Online Shopping Sites Selling Phones With Foreign Manuals: Report

The survey covers over 20,000 respondents who have bought mobile phones online in the past two years.

Many phone companies such as Xiaomi have offered discounts on repairs.

(Photo: The Quint/@2shar)

Quite a lot of people have become accustomed to buying mobile phones in India, helping brands like Xiaomi, Vivo and Samsung to attain strong market share in the country. But a new survey report by Local Circles has managed to dig out some dirt that can be problematic for online shoppers as well as the companies.

According to its survey which had 23,000 responses, more than 14 percent from the sample size were shipped mobile phones with instruction manual in a foreign language in the box. This has been observed with people for the past two years, and the consumers are spread across Tier I, II and III cities of the country.

That’s not all, people also said they were able to buy phone models through online stores that have not been launched in the country.

Using both the cases as an example, the report says many people face issues with warranty and customer service of such devices.

“Mobile phones intended for sale in the Chinese market are being shipped to India via international and domestic e-commerce sites,” the report explained. Offering the phones with manuals in foreign language meant users are finding it hard to set up the phone as well as get warranty support from the brand.

(Photo: Local Circles/Canva)

As you can see here, the report goes on to specify that brands like Samsung, Xiaomi and Vivo were the major defaulters in this regard with 12 percent, 17 percent and and 7 percent respectively. Strangely, 41 percent of the respondents have declined to share the names of the brands they got.

Online Sites Selling Phones From Global Brands

In addition to this, the report also points that quite a few people (12 percent of the respondents) were able to buy phones through e-commerce platforms that haven’t officially launched in the country.

The seller is luring people into buying these products (unlikely to be certified by the Bureau of India Standard) by offering them at discounted prices.

Buying products that are not officially available in India can have issues.(Photo: Local Circles/Canva)

“Sellers located abroad and in India are listing products at attractive prices and discounts. While the product is genuine, it is for a foreign market and not for sale in the Indian market.”  

<a href="https://www.localcircles.com/a/press/page/ecommerce-mobile-phone-survey#.Xk0uhWgzaUk">Local Circles post</a>

This survey-based report is a good wake up call for leading mobile brands as well as the online shopping platforms to address the issues at hand and ensure the consumer gets assured services and products from sellers operating through online channels in the country.