Resellers unhappy with Samsung HDD service support

Resellers in the local IT market are unhappy with Samsung for poor service support of its HDD. According to sources, the turnaround time for replacement/service of these products takes more than 40 days. The prolonged delay is pushing many resellers to give up Samsung and promote Seagate, which has improved its turnaround time to five-seven days and its fault rate too has reduced. It may be recalled that Seagate too had faced a similar problem a year ago and it appointed Accel ICIM as its authorized national service provider to offer service from 32 locations
(SeaCare centers).

When contacted, Samsung India Electronics Ltd Product Manager (HDD) Raman Khosla played down the issue saying that its turnaround time is best any day and conforms to the industry norm of seven days. "I am surprised to hear this news that partners are unhappy with us because of our service. We interact with the channel and service providers on a daily basis and have never heard such news," he adds.

However, the reseller community in Chennai maintains that Samsung has a high turnaround time, adding that they can even provide the material receipt voucher (MRV) or service challan given by Citi Service, Samsung's authorized service provider for HDDs. "I have a proof of receipt for which the replacement is pending over a month. We wonder how Samsung can make such a blatant statement," questions a premier reseller in the city.

Many `Samsung Elite Partners' too confirmed about this problem and said that they prefer to push Seagate. "We could not answer our customers who want replacement immediately. When replacement is delayed for over a month, they suspect us and we lose our relationship and future business with them," points out a Samsung Elite Partner.

"Sometimes we ask our customers to directly deal with the company for service and they come back to us saying it is very tough for them to approach Citi Service. They argue that since they did not buy the product from Samsung or Citi Service directly, we have to ensure the replacement is done at the earliest," says another Samsung premier partner.

Partners claim that even dead-on-arrival (DoA) replacement is delayed. Additionally, the new product is often not delivered in a proper condition. "The replacement pack will be very dirty and shabby. We can't sell it in the market as customers think it is a old product," point out a key HD
Dreseller.

Samsung has been facing this kind problem since the last three months and according to sources, it is having a tough time sourcing HDD components after the closure of Read-Write Corporation, a major global supplier of components. "Read-Write Corporation had been taken over by Western Digital and globally only three players--Seagate, Maxtor and Western Digital--have the capacity to manufacture all components in-house that go into manufacturing of HDDs. Now, the other suppliers (component) in the world have moved to the next capacity of production making 80 GB as the standard. As there are not many players to produce components (platters) for lower level, Samsung is facing great difficulty in replacing 20 GB and 40 GB HDDs. Now, Samsung would focus only on 80 GB to make it as an entry-level product considering the components availability (outsourcing)," said a source close to the competitor company.

Raman refutes this speculation saying that the takeover of US-based Read-Write Corporation by Western Digital will have little impact on Samsung, since it is an Asian company and sources products mainly from TDK Alps. He adds, "As far as replacement is concerned, only in certain odd capacities (60 GB and high-end drives) we take a few more days for replacement. More than 90% of the complaints are closed within seven days."

However, the resellers are not inclined to buy the statement and most of the channel partners, including Samsung Elite Partners, prefer to promote Seagate than Samsung, as there is a low fault rate and quicker turnaround time. "We are sure that Seagate would pick up market share considerably if Samsung's problem persists. It will be back to old days where Seagate held a premium position in the market."

Meanwhile, there is a rumors that Seagate will announce three-year warranty for all its HDD products, shortly. "The company is presently experimenting with it in Thailand market. If Seagate brings three-year warranty (this is other than their Peace of Mind program), Samsung will definitely take a back seat," said a source close to Seagate.

However, Seagate Distribution Singapore Pvt Ltd country manager (India) Sharad Srivastava clarifies that the company already provides three-year warranty for certain drives and they are working out whether to extend three-year warranty to all the products. "It is optional and we have not taken any concrete decision on this so far. However, we are open to consider this purely on need basis."

(CyberMedia News Service)