Nokia cancells agency agreements

[safra23]

Bought a Nokia recently?

Nokia restructuring leaves buyers without warranties   
 
By Nadim Kawach  From Emirates Business 24/7

Mobile phone traders in Abu Dhabi will file a complaint to the competent UAE authorities against Nokia, accusing it of inflicting heavy losses on them by its decision to restructure its agencies in the UAE, dealers said yesterday.

Representatives of some of the nearly 100 mobile phone shops at Defence Road in the capital flocked to the Ministry of Economy yesterday and were told to bring copies of their trade licences and lodge an official complaint.

Dealers accused the Finnish cell phone giant of causing losses to them and to mobile phone users by its decision to abolish some of the Nokia agencies in the UAE, leaving only three authorised dealers to distribute its products.

Authorised dealers and mobile phone shops received a letter from the Dubai headquarters of the Nokia Corporation last week that only Axiom, Aikon and Emirates Computers are authorised to distribute and guarantee its products.

The letter said permission for distribution had been cancelled for all other agents and distributors, including Jumbo, Cellucom, and Aptec. The letter, showed to Emirates Business, instructed Nokia's maintenance centres to accept Nokia handsets that are bought only from those three authorised dealers.

"The decision took effect on May 31 and this means all the Nokia phone we have sold before that date are not entitled for company warranty if they were bought from those dealers whose licence has been cancelled," said Bashar Asaad, owner of the Damascus Flower mobile phone shop in Abu Dhabi.

"A group of mobile phone dealers went to the Ministry of Economy yesterday and we informed them about the problem. We were told to form a delegation and bring copies of our trade licences to file an official complaint. We are now preparing to do so because this decision by Nokia has inflicted heavy losses on us and damaged our credibility among our customers."

Nokia sources in Jebel Ali confirmed the decision but defended it as a measure to organise dealership and sales of the company's products in the UAE. They said some of those dealers whom had been written off had marketed imported Nokia phones along with the products they had obtained from the company.

"I don't know how Nokia is justifying the measures it has taken against those agents but we have been badly hurt by such a move. We have sold thousands of Nokia handsets over the past few months and many of them carry company warranty by those abolished agencies," said Othman Jove, sales manager at Crown Prince, one of the largest mobile phone dealers in the Capital.

"Now if a customer comes to me with a damaged Nokia handset, it no longer has a company warranty. So my shop is responsible for repairing it at its own expense. But this is not the only problem. Most customers will certainly insist that the phone must be repaired or replaced by the dealer not the shop."

Nokia controls nearly half the UAE mobile phone market, one of the largest in the Middle East, with an annual turnover of more than Dh1 billion. A large queue of mobile phone users were seen arguing with employees at the Nokia Care centre on Defence Road yesterday when they were told that their handsets are no longer warranted.

"I told them to go back to the shop where they bought the phones from but they could not understand what is going on. I have instructions here that only Nokia handsets stamped Axiom, Emirates Computer and Aikon are entitled for warranty," said a Nokia Care centre employee.

Mobile phone shop owners said they said had a large quantity of Nokia handsets bought from those ex-agents, adding this could cause them big losses. "These phones can now be sold only without warranty," said Abdul Monem Hariri, Manager of Asala mobile phone shop.

"This means we have to sell them much below their cost price or give the customer a shop warranty, which of course no one would accept. Imagine the size of losses when you learn that thousands of those handsets are stacking the shelves of the shops on Defence Road. What we are asking for is a grace period and a retraction of the decision that the phones which have already been sold do not qualify for company warranty."

[animatedude]

who cares? Nokia warranty is a joke..

[ayaa1977]

I say all the power to Nokia for acting like the biggest company in the world and be a true leader. My wife bought me a Nokia N79 for our anniversary from Axiom against my constant warning to her of buying from that place. Sure enough less than a month later the laud speaker stopped working. I take it to Axiom to fix it and it took them more than two weeks without doing nothing, only after talking to the manager they sent it to Nokia Care and got fixed in a matter of days. A few weeks later I got a call from the headquarter in Dubai asking me about my satisfaction with Axiom. Of course I told them how shitty it is. Axiom opens shops like mushroom everywhere but they only have one maintenance center works for limited hours and they don't even pick up the damn phone. Nokia representative assured me that they are cancelling agencies agreement and that my feedback helps. If my feedback played even a teeny tiny part in pulling the bad players from the market, then I will feel happy and proud as I did my good deed for that day.

