The more mobile phones are used, the more cards are used, the less durable the batteries are, and the screen accidentally falls to the ground and "blooms" … … Digital products, as the daily necessities of most people, are frequently used and need maintenance. However, many consumers are discouraged by the price of hundreds of thousands of dollars for maintenance in specialty stores. Recently, Apple announced that it will launch a self-service maintenance plan, which will allow customers to obtain original Apple parts and tools and repair their own equipment. It is reported that the plan will be first launched in the United States from early next year, and will be extended to other countries and regions in 2022 or later.
In this regard, consumers hold two different attitudes — — Some consumers think that "you can repair it yourself and save money", while others think that this is "a new business of Apple, and you can make money by selling maintenance-related products, and you don’t have to be responsible for the maintenance results". These feedbacks all reflect the problem that some digital products are expensive to maintain at present. In order to understand the current digital product maintenance market, the reporter visited some maintenance stores to understand the situation, and learned from the industry how to avoid maintenance "stepping on thunder".
Consumers are divided into three categories — — "Self-sufficiency", "Official Channels" and "Maintenance Stores"
When it comes to digital product maintenance, many consumers complain to reporters. These consumers can be roughly divided into three categories — — "self-sufficiency", "official channels" and "maintenance stores". Among them, the self-service service launched by Apple this time meets the needs of "self-sufficiency". The reporter learned that many young people will choose to buy materials online and repair them themselves, which is more convenient and cheaper to maintain.
Digitalist Xiao Kai told reporters that because his Xiaomi 8 mobile phone is a special version, the back cover of the mobile phone is transparent glass. After the back cover of the mobile phone broke, he bought the corresponding model back cover on the shopping platform and replaced it himself. "I also changed a battery by the way, and bought a battery produced by a big brand, which cost less than 90 yuan in total." On the corresponding after-sales service website, the reporter learned that if the battery cover and battery need to be replaced outside the warranty period, the material cost plus labor cost will cost about 369 yuan.
But not every consumer has the ability of self-maintenance, so some consumers will choose some third-party repair shops to maintain their damaged digital products.
"My computer is out of order because I spilled coffee." According to Miss Qian, a white-collar worker, after she went to the official store and learned that the maintenance would cost thousands of dollars, she went to the computer city to find a repair shop under the guidance of a "knowledgeable" friend. After the repair, the owner told her that "the failure was because some panels were corroded by coffee, just weld them", so she followed the owner’s suggestion and repaired the computer for about 800 yuan. "I haven’t found any problems in the past few years." Miss Qian said.
The reporter learned by visiting the relevant repair shops that many stores provide all-round digital repair services with all kinds of accessories. Some shopkeepers even told reporters that they have corresponding online stores. If you need to repair electronic products, you can make an appointment online to purchase services, and the maintenance master will go directly to the consumer’s home for repair.
Chaos! The repair shop said that the product was "original" but could not be inspected.
In many repair shops, shopkeepers will tell reporters that there are "original" and "non-original" accessories, and the prices of different products are also different. For example, the price of batteries is almost doubled. The price of "original" apple batteries in a store is 218 yuan, and the price of "non-original" apple batteries is 128 yuan.
"Many repair shops can’t guarantee the quality, even if they are not original, they are original, and bullying consumers doesn’t understand." Recalling her painful experience, photography enthusiast Ahua said indignantly that the mobile phone could not be turned on because of water. Although the style was old, she still planned to spend money to repair it in order to take out the photos in the mobile phone, so she chose the private repair shop downstairs nearby. "At that time, after a simple inspection, the owner said that the screen batteries were flooded, and it was suggested to replace them. He also said that there were two battery options, one hundred yuan for non-original and two hundred yuan for original. Finally, we chose the original battery and the non-original screen, which cost more than 300 yuan. The phone can be turned on after repair, but it is formatted and the original photo cannot be taken. " According to Ahua, the non-original screen turned blue after reinstallation, and it was uncomfortable to look at the eyes. Not long after, even if the mobile phone was fully charged, it could not be successfully turned on, "wasting hundreds of dollars."
Expensive! Official channel maintenance "expensive price" has been criticized.
In the face of market chaos, many consumers often choose to go to official stores for maintenance in order to reduce risks, but for the maintenance services of stores, the most profound impression of many consumers is "expensive". "The newly bought smart watch broke as soon as it fell off the screen. When I asked about changing the screen, it actually cost 2309 yuan. It was almost catching up with the price of the whole machine when I bought it. It was better to buy another one." Miss Qian told reporters. The reporter found that the current price of Miss Qian’s watch on a shopping platform is 2899 yuan.
Coincidentally, Miss Yuan, a writer, also "fell" and spent thousands of dollars on maintenance. "This year, my Apple computer fell, and then the engineer took it for evaluation. It was diagnosed that the internal screen was broken, and the screen could not be changed for maintenance. The first half of the monitor had to be replaced. The price was more than 3,000 yuan, and the discounted price was 2,900 yuan." Miss Yuan told the reporter that she compared a repair shop in Bainaohui at that time. The other party said that she would change it to a brand-new 2900 yuan, a brand-new better 2500 yuan and a defective 2300 yuan. Because the price difference is not big, she still chose to repair it in the official store.
Faced with high maintenance costs, some consumers will choose to fight for more rights and interests by extending the warranty service, but some extended warranty services do not seem to be fully recognized by consumers. Xiaochen bought Apple care and extended the warranty period, but only used the maintenance service once during the validity period and replaced the screen at a preferential price of 188 yuan. "I don’t want to continue now, I feel unnecessary." Xiao Yan said.
It is understood that the new self-service maintenance plan launched by Apple can help some users to repair products themselves with Apple’s official accessories at a lower price. On the other hand, it can also allow some users to choose to buy official parts and hand them over to professionals for maintenance, saving maintenance costs and ensuring product quality.
Pit prevention tips
Try to go to an authorized entity store for repair.
How to avoid stepping on pits when repairing digital products? The reporter interviewed Xiao Lei, an insider in the maintenance industry. Xiao Lei said that there are some problems in the current maintenance market, such as unreasonable charges by maintenance personnel, opaque maintenance price, stealing hardware, reporting minor faults to major faults, and shoddy products. Therefore, consumers should try their best to avoid after-sales service or maintenance sites with bad reputation during the maintenance of digital products.
"It is necessary to understand the maintenance methods and officially authorized maintenance points through the official channels of product brands, and try to go to authorized physical stores for maintenance. In particular, try to avoid the product from being out of sight during the maintenance process. " He said that if you need to send it for repair, you should back up and save your personal data in advance, such as taking out your mobile phone card and memory card, and restoring your mobile phone to its factory settings to avoid the disclosure of personal privacy information. In addition, he also stressed the need to keep relevant maintenance and transaction vouchers after the completion of maintenance services, so as to facilitate tracing afterwards. Text/Guangzhou Daily All-Media Reporter Xu Xiaofang
