Here’s why we endorse phones with local presence
When we published our list of our top 5 smartphones for under 10K yesterday, many people asked us why we didn’t include several of Xiaomi’s excellent smartphones in the list. Well, the answer is simple: Xiaomi does not have a local presence here in the Philippines, which makes warranty claims difficult.
Recommending smartphones to other people is hard, since not everyone has the same tastes or preferences as us. But one thing that we seriously consider in any of our recommendations is after sales support, thus our informal rule of recommending phones and brands with local presence.
When it comes down to it, phones bought from companies that have a local presence here in the Philippines have an easier time when it comes to warranty and RMA concerns than phones bought via parallel imports or through grey market sources. That’s because the local distributors and channel partners have put mechanisms and systems in place to repair and replace units that have manufacturing defects.
Companies that have gone through the trouble of actually setting up shop here have certified technicians and repair centers that have people with the expertise of diagnosing and fixing a particular smartphone model. Not every device is the same, and because of the way some of them are built, certain models require specialized tools and training to open them up for repairs.
Warranty and replacement claims are also easier to do with established companies like Huawei, ASUS, Samsung or Sony, since they have a certain percentage of units allocated for warranty and replacement claims. Smaller direct sellers or stores that sell mostly parallel imports won’t have this pool of replacement devices. Remember – they want to sell every unit they get overseas to make a profit.
Getting grey market or parallel import devices repaired is tricky as well. Service centers of certain brands usually don’t don’t honor the warranty claims of phones bought outside of the official channels which means you’ll be paying full price to repair any kind of factory defect, and some flatly refuse to work on them once they run the serial number and discover that the phone wasn’t bought from official channels.
Buying phones with local, store warranty is always a gamble. While there chance of you getting a lemon unit is low, if you do get a phone that needs repairs or outright replacement, you’ll find out just how important an official warranty can be.
Read also:
Top 5 Smartphones Under Php 10,000 (Q1 2017)
OnePlus 3T Officially Launches in the Philippines via Digital Walker on March 25
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Meizu M5, M5S, M5 Note Initial Review: Meet Meizu’s Budget Devices
