While most companies offer 'after-sales service', one needs to be vigilant about checking the fine print involved. The question is not so much whether the supplier offers after-sales service, but rather whether that service is fast, reliable and provides real benefit to one's company.
If one were to return an IT product purchased at a large retailer, the general process would be that your machine would wait in a queue of others to be sent to an external party for repair and eventually, weeks or even months later, the machine will be returned, (hopefully) fixed satisfactorily. In this technological age it is difficult to imagine being without ones laptop for weeks waiting on repairs - in all likelihood a new machine would have to be purchased to use in the interim, so why bother with repairs. Here, the after-sales service in this case is not doing what it purports to do.
People cannot afford to have downtime. As a supplier, one needs to focus on the customer's business and do everything possible to ensure superior after-sales service. Lend customers a spare machine while repairs are being done and try to accommodate them and meet their needs in a caring manner. Too many companies have hidden pitfalls to their so called after-sales service, lulling clients into a false sense of security."
In various instances, clients are also offered a product guarantee when purchasing an item, yet when the machine's manual is read one is informed that no enforcement of the guarantee will be made by the store from which the product was purchased. The client is tasked with tracking down and contacting the actual brand manufacturer, resulting in further delays and frustration in most cases.
It is important to offer clients real value for money, such as extended warranties without charging extra, offering back-to-back warranties on components with vendors, passing on vendor or manufacturer warranties and the collection and delivery of components and equipment where possible. To ensure efficiency, a retailer should be capable of doing repairs on the spot, swapping out faulty internal parts while the customer waits or, in the cases where repairs will take longer, doing these repairs in house to avoid the delays caused when sending machines out to a third person.
When purchasing new goods, after-sales service may be the last thing on one's mind, but should that equipment malfunction the importance of after-sales service will become glaringly obvious. Check and double check the terms of after-sales service before purchasing goods from retailers; this could save much time, money, effort, frustration and will aid in eliminating the incessant excuses offered as to why the equipment cannot be repaired.
