I bought one Lava flair Z1 for my sister on 26th of October, 2015. After purchasing it from a reputed dealer, I went to my place and installed all the necessary apps using my home WiFi. The apps memory turned out to be very good as stated in the specifications. Display quality was ok, not that great but I didn’t expect more in this price range.
The next day when I put the sim card in which 3G network was already active, the handset didn’t find 3G network and always was showing 2G network. On restarting the phone the handset was able to get 3G network for few seconds or at max 45 seconds, after that it was switching to 2G network.
I had other phones with the same network, where the 3G signal strength was full. Technically speaking when the indoor HSPA ( 3G) connectivity was 17 asu, this particular handset failed to get 3G coverage.
I put the same sim in other 3g mobiles and it worked fine. Tried with other 3G activated sim cards on this product and the result was same.
Now, I was sure that there was a hardware fault in the newly purchased handset.
I toom the phone to the dealer in the morning 28th November and they too tested and said that the phone is faulty. I asked them to change it, they said they can’t replace it without DOA certificate. DOA stands for dead on arrival.
I went to one authorised service centre of Lava( Sealdah, Kolkata), they tested the phone for 2 and half hours and admitted that the handset was faulty.
When I asked for DOA, they were reluctant. After harassing me like all the other customers, they asked me to come back after 3 days. I said I can’t wait for 3 days with that faulty handset and I needed an immediate replacement.
Then they asked me to go their head office in Chandni Chowk, Kolkata and try. Their head office admitted that the handset was faulty and gave me DOA. The ambience of the customer care is worse than an office of a auto/rickshaw union. 2 table fans, no a/c, one bench for the customers to sit. I have been to nokia, blackberry n samsung service centres earlier. Hell and heaven difference in service quality and their behaviour.
I came to know from many other customers that yhey too have the same issue. It’s a common problem for z1 and x1 phones.
Some customers came after facing the issue after an usage of 3-4 months. Many customers were shouting that there were promised to get back their handsets within 15 days of receiving it and it has been 2 months that theycare coming down there.
Then and there I decided not to go for Lava. Micromax is much better.
I went to the mobile dealer with that DOA, paid the difference and bought Samsung galaxy J2 for my sister. Flawless services by Samsung.
I have been using Samsung galaxy phones for a long time, thought of gifting her a phone with good features at a lower price( Lava Flair Z1), that was a mistake.