For many smartphone users, it is a big challenge to repair phones when they develop faults, The Nation has learnt.
A Samsung Galaxy S3, user, Samuel Adebola, who bought his phone for N120,000, told The Nation that when it was damaged, with a fault in charging, the panel and screen broken, an engineer told him that the cost of fixing the phone is N51,200.
He said fixing the phone was expensive, adding that this forced him to use a small feature phone for some time before he later bought a Blackberry phone for N41,000. Today, Adebola is still yet to repair the phone.
According to a Maintenance Engineer at Raya Care, Ikeja, Kenny Israel, phone users find it challenging to get their phone repaired because some devices have after sales services while others do not have.
He noted that devices, such as Nokia and Samsung, have a guaranteed after sales services, adding that some people are neither aware of their after sales services right nor where they can take their devices to get it fixed.
Adebola noted that some people were aware of the provision of after sales services, but will not patronise professionals to fix their device because of the money attached to it.
“Some people rather go to road side repairers where they can pay less, not knowing they are causing more harm to their devices because the road side repairs are not professionally inclined; what they do is to manipulate their way out to get the device fixed, leaving the device user to complain about the device.”
He said the company gets services from those that are selling the devices and all its repair is done online.
“We charge at no cost once the device is in warranty, but if it not in warranties we charge to fix and give warranty on the fixing.”
He urged phone users, who do not know where to get the right after sales for their device to ask from where they bought the phone, where they can get the guaranteed after sales services to fix the device instead of leaving it to the hands of non-professionals to destroy the device.
He identified the challenge in fixing device to include impatience on the path of customers, shipping of the devices, the timing and clearing.
He said Apple is one of the devices that have no after service sales in the country.
“You have to take the phone abroad to fix it, if you take it to computer village, they can’t get it fixed properly because Apple have no after sales service in Nigeria; they will only do harm on it because they do not know better.”
He said to repair phone from professionals is expensive because of cases, such as, placing an order, clearing and shipping of the after sales services into the country.
He urged all Phone makers to produce after sales services and make it available in Nigeria, so as to reduce the stress gone through in the country to repair phones.
An Engineer in Slot, Mr Kunle Hawole, also said people go through disappointment to repair their phones because they do not go to the right place, adding that organisation such as Slot makes it easy for people to repair their phone, by giving them the service that they will get for the value of their money.
“When you come here, we give you time in a shortest period to fix the device and warranty for the fixing it because we are sure of the parts we are using to fix the devices and we are sure of the quality of the product before we use it for any customer.”
To him, challenges faced in repairing devices are that customers are not really specific of the fault of the device, thereby giving the engineers wrong information. He said the cost of phone purchase determines how expensive it will be to repair it, nothing that seeking cheaper means to repair the device may make the device to malfunction, because the equipment used may not be compactable with the device.
He advised that device should be bought from standard source, where they sell original with warranty. “Don’t mind the price, go to companies like Slot that stand for image; we follow you up on our after sales services which is sound and tested.
He advised that device users should only charge with original charger, saying using a fake charger to charge original phone will damage the device. “Phone users should also charge their phone with a power regulatory system, such as, UPS or stabiliser. Also allow your phone battery to go down before you charge it. Be cautious of the kind of pouch you use for your device because some pouch is too tight for the device and can affect it. Don’t drop your phone anyhow and take it away from liquid.”
He noted that the unique thing about slot is that they are genuine in satisfying customers, they are trusted, puts customer’s interest in consideration and render quality service, saying in Slot they are trained to repair all kinds of phone. “When you bring your phone, we get it registered and check the phone to verify the fault,” he said.
An Engineer in Microstation, Ikeja, Lagos, Mr Ade Ojo noted that most products have their parts in the market except for the new ones, saying, with time, they will have after sales too.
He corrected a common impression among people that once you repair a phone, the repair will lead to another fault, saying, that is not the case, rather, giving your phone to a non professional is what could earn the device being tampered with, thereby causing another fault. “It is not the reason of which you repaired the phone now that will cause another problem later,” he said.
Mr Ojo who repairs only standard phones said the kind of device you are using will determine how much you spend to repair it, adding that some things in the market are very expensive.
He said when one is rough with his device; it is likely to get damaged on time than when you are careful with it. “When you use fake charger for the original device, you will damage the device. Nigerians go for fake because it is very cheap, you will see original phone of 50 thousand and fake phone of 10 thousand with the same functions but, you don’t put it in mind that the quality is not the same; the fake will not last.
“Over using phone can also spoil the phone, when you are browsing, the phone gets hot, before you get to the level of the phone backing out, it will have been giving you signals that it has over worked.
He noted that there is need for systems in the country where faulty devices can be connected to tell where the fault is.