Brand Hitachi Air conditioners in India has been patronized by consumers in spite of premium pricing by 25-30 % based on high quality, feature rich and lasting products similar to the brand Sony in consumer electronics which is still somehow maintaining its edge with a premium pricing power albeit moderate volumes. But as per several consumer experiences which one comes to read on the internet about Hitachi Air conditioners, it appears they are several notches below Sony which in general has been still living upto the brand with technologically superior and lasting products and good service network. My recent personal experiences have also been the basis for this observation.
Japanese brand Hitachi and Daikin which were premium products earlier seem to have succumbed to the onslaught of their Korean competitors Samsung and LG due to their sheer volumes with good product quality, reliability and in-house service network and brought in models which are competitively priced with them but observed to be extremely poor in terms of both product build and component quality and also their service standards and response supplemented by un-skilled local repair boys delivering poor jobs. I donot know much about Daikin which I learnt is providing 1.5T 3 star models in similar price band of Rs. 28-30k as compared to 20% higher price points like Hitachi as it used to be before and the competition must have taken a toll on their volumes even which would have prompted them to reduce prices.
Infact in case of my Hitachi Kaze 1.5T Split AC model which I purchased just last season on 17.02.11 (based on similar pricing as compared to Samsung 1.5T, 3 star models) and installed on 25.04.2011., the complaint was registered on 10.03.12 and the Service Manger at Hyderabad refused to provide warranty service within 1 yr from date of installation or 15 months from invoice date, inspite of warranty terms being in documented form in their warranty card and demanded payments for gas charge relying on wrong data fed into their computers. I had no alternative since Summer season has already started and I decided to pursue the matter with their Headquarter team. The slow gas leakage which seem to have happened though the machine is located in same location without any kind of physical disturbances and leaves doubt about the quality of first installation itself. Prior to this the new unit on installation itself had a non functional remote sensing on- board PCB in Indoor unit which had to be replaced by them to enable remote operation. The people deployed by them recently for Gas charge seem to have also broken Indoor unit locks in course of gas charging as revealed by their own service technician who verified the defect, resulting in Indoor unit not seating firmly on wall. As the gas leakage seem to have happened very slowly and unidentifiable, it was conveyed to me by the Manager that they will have to check leakage by pumping nitrogen first and observing for a day before gas charging, which they never did and directly charged gas which I am not sure whether it will last without any more slow leakages. And inspite of several reminders even on their customer service call centre no.., there has been no use as repeat complaints are simply being closed by Hyderabad branch without even attending them. And as of now I am still fighting with their Head office through emails since a couple of months for rectification of the defect.
The moral of the story is: Rely only on Brands and models with good build quality and plastics and which are sold by established players of the region which have excellent in-house service teams and not supported by local boys who do petty AC repair jobs. And also verify from all your friends and other sources for word of mouth feedback about service quality and response time of AC brands before making purchase decisions. It is quite possible that some brands have excellent support in some specific locations and it is advisable to go with them. In southern markets O-General seem to be a quality player and my experience with my two Samsung split AC units has also been very good, since jobs were done promptly by their own people even during house shiftings and never any gas leakage or any problems, but I read a few complaints about them also. Of course off the compressor warranty you can rely on any service agent, but even then brands with quality service will ensure component and spares availability at later stages also. Remember all the manufacturers are more inclined towards their AMC contracts which give a regular stream of income but this excludes several things and also expensive for retail households and suit corporates better.
The reviews can leave a consumer more confused in making purchase decisions. I suggest one should rely on their own sources in this regard and use reviews to take note of select features and issues which miss their notice and in some cases reviews certainly help to rule out the brands and models in making purchase decisions.