency to conduct an appraisal himself.

In the opinion of industry insiders, ordinary consumers often know very little about the internal structure and working principles of mobile phones. When faced with the inspection results given by maintenance personnel, they are often unable to distinguish the truth from the false. If the maintenance personnel deliberately distort the facts, it can easily harm the rights of consumers.

Where is the high

The reason why smartphone after-sales repair issues are frequently reported in the media is mainly because of the high repair costs. So is the high cost of mobile phone repairs because the cost of accessories is really that high?

This is not entirely true. In addition to the high cost of some accessories, it is more related to the opaque prices and chaotic after-sales management of mobile phones. According to an unnamed practitioner who told the Beijing Business Daily reporter, in the electronic industries such as mobile phones, home appliances, and PCs, the after-sales service system includes two models: manufacturer-operated stores and authorized stores, and the vast majority of those that face consumers directly belong to the latter. Such after-sales outlets are usually third-party repair organizations, mainly for the purpose of profit.

For mobile phone manufacturers, franchised after-sales service outlets often have a negative impact on corporate brands, but there is nothing they can do about it. The above-mentioned person pointed out that "building a repair station is a considerable investment, including funds, stores, manpower, technology, training, accessories, repair equipment and logistics, etc. It also takes time and effort. It is simply difficult to meet user needs in this way in the short term. In order to reduce the construction cost of after-sales channels and expand the scale of after-sales networks as soon as possible, mobile phone manufacturers often outsource after-sales services to third-party service providers."

In addition, the lack of transparency in after-sales repair prices is also a major reason for the high cost of mobile phone repairs. Smartphone screens are divided into internal and external screens. The external screen is a glass plate, while the internal screen is an LCD screen. The high cost usually refers to the internal screen, but since many current smartphones use integrated technology, such as the iPhone, both the internal and external screens need to be replaced as a whole, which increases the cost of repairs.

Lu Renbo, deputy secretary-general of the China Electronic Commerce Association, said that the cost of replacing mobile phone screens varies greatly and cannot be simply judged. It should be said that the overall repair prices in the current mobile phone industry are relatively high, and users are faced with the embarrassment of "being able to afford the purchase but not the repair", and an important factor is the opacity of repair costs.

In addition, industry observers also pointed out that weak market strength is another reason for the opacity and high repair costs in the repair industry. In order to break the embarrassment of the mobile phone industry of "affordable to buy but not affordable to repair", in addition to the need for mobile phone manufacturers to increase innovation and upgrades in the service field, it is also urgent for market supervision departments, industry associations, consumers and other parties to actively participate and jointly promote the rationalization of the mobile phone after-sales field.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.