I have been using this purifier since last 9 months. Soon after installation in first quarter problems starts to appear and we have to call service every month for change of parts like UV lamps, membrane and other minor faults. We thought that this is normal situation with any water purifier. But last month was disastrous - problems started every week and even the main part - RO membrane stopped working. This was replaced by a standby part till original part is repaired as communicated by service representative. This was a shock to us as they claim warranty of all parts for one year, but only doing the repairs not replace parts. Also we came to know that Kent dosen’t have a service network on their own and all customers rely on support from dealers. It takes a cycle of one month for repair and replacement of parts.
Also service representative told us that almost 30-40% of RO machines these problems occur in first year as they have compromised on product quality. In addition as Kent claims that their machine is fully microprocessor based - stops on a very minor issue.
To summarize -
Kent doesn’t have their own service network - need to rely on dealers.
Kent doesn’t cover product warranty - only repairs - no replacements.
Kent’s focus is on sales not service with compromised product quality.
PS:
Updates of today: I am again disheartened to know two more things -
Repair cycle time takes 1 month and if by that time machine completes the warranty period, then they do not honour the repair / replacements .
Repaired part has limited warranty of two months only, and after two months customer has no option but to pay for replaced part (even in the warranty period). To me this is an unfair trade practice.
PPS: Updates till September 1 to 25th 2012
When I posted this issue on August 30th, I got an email response from Kent, asking me about my contact details and I promptly given that next day. After few days I got a call from Area manager (Service)looking at Rajasthan territory telling me that he is looking after big things that my issue will be resolved in next few days. For one week there is no response, so I called him again - that gentleman was not surprised and he asked me to call him next day so he can go over full report. When I insisted t, hat you a customer has to do follow-up call when issue is already logged - his lame excuse was that he get around 25-30 requests everyday and he is not able to track every issue. My question is that why is in support? Isn’t this is a necessary requirement of his job profile? Then I suggested him to create a schedule and then he curtly replied "Don’t teach me to do my work." and agreed to call me back. Its more than 20 days but I haven’t heard back from him yet. Meanwhile I got a courtesy call from their head office as well as Jaipur office asking me to send contact details of dealer - which was also provided. Also they confirmed that SLA of part replacement is 7 days. Its been two months since start of this issue - where they are tracking SLA?
But there is no response and no resolution of service. I think they are not in hurry.
Conclusion: Previously there was assumption that Kent service network is poor as they are relying on out sourced agencies and dealers. But now this is confirmed that even service network owned by Kent is running by idiots who don’t care about customers and same philosophy they are translating to 3rd party networks. There services are lousy from the top and never trust their word.
My 2 cent of advise to Kent management (if they are concerned) - You are spending good amount on marketing and advertising. Please put some $ and focus on support as well if you want to do the long run.
I was thinking about purchasing some other products from Kent, but I wowed that I will never do that mistake again.