OnePlus is about to release the OnePlus 5. The budget king of smartphones has recent set a customer on a rage to repair his water damaged OnePlus 3.
A recent issue has come up where a OnePlus 3 user was asked to pay about $745 (Rs.48,000) to repair his water-damaged OnePlus 3. After being asked to pay double as much the cost of the phone itself, the user to it to Facebook to express his anger. The customer wrote:
“Hi OnePlus and Servify, thanks for making my last few days horrible. Just because of one accident, you guys have blessed me with the huge bill of more than 48,000 for a mobile which I bought it for 28,000.
On 2nd June, while having brunch, my mobile was kept on the table. One of my office colleague unintentionally moved the table while getting up from his place. Because of which a glass full of water fell down on my mobile. As a precautionary measure, on my reflex I switched off the mobile. But it was too late. After few days I restarted my mobile, and it was working fine except the recent and back button.
I have accidental warranty, I gave my mobile for servicing through Servify app.Now comes the worst part:
Servify reverted on my multiple mails saying this claim request is beyond their economic repair cost and I am only eligible to get 6,000 as reimbursement. Which is fine for me, after all its mentioned in their policy.. But look at the estimated repair cost!!!! 48,030 INR!!!! Seriously! How can the repair cost be more than the actual mobile cost. What kind of policy is in place which gives you this huge estimates for the repair even after my phone is switching on? This is insane and I am totally disappointed. I asked them to explain this expense upon which they said ‘the estimated cost of repair is provided by the OnePlus Authorised Service Centres as per the diagnosis of the device’.I was a huge fan Oneplus but this kind of service where you give the estimated repair cost more than 1.5 times the actual mobile cost is pathetic.. Think logically? Who will pay this high amount ?”
In return, OnePlus’s service center, Servify replied to the angry customer with a few explanations to why the high cost. Here’s what they have to say:
“Dear Aklank, We sincerely regret the inconvenience caused to you. Kindly note that Servify is just the tech platform for facilitating the claim process and repair and does not have any influence on the repair costs. The diagnosis of the device and repair costs are determined by the OnePlus Authorized Service Centre that Servify coordinates with in case of repairs. The estimate shared with you was determined by the OnePlus Authorized Service Centre (B2X) and Servify has no say in the same. Nevertheless, we have checked it again with OnePlus and they have confirmed that the cost of repair is normally higher due to higher duties/ taxes on components (vs assembled product), higher channel margins due to smaller volume, holding or transportation and labour cost etc. Hence, the overall costs for repair work out to be higher in certain cases.
If you have further specific queries regarding this, kindly do get in touch with OnePlus. We have also been trying to reach you but not been able to get through. Trust this clarifies the reason for the high repair cost shared by the OnePlus Authorized Service Centre. Do let us know if we could help you with anything else.”
Despite all of Servify’s explanation, double the cost of the phone itself just to repair is somewhat justifiable, but even Samsung or any other brand wouldn’t have charged a user this high for a repair. We really hope OnePlus takes this into consideration or even replaces the phone rather than repairing it if that’s the explanation they’re offering.
Afterall, brands like OnePlus and Xiaomi do sell these high-end phones at factory cost. Therfore, the bit of that 28K INR could be a but justifiable. Let’s just not forget that it’s just the nav buttons.
