Damaged goods

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Ali Baghdadi, Aptec.

Managing the return of faulty products is an issue that often leaves the channel divided — nowhere more so than in the Middle East, as vendors and partners jostle to define their roles in a process that is too important to be ignored.

The role of Return Merchandise Authorisation (RMA) in after-sales service has always been troubled. Its very reason for existence — the acknowledgement that occasionally a customer has a problem with a product — is difficult for vendors to explain in a positive light.

For resellers caught at the customer interface and expected to react quickly to faulty kit, the process of realising a refund or a credit is often extended until so long after they have provided a replacement product, that returns are a constant drain on their squeezed margins.

Whatever strategy they adopt, vendors will always be damned in somebody’s eyes. If they take post-sales support in house, they are very publicly accountable when the standard of any replacement policy falls short. If they appoint certain resellers as authorised service partners, non-authorised resellers find themselves directing customers with faulty products to a competitor, adding insult to injury.

That was Nokia’s policy in the Middles East until this summer, when it announced that it was outsourcing after-sales servicing to two partners (Al Futtaim’s Technoserve division and Axiom’s Phone Care division), taking a tighter grip on post-sales service standards and brand protection.

Existing authorised service partners might feel aggrieved but for everybody else, and particularly customers, the clarity of the strategy and Nokia’s robust move towards greater accountability promises to cast RMA in a less problematic light.

Outsourcing may increasingly be seen as the preferred option. Middle East distributors, understandably, would rather focus on their core business than carry the financial and logistical can for managing returns.

In Europe, a recent survey by maintenance specialist Comtek revealed just how seriously many of them are taking the RMA drain on their resources. More than 60% of distributors said they would terminate a vendor contract if returns were handled badly — although how many would carry out such a threat in these turbulent times is open to conjecture.

More than 80% complained of having to carry extra stock to compensate for a lack of local vendor repair facilities, and a similar percentage would rather vendors without in-country RMA facilities outsourced this function to a suitably qualified third party. The survey also revealed that the average turnaround for RMA and repair services can be as long as two months — a further indication of its status as a thorn in the side for the retailer or reseller charged with resolving the customer’s problem.

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