[fizz]

This is corporate bullying, you know, throwing your weight around.

What Nokia is doing is not wrong, it is the way they are doing it which is questionable. Companies standardizing on their dealership is a good thing for both consumers and corporates, but there is always grace periods and honouring deals that have been made. I hope Nokia suffer because of this or takes back their dumb decision.

[safra23]

If my feedback played even a teeny tiny part in pulling the bad players from the market, then I will feel happy and proud as I did my good deed for that day.

Authorised dealers and mobile phone shops received a letter from the Dubai headquarters of the Nokia Corporation last week that only Axiom, Aikon and Emirates Computers are authorised to distribute and guarantee its products.

Err, your feedback didn't really help, as Axiom is still one of the three authorized dealers of Nokia   

[ayaa1977]

Yeah I realized that after I finished reading the piece. I posted my thought based one reading the headline the first paragraphs. I don't know how good or bad Axiom services in UAE, but here in KSA it really is bad. Jeddah a city of 3+ millions has one service center, and a few dozens of Axiom outlets, you do the math. Their call center doesn't answer and when you go all the way to the service center it is a small office with a handful of service agents who don't even smile in your face.

I got my phone fixed after jumping a few hoops, but I have heard horror stories of people had problem with their phones the next day after buying them, took it to the service center, and were waiting for over a month. It is a bad scheme of getting customers to buy from you then abandon them, and I hope it will backfire soon.

As for the current situation in the UAE, I think that Nokia should give a grace period. It is the smart decision, otherwise it will lose share because people will not trust them. Who says that after a while they won't pull the license of one or more of the three official agents? That what I would think when I hear this story. If they don't give a grace period, I hope they will be sued and they lose.

[ozzylogic]

I think Axiom are pretty good, they have excellent warranty coverage, maybe you just got unlucky Ayaa.

[ayaa1977]

I think Axiom are pretty good, they have excellent warranty coverage, maybe you just got unlucky Ayaa.

Then it is good in the UAE, but believe me it is really bad in here, and it is not my biased opinion, everyone who had the displeasure of dealing with them here would tell you the same.

[sammy]

I think Axiom are pretty good, they have excellent warranty coverage, maybe you just got unlucky Ayaa.

had a friend who bought a brand new nokia (flip type).....6 months down the line, the buttons on the inside, under the screen stopped working.......Axiom just kep it for a month, then gave it back saying its not covered under warranty cause its water damage (water? wtf?), so the guys like okay, how much will it cost? and then he gets the real answer...."Part is not available, and nokia stopped production of that model"

I guess its not axiom's fault entirely, but they lost out on this case. Just goes to show theres no point paying a premium for "original" nokia phones with warranty when they wont really honour the terms.

[ozzylogic]

I think Axiom are pretty good, they have excellent warranty coverage, maybe you just got unlucky Ayaa.

had a friend who bought a brand new nokia (flip type).....6 months down the line, the buttons on the inside, under the screen stopped working.......Axiom just kep it for a month, then gave it back saying its not covered under warranty cause its water damage (water? wtf?), so the guys like okay, how much will it cost? and then he gets the real answer...."Part is not available, and nokia stopped production of that model"

I guess its not axiom's fault entirely, but they lost out on this case. Just goes to show theres no point paying a premium for "original" nokia phones with warranty when they wont really honour the terms.

I had 2 phones from Axiom, and they both had issues a couple o' months down the line, which Axiom sorted out within a week's time.

[madali]

I have never bought a phone with a warranty. I just get them from the market. Like the Blackberry I got was like 2300 or 2400 from authorized dealers, but I got in from the market, without warranty, for 1600

[ozzylogic]

I have never bought a phone with a warranty. I just get them from the market. Like the Blackberry I got was like 2300 or 2400 from authorized dealers, but I got in from the market, without warranty, for 1600

I've never bought a brand new phone...EVER! First one was a gift from friends, 2 were bought second hand, rest were company phones