Xiaomi is well known for its wide range of smartphones on the most varied pricing segments. The company achieved fame in the past years, especially in India. The company pretty much has the Indian smartphone segment under its belt thanks to the launch of competitive and affordable devices in the country. However, not all customers are happy with the company’s products. Recently, Xiaomi has been asked to replace the smartphone of an Indian customer. The commission called out the company for selling products with subpar quality in India.
The Bandra Consumer Redressal Commission ordered the company and its authorized service centers to provide an Andheri resident, with a brand new smartphone. The brand will also need to pay compensation and costs of 10,000 INR (~$135). Moreover, it directed that the respondent pay back the INR 6,999 (~$95) the customer originally paid for the handset in September 2015 if they do not provide a new smartphone model. Well, we assume that the second option is preferable for Xiaomi. After all, the customer’s device is quite old right now.
According to the report, Hiranna Fulad acquired a Redmi 2 Prime (a device that dates from 2015). He started to experience heating and battery-related issues within a month of its purchase through an online channel. As a result, Fula took the device to the customer service, which required him to leave the device there for 2 days. It was further delayed to 4 days and then to 7 days.
Gizchina News of the week
Xiaomi Service Center had the device for two months and a half but couldn’t fix the issue
The customer made two additional trips to the service center without any success. In fact, he was informed that more time was needed to solve the problem. Fulari received his device two and a half months later from the service center. He waited a long time, and the handset still came with the same issues. Once again, he took the device to the service center, after all, it was almost unusable. After that advancement, the customer approached the consumer commission for receiving a faulty handset that needed elaborate repairs.
The customer filed a complaint seeking a newer smartphone model or a full refund of the amount he paired as compensation. The Commission also revealed that despite receiving the notice, Xiaomi and its service center treated the customer with negligence. In the court, President Shubhada D Tulankar noted that the device needed repairs within a month of purchase. Sincerely, this is far from the ideal, but Xiaomi also offered poor customer service in this case. The President also noted that Xiaomi required two and a half months and didn’t even fix the issues. In the end, the commission concluded that the device suffered from inherent manufacturing problems.
For now, Fulari will need to wait for Xiaomi’s response. In this case, we have almost 100% sure that the company will offer a full refund. However, offering a good smartphone as compensation would be the best way to clean its image with this customer.
