The gap between supply and demand of after-sales service of home appliances needs to be filled

The analysis of complaints received by the National Consumers Association in 2021 recently released by the China Consumers Association shows that the number of complaints about household electrical appliances ranks first in the number of complaints with 108,000. At the same time, among such complaints, complaints related to after-sales service The volume is higher than the quality complaints (see "China Consumer News" February 9, 2022, 2nd edition). In this regard, industry experts pointed out that the current situation of the small and scattered home appliance service industry does not match the growing service demand of consumers, and the rapid improvement of the intelligent degree of home appliances and the gap between the ability and quality of service personnel have caused consumers to be satisfied with the after-sales service of home appliances. The degree is not high.

The large number of complaints is related to the number of possessions

"It is normal for a large number of complaints about household electronic appliances. In the statistical analysis of complaints issued by the China Consumers Association, complaints about household electronic appliances often rank high, but compared with the number of billions in possession, the complaint rate is not high." Lu Jianguo, secretary general of the Cleaning Appliances Sub-Technical Committee of the National Household Appliances Standardization Technical Committee, told a reporter from China Consumer News.

According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, in recent years, the number of household electrical appliances in households has continued to rise rapidly. For example, the number of air conditioners per 100 households increased from 81.5 in 2015 to 117 in 2020, a growth rate of 44.42%; the number of water heaters per 100 households increased from 71.2 in 2015 to 90.4 in 2020, a growth rate was 26.96%. Lu Jianguo believes that under the promotion of national policies such as the strategy of strengthening the country by quality, the quality of home appliances, especially those of well-known brands, has been greatly improved, but there are still some fake and shoddy products in the market. At the same time, with the rapid development of the online market, these products are also being transferred online. Therefore, while strengthening the supervision of product production and sales, it is necessary to strengthen the standardized development of quality management and speed up the promotion of the quality certification system.

In addition, Lu Jianguo pointed out that there are still consumers who only pay attention to price and ignore quality and brand when buying home appliances, which also gives counterfeit and shoddy products an opportunity. Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen consumer education and enhance consumers' quality and brand awareness.

The largest proportion of after-sales service complaints

The reporter checked the "Statistical Table of Complaints Accepted for the Year 2021" of the China Consumers Association and saw that the after-sales service complaints of household electrical appliances accounted for the largest proportion, with 45,219 complaints, accounting for 41.7% of the total complaints of household electrical appliances; There were 30,905 complaints, accounting for 28.5%.

According to the relevant person in charge of the China Consumers Association, complaints about home appliance service mainly involve the difficulty of maintenance of small home appliances, the high maintenance cost of some smart home appliances, the untimely home inspection or maintenance of home appliances after the sale, the failure to complete the repair within the promised time limit, and the free installation of equipment. Traps, confusion of maintenance fees, no maintenance records during the warranty period, non-brand maintenance pretending to be brand after-sales, high fees and some merchants not fulfilling the extended warranty service commitment, confusing with "three guarantees" when promoting "extended warranty", "warranty" Not free "repair" and so on.

For example, before the Spring Festival in 2021, Mr. Zou, a consumer in Bijie City, Guizhou Province, purchased a smart refrigerator from a business company in Weining County. In May 2021, Mr. Zou found that the refrigeration function failed while using the refrigerator. After contacting the after-sales service for many times, the after-sales master came to repair the refrigerator for the first time, but the refrigerator still could not be refrigerated; the second home-based repair, the after-sales repair personnel cut off two pipes in the refrigerator, and the refrigerator can be refrigerated. However, Mr. Zou was dissatisfied with the maintenance method to treat the symptoms but not the root cause, and asked the merchant for a replacement, which was rejected by the merchant. After mediation by the Consumers Association of Weining County, the operator agreed to replace the same brand-new smart refrigerator for free for consumers.

Zhao Jie, secretary-general of the China Home Appliance Service and Repair Association, analyzed that after the outbreak, consumers spent more time at home, the sales of household appliances increased significantly, and the demand for services increased accordingly, but it was difficult for enterprises to rapidly increase the service supply in a short period of time; at the same time, Many of these products are new products, and many are smart products, but the skills and technical level of after-sales service personnel need to be improved, and the training of service personnel also needs to be strengthened.

"The sales of high-end products have increased significantly in the past two years, and consumers' demand for cleaning and maintenance of home appliances has also increased significantly, but the concept of many service companies is still stuck in traditional installation and maintenance, unable to provide differentiated services for different products. This also makes many high-end consumers dissatisfied." Zhao Jie said, in addition, due to the relatively complicated operation of some intelligent products, consumers may mistakenly believe that the product is faulty, and the disassembly and assembly of items in the whole kitchen is difficult to maintain. , may lead to consumer complaints.

There are many after-sales service problems for products that need to be installed

The reporter also found that complaints about after-sales service for products that need to be installed, such as air conditioners, water heaters, and flat-screen TVs, are particularly prominent. For example, there were 3,523 complaints about after-sales service of air-conditioning products, accounting for 46.8% of the total number of complaints about air-conditioning; 1,880 complaints about product quality, accounting for 25% of the total number of complaints about air-conditioning products; 50.7% of the complaints, 1,438 quality complaints, accounting for 29% of the total complaints of flat-screen TVs...

Lu Jianguo pointed out that the after-sales service of installation products is mainly undertaken by some installation companies or intermediary agencies, among which there is a very large gap in the management level and management rules between different enterprises. Installation training, not to mention certified employment, some spare parts may also cut corners.

"In some peak sales periods, there is also a gap between installation demand and service supply. At the same time, the epidemic also has a certain impact on such door-to-door services, which will affect consumers' satisfaction with after-sales service." Zhao Jie said.