One in two consumers stuck with defective gadgets, survey shows

One in two consumers are stuck with more than one high-value product that was inherently defective, according to a survey by LocalCircle.

The items include automobiles and gadgets like smartphones, laptops, consumer electronics like television, white goods, electrical appliances, etc.

LocalCircles conducted the survey and received 28,000 responses from consumers residing in 355 districts of India. The bulk of the respondents were men at 63 per cent while 37 per cent were women and 49 per cent of respondents were from tier 1 districts, 29 per cent from tier 2 and 22 per cent respondents were from tier 3, 4, and rural districts.

The survey noted that 94 per cent of the consumers want the CCPA (Central Consumer Protection Authority) to start taking suo moto action against brands that have a large number of defective product complaints as the after-sale service is largely broken in India. 

"The majority of brands will go to whatever extent possible to deny a replac¬ement to the consumer, even under warranty,” the survey said. The report explained in some cases it takes weeks to acknowledge a consumer complaint and in many other cases, the consumer finds it difficult to locate the toll-free number. Even after the consumer finds the number, the customer service agent remains elusive.