I bought a Redmi 2 for my Dad last year as his first ever Android phone. Just few days back its screen started malfunctioning exactly after a week when it's warranty of one year completed. Nothing was visible on the screen except for colored horizontal lines moving upwards on the screen on their own. Contacted Xiaomi’s toll free number and they suggested for PickMi service offered by them as there is no service center nearby. The service procedure goes like this-
I must pack the mobile in its original box or any other appropriate box securely.Need to pay Rs.189 as courier charges ( both way shipping) online.Print the documents sent by them on email after I paid Rs.189.Hand over the package to their courier partner i.e. FedEx in my case.After receiving the phone at their National Service Center at Ahmedabad they would inspect it for the issue and warranty applicability.
Now the actual nightmare starts. I asked whether they would provide any warranty for the replaced part or not. They replied every replaced part bears some warranty depending on the part and it's price. They promised to email me all the details of warranty regarding the phone’s service. That's it. I never received any such email from them.
Post inspection they responded by email that the phone have Liquid Damage for the display so it needs to be replaced. The cost of this replacement would be Rs.2844! I needed to pay this amount within 48 hours of receiving this email or else they would return the phone unrepaired!
I enqired for the cost of screen replacement of this phone in the local market and it turned out to be only Rs.1700 at the max!
The difference is almost Rs.1100. Still my Dad told me to get the phone repaired by Xiaomi Service Centre. So I paid the amount online.
Everything went silent after that. Just got a payment success email from them. No other communication whatsoever. They called me only once asking what the problem is with my phone when they received my phone package at Ahmedabad.
After a week I received just an email and SMS informing that my phone has been shipped back to me using FedEx bearing so and so Tracking number.
Nowhere in the email they have mentioned whether the phone is repaired or not! They even asked to pay Rs.189 if not paid earlier while accepting the package!
The whole system for this repairing costed me Rs.3000. The phone itself was of Rs.5999! Still I am not sure if I am going to get any warranty for this costly repair.
I had totally lost trust in Xiaomi. They are very rude and unsupportive while on call. They kept me wating 20 minutes on call just to provide me current update of the repair! Even after 20 minutes on call they used to disconnect the call every time.
Another thing about MiUi is that many simple yet useful Android apps don't work on it. For e.g. Full Battery Alarm, auto scrolling feature of Backgrounds HD app. Don't know why people brag too much about MiUi. I don't see any added benefit of it.
I am going to receive the phone tomorrow. Will keep you all posted of the further development. I called Mi CC today, as usual, after I provided them with my registered complaint number i.e. 9000028594, the lady CC executive named Sanjana put me on hold to check the status. I waited atleast 20 odd minutes and the call got disconnected from their end. This is not the first time, since I paid them money for repair they always kept me on hold after getting my complaint number and would cut the call at last.
I would request all of you to refrain from buying these cheap quality mobiles from Xiaomi. They may cost cheap while buying but would stop working exactly after the warranty is over! These Chinese cheapsters and thugs are here to loot Indians and then use that money to breach the Indian borders!
So, be wise while buying Xiaomi mobiles!
