29 August 2010

Is Nokia making more money by repairing than selling?

Is Nokia making more money by repairing than selling mobile phones?
Day 1
I really don't know. Although I may have suspicion, I have no way to prove . How come Nokia phones start failing just after the warranty period is over?
Either the mobile phone's screen goes poof, or the keypad goes poof, or something compelling happens which forces you to go to Nokia Care.
You have to grant it to Nokia Care, however. It is a swank little place; quite like the 5 star hospitals mushrooming all over.
You have to dish out Rs 100/- (approx $2) to get the fault diagnosed. Nokia Care calls it inspection charges. Appears fair enough, except that I think I was 167 in the queue. And if the queue numbering has been correctly interpreted by me, Nokia Care had already made Rs 16,600/- ( approx $334) on inspection charges alone by the time I reached them.
What I do think is possible is that the repair charges are very strategically priced. It is not quite high enough for you to go in for a new set but high enough for you to wish that you had bought some other mobile phone. First time I went in for a repair of a 5310 set, it cost me approx Rs 2000/- (approx $40) and the second time approx Rs 1200/- (approx $24).
Am I imagining that the phone breaks down just outside the warranty period? May be I am, may be I am not. I have no way to prove either way.
But this much I think I know: I am definitely going in for a different brand when the total repair charges overtakes the original price of the Nokia.

Day 2: Nokia Care Doesn't Care

I got my phone back. Nokia returned the inspection charges (Rs 100/-). So I guess my calculations weren't quite correct about money made out of inspection charges. I paid Rs 1100/-.
But guess what? I am absolutely appalled with Nokia Care's Don't Care attitude. They didn't push the memory card back into the phone. They said the card might be infected. Nokia Care didn't have a scanner and therefore I should take the mem card to a cyber cafe and get it scanned and checked. To a cyber cafe, for God's sake! If the mem card didn't have virus it surely was going to get virus if I took it to a cyber cafe. I bought the mem card from Nokia along with the phone then why should I go to a cyber cafe to get it checked?

Nokia Care is telling me to go to a cyber cafe to get checked a thing that they had sold to me. Can things get more ridiculous?

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