Reports of Motorