Asus is denying customers warranty from the date of purchase in India, for products bought from Flipkart. A clear case of the same has come up – in which Flipkart and Asus clarifications are absolutely conflicting. Asus claims that they will give warranty only as per serial number for products bought from Flipkart, and if the customer wants to claim warranty from the date of purchase – they have to through an approval process. Asus will “approve” the warranty – which is upon their discretion. Flipkart denies that’s the case and calls it an “isolated” incident.
An ASUS customer service representative on the phone explained to BGR India, “This is our process, we will only give warranty as per serial number. We are not receiving date of purchase from Flipkart. In case customers need warranty from date of purchase, they will have to go through the approval process of Asus.”
So next time you buy an ASUS product from Flipkart, please note that you will not get warranty from date of purchase and instead it is from the date of manufacture since ASUS claims it does not receive the date of purchase information from Flipkart.
Like the case of a BGR India employee, who called an ASUS service centre after his Nexus 7 (2012) stopped working within 10 months of purchase from Flipkart. He was shocked to know that the product is out of warranty, and when he argued that it hasn’t been 12 months since he bought the tablet, he was told that he has to go through an approval process. And once the approval is done, only then he should bring the product to the service centre.
On the question, that this is against the consumer laws in India including customer protection act, 1986 and related laws and amendments, the representative replied, “This is our process (to give warranty only as per serial number). You may go ahead and take up the case in court.” The BGR India employee is putting a case (in his individual capacity) against Flipkart and ASUS. We will update the story as per the progress of the court case.
Interestingly, Flipkart has given a completely conflicting remark on the incident. As per Flipkart, they are sending the date of purchase to ASUS, whereas ASUS is clearly denying it.
“Usually once a product is sold, we should contact the manufacturer to update the warranty for the product. The brand then updates the warranty accordingly. This was an instance where we missed on this process and as a result the customer’s warranty expired as per the brand record. This was an isolated incident and we are currently working with the customer to address this issue,” a Flipkart spokesperson told BGR India in response to our questions.
The point to note here is that ASUS continues to follow the process of warranty by serial numbers, and Flipkart claims that they are sending information on date of purchase. The other interesting thing is that Flipkart has acknowledged their mistake whereas ASUS claims that there is no mistake. Flipkart calls this an “isolated” incident, whereas ASUS says this is the norm for devices bought from Flipkart.
After BGR India reached out to Flipkart, it reached out to the customer with the following solution:
“1. We can get in touch with the brand and have the warranty of the product updated. This will take around 20 business days
2. You can get the product serviced by an authorized service centre and we will reimburse the amount spent by you for repair.”
So if you have bought an ASUS phone or tablet from Flipkart and you encounter any problems with the product, it will take 20 days to get the warranty of the product. To reach the stage of getting this email takes 5 days – that makes it 25 days to get warranty. After that there is a visit to the ASUS service centre – which ASUS has kept complicated, at least in Delhi.
In Delhi – there are three service centres for Nexus products – and all three of them are at Nehru Place, which can in no manner be called as a central place for Delhi customers. As a general rule, the service centres should be in multiple locations – or centrally located. But it is difficult to understand having three service centres in one location, which is not central. It seems ASUS is more worried about convenience of its personnel than the convenience of the customers.
The second option Flipkart has given is very interesting and time consuming. It is asking the customer to go ahead and pay for the repairs. So if you are in a hurry and obviously you are not getting warranty – go ahead and pay for repairs at an authorized service centre. Flipkart is going to reimburse the money. Technically it sounds like a good solution, but it is time consuming and frustrating for the consumer. Paying for repairs, and asking for reimbursement within warranty period is in very bad taste for the customers. One wonders, how many customers will have the courage to purchase an ASUS product from Flipkart – after this knowledge that they may have to pay for repairs within warranty period – and apply for a refund from Flipkart.
Flipkart calls this an “isolated” incident, but acknowledge their mistake. Is this their style now – “Hit and run” and then acknowledge and apologize? This is evident from the case of “Big Billion Sale” disaster as well. Thousands of customers took to social media after ‘Big Billion Sale” – where customers showed case studies of price manipulations and fake excitement created by Flipkart, for which, Flipkart apologized – was that also an isolated incident? It looks like a case of “isolating” the customers by Flipkart rather than an “isolated” incident.
Now to the quality of the product, this Nexus 2012 sold on Flipkart by ASUS has various issues and may be a case of low quality products and equally poor after sales service. Check out some of the reviews from certified Nexus 7 2012 buyers from Flipkart. These cases need to be further investigated. And we will continue to cover this and related stories.
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An ASUS customer service representative on the phone explained to BGR India, “This is our process, we will only give warranty as per serial number. We are not receiving date of purchase from Flipkart. In case customers need warranty from date of purchase, they will have to go through the approval process of Asus.”
So next time you buy an ASUS product from Flipkart, please note that you will not get warranty from date of purchase and instead it is from the date of manufacture since ASUS claims it does not receive the date of purchase information from Flipkart.
Like the case of a BGR India employee, who called an ASUS service centre after his Nexus 7 (2012) stopped working within 10 months of purchase from Flipkart. He was shocked to know that the product is out of warranty, and when he argued that it hasn’t been 12 months since he bought the tablet, he was told that he has to go through an approval process. And once the approval is done, only then he should bring the product to the service centre.
On the question, that this is against the consumer laws in India including customer protection act, 1986 and related laws and amendments, the representative replied, “This is our process (to give warranty only as per serial number). You may go ahead and take up the case in court.” The BGR India employee is putting a case (in his individual capacity) against Flipkart and ASUS. We will update the story as per the progress of the court case.
Interestingly, Flipkart has given a completely conflicting remark on the incident. As per Flipkart, they are sending the date of purchase to ASUS, whereas ASUS is clearly denying it.
“Usually once a product is sold, we should contact the manufacturer to update the warranty for the product. The brand then updates the warranty accordingly. This was an instance where we missed on this process and as a result the customer’s warranty expired as per the brand record. This was an isolated incident and we are currently working with the customer to address this issue,” a Flipkart spokesperson told BGR India in response to our questions.
The point to note here is that ASUS continues to follow the process of warranty by serial numbers, and Flipkart claims that they are sending information on date of purchase. The other interesting thing is that Flipkart has acknowledged their mistake whereas ASUS claims that there is no mistake. Flipkart calls this an “isolated” incident, whereas ASUS says this is the norm for devices bought from Flipkart.
After BGR India reached out to Flipkart, it reached out to the customer with the following solution:
“1. We can get in touch with the brand and have the warranty of the product updated. This will take around 20 business days
2. You can get the product serviced by an authorized service centre and we will reimburse the amount spent by you for repair.”
So if you have bought an ASUS phone or tablet from Flipkart and you encounter any problems with the product, it will take 20 days to get the warranty of the product. To reach the stage of getting this email takes 5 days – that makes it 25 days to get warranty. After that there is a visit to the ASUS service centre – which ASUS has kept complicated, at least in Delhi.
In Delhi – there are three service centres for Nexus products – and all three of them are at Nehru Place, which can in no manner be called as a central place for Delhi customers. As a general rule, the service centres should be in multiple locations – or centrally located. But it is difficult to understand having three service centres in one location, which is not central. It seems ASUS is more worried about convenience of its personnel than the convenience of the customers.
The second option Flipkart has given is very interesting and time consuming. It is asking the customer to go ahead and pay for the repairs. So if you are in a hurry and obviously you are not getting warranty – go ahead and pay for repairs at an authorized service centre. Flipkart is going to reimburse the money. Technically it sounds like a good solution, but it is time consuming and frustrating for the consumer. Paying for repairs, and asking for reimbursement within warranty period is in very bad taste for the customers. One wonders, how many customers will have the courage to purchase an ASUS product from Flipkart – after this knowledge that they may have to pay for repairs within warranty period – and apply for a refund from Flipkart.
Flipkart calls this an “isolated” incident, but acknowledge their mistake. Is this their style now – “Hit and run” and then acknowledge and apologize? This is evident from the case of “Big Billion Sale” disaster as well. Thousands of customers took to social media after ‘Big Billion Sale” – where customers showed case studies of price manipulations and fake excitement created by Flipkart, for which, Flipkart apologized – was that also an isolated incident? It looks like a case of “isolating” the customers by Flipkart rather than an “isolated” incident.
Now to the quality of the product, this Nexus 2012 sold on Flipkart by ASUS has various issues and may be a case of low quality products and equally poor after sales service. Check out some of the reviews from certified Nexus 7 2012 buyers from Flipkart. These cases need to be further investigated. And we will continue to cover this and related stories.
Source
