Mi Laptops – "Chal gaya to chaand tak naa chala to raat tak "

A few years back while haggling with a roadside vendor in the famed Hongkong market in Siliguri while buying a rechargeable torch I asked him “If this torch malfunctions within a week will you replace it ?”. With a grin the vendor told me “ Sir, yeh Chinese maal hai ,inka koi bharosaa nahin hotaa - Chal gaya to chaand tak naa chala to raat tak”. In spite of the friendly advice from the vendor I still ended up buying it as it was much cheaper and looked slicker than an Indian torch & much to my dismay within 15 days the torch started malfunctioning.

The same applied to an MI product which I had brought from Amazon -the MI Notebook 14 powered with an Intel i3 10th generation processor on 6th November 20 as my kids needed additional laptops at home for online classes. I brought the laptop considering that specs which I was getting at a competitive cost. However within a couple of months both the camera and the touchpad of the laptop conked off. Then began my struggle of getting the laptop serviced from Mi. Considering that it was COVID times MI customer care suggested that they would send out a technician at home –after weeks of follow-ups they finally sent a technician who was a novice & had no clue on how to troubleshoot. Without even opening the laptop he advised that the motherboard was not working & that he will go back to his office and places a request for parts. The parts never came for the next 2 months & when I threatened to go to court they finally did they agree to resend another technician. The second technician ( who seemed like a contracted technician) offered me a friendly piece of advice when he came over to my place – “Sir, Dell ya Lenovo lete to itna issue nahin face karte shaayad”. Nevertheless he said that considering the harassment that I was facing he would recommend that the laptop be replaced. Again after another month of follow-up they finally replaced the laptop. I happily collected the laptop from the service center &to my dismay once I was back home I realized that the network card was not working for the laptop. When I went back to the service center ( Q Digi service center @ Sector 14 Gurgaon) they said that it is because windows need to be reinstalled ?on the laptop –however they do not have a copy & that I should visit another service center for this & a simple Windows installation will get it resolved . I visited the other serviced center & submitted the laptop and after a day got a call mentioning that there is an issue with the network card and it needs to be replaced – it will take another week for the Network card to arrive. Till date I ?am waiting for the call from them

I am amazed at the apathy which Mi has towards Indian customers – to say that their service is extremely pathetic would be an understatement. During my interactions with their customer service staff & service center staff I have seen a complete lack of ownership in them. If MI wants to make a mark in India it needs to desperately revamp service.

With my experience I feel that the quote which the vendor at Siliguri had shared with me really applied to MI products in India & we as customers need to be aware of these kind of companied who only provide a cost arbitrage & completely lack quality & service orientation.

Team MI – are you listening ??