How will you feel if you buy a supposedly brand new phone from a reputable company and four months after the purchase you are unable to make use of that phone due to alleged manufacturer’s defect?
That is exactly the question we put across to the duo of Chijioke Egemasim and Benjamin Ekejiofor, both Customer Service Officers of Slot on the 7th and 11th of this month, when Mr. Tokunbo Ajayi [not real names] out of frustration contacted The Nation newspapers after two failed attempts to repair the phone at the manufacturer’s service centre.
According to Ajayi, exactly on March 15th he went to Slot office at Medical Road Ikeja to purchase a phone.
Ajayi said he was sure that Slot will not sell substandard or fake products in order not to soil their good name.
The very bitter customer said as the Uber driver stopped him in front of the Slot office at 2B Medical road, he happily alighted from the vehicle and strode into the shop. Immediately one of the sales men approached him and he ended up parting with N27,000 for a Model M6 mini Gionee phone. Sure he had made a good buy, he left in a happy mood.
However, three days after, that happy mood turned to a sad one. He discovered that the phone’s touch pad was not responding to his touch. What could have happened? he wondered. Alarmed and disappointed, he put the phone aside to attend a three-day work seminar.
At the end of the seminar, though exhausted, he went back to the point of purchase to complain. A Slot Customer Service personnel directed him to Gionee office at Awolowo Rd. Ikeja. On getting there, he was directed again to Gionee Service Centre at Medical Road Ikeja. After examination, the staff confirmed it was a software problem which will cost Ajayi his stored information if the phone was to be repaired as he did not have a back up. With no other option, Ajayi agreed.
After some hours, the phone was returned to him as okay. Relieved, he took the phone and went home. After a day, people started complaining that they were not hearing him on the phone.
Completely distressed now, he went back to Slot office the second time. Demanding a replacement, he told them that he was disappointed and disgusted as this is a supposedly brand new phone he bought. Unfortunately, he was informed that if he had come with the phone within the initial seven days of purchase it would have been replaced for him. But was he informed of that policy the day he bought the phone?
He was again directed to Gionee Service Centre where he was asked to drop the phone. After waiting in vain for a call from Gionee, he called them on the telephone number he was given but got no response, so he went to their office the third time.
On why he was not contacted after the promise to contact him, the lame excuse was that the public holidays stopped them. According to Ajayi, this time he spent many hours waiting for the phone to be repaired as it was not even worked on for almost one week he left the phone with them.
Finally, it was tested and handed over to him. This time he collected it with trepidation. Days later, his foreboding became real. People were not hearing him on the phone.
Totally distressed, Ajayi, an ardent reader of this page, contacted Consumer Watch. “Going to Slot to buy that phone is a decision I am regretting seriously. I paid N27,000 for that phone but I have spent close to that amount on transport to get the new phone to work. Each time I go to Gionee Service Centre, I end up wasting a whole day.
“Who can believe that buying a new phone can bring such distress? Is it possible that substandard phone can be sold at Slot and if they cannot repair the phone, why not just replace it with another one as it is obvious that this is just the manufacturer’s default,” lamented the embattled customer.
On the 7th June, when the reporter visited Slot, Medical Road, the Customer Service Officer, Mr. Chijiok Egemasim, tested the phone and confirmed he could only hear faintly with the phone. Apologising profusely, he promised the phone would be fixed much later as service centre was closed due to the public holidays.
Debunking Ajayi’s charge of Slot selling substandard phone, Mr. Ekejiofor said it was not possible. “Slot is just a dealer. If the phone develops a problem and we send the customer to the manufacturer’s service centre, if it is a copy of the original, the manufacturer will detect it and Slot will be sanctioned.”
On why a brand new phone should develop a software problem just about three days after purchase, and after that, touch pad and then a board problem, “It is an electronic device and anything can happen. However, it is not often something like this happens. This is a one-off,” explained the Customer Service Officer.
However, the customer who has used many phones in the past insists that the many faults of the phone are due to manufacturer’s default and as such an entirely new phone should be made available to him.
If Slot officials empathised with the customer, the Gionee Manager referred to as Comfort showed no concern. On June 11th when the reporter visited her office at Assets Corp Shopping Plaza at 21 Awolowo Rd. Ikeja, her only response was that she was not aware of the case.
When the reporter pointed out that her customer relations was poor, and that at least the customer deserved an apology, she neither responded nor showed concern through her body language.
Well, for now,. Ajayi’s phone has been fixed for the third time through no fault of his, since purchasing the phone in March. Let us hope we have heard the last of the story.
Please share your story with us if you have had similar experience.
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