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Cell Phone without "Three Guarantees" Will Not be Sold
Cell phone consumers are finding that not all manufacturers and retailers are very sympathetic to their complaints, which often center on the quality of cell phones. Some cell phone manufacturers and retailers do not provide the "three guarantees" (for repairs, replacement and compensation for faulty products) for their cell phones and ignored customers' complaints. The Ministry of Information Industries says that it will introduce new regulations to address this problem.
China Consumer Association Vice-President Li Baoguo, said that retailers who say that cell phones do not fall in the realm of the "three guaranteed" products and do not give consumers an opportunity to return the product or compensate the customer for their loss are shirking from their legal responsibility. Although the current "three guarantees" regulations only list 18 products, the regulations also state that a product not on the list does not mean that it is not covered by the "three guarantees" regulations.
Li Baoguo said that there are a lot of cell phones in China and although the ratio of phones with problems is very small, the volume of faulty cell phones is still large. If cell phones' "three guarantees" problem is not resolved, it will affect consumers' trust of the industry.
The majority of the consumer complaints come from problems about the cell phone service repair system and service after consumers purchase the cell phone. Manufacturers and service centers have cited company regulations for not responding to the consumer complaints. Actually, these regulations are run contrary to the laws in this field. Cell phone manufacturers have not trained employees at service centers enough so often the defective phone needs to be sent back to headquarters. When there is a delay in the repair time, the manufacturers do not provide consumers with a temporary phone, resulting in unsatisfied customers.
The Ministry of Information Industries (MII) Telecommunications Management Bureau Service Quality Monitor Office head Huang Dengqing said that the cell phone "three guarantees" problem must be resolved now. The MII is paying a lot of attention to this problem. It will adopt the following measures to ensure that all cell phones are covered by the "three guarantees":
1)To enter the market, new cell phone manufacturers must implement the "three guarantees." Those who do not will not be allowed to sell their cell phones in China. Before cell phone manufacturers enter the market, they must provide information such as a "three guarantees" certificate, show how they will implement the "three guarantees", where the service centers will be, etc. For those cell phone manufacturers already in the market who do not follow through with the "three guarantees," after they receive a consumer complaint, they must cancel their business license.
2)The MII is preparing to issue regulations to manage repair centers and use one year's time to make all the repair departments more "intelligent" At first, the cell phone repair stations can be classified into three "intelligence" groupings. After they become "intelligent", they need to go to the industry and commerce department to apply for a business license. The provincial telecommunications administration departments will monitor and investigate them periodically, the service technicians need to be trained periodically and be licensed.
3)The MII is preparing to set up an information industries complaint center. It will periodically announce complaints against the "three guarantees" and quality of products. It will step up monitoring efforts and inspections of manufacturers that receive a relatively high number of complaints. If the manufacturers do not pass inspections, they must cancel their business license.
Also, the MII will provide consumer associations with technical support and work together with them to resolve the consumer complaints. The regulations on the cell phones "three guarantees" will not infringe on any of the consumers' benefits. It will only be used to eliminate the manufacturers that take shortcuts and protect legal manufacturers.
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