The Xiaomi brand has been operating in India for approximately one year now and whilst it has had its ups, it has also suffered from its downs too. In recent months, we’ve seen the business take strides in improving relations and solidifying the business in the region, such as the recent acquisition of a stake by the former head of Tata industries. Today’s news shows that Xiaomi are continuing this strategy with the announcement that they are improving the way customers have their Xiaomi devices repaired. Because Xiaomi did not have a significant service and repair network, until now customers needing their device officially repaired have had to jump through numerous hoops. However, today Xiaomi have announced a partnership with GadgetWood eServices, a web-based service offering repair and support services for both smartphones and tablet devices. This partnership entails Xiaomi phone users one-day repair and doorstep delivery services for Mi Smartphones. Manu Kumar Jain, Head of Xiaomi India said this on the matter: “We want to bring door-delivery services to customers, who otherwise have no time to travel and identify outlets to service their gadgets in.”
The introduction of the GadgetWood eService follows a successful pilot in Delhi NCR. Over five hundred users utilized the Gadgetwood 24 hour repair and service. The GadgetWood business is itself approximately a year old having been launched close to the time Xiaomi were starting to sell devices into the Indian market. The process to use the repair service requires the customer to log into the Gadgetwood website and log the service. A Gadgetwood representative will then collect the device from the customer’s home, take it to the service centre and from here, the Gadgetwood promise is that the device will be repaired, tested and be delivered back in twenty four hours. There will also be a telephone number for remote support if necessary.
The advantage to Xiaomi is that they have outsourced the repair process to a specialist and have used a relatively new, local business, which shows support for the local market. For customers, Gadgetwood’s promise of a fast turnaround is good news as hopefully it will keep people as mobile as possible. With the correct Service Level Agreements, SLAs, in place plus the necessary communication lines for those customers calling Xiaomi rather than Gadgetwood, Xiaomi’s new repair service should be a hit for those customers unlucky enough to be needing it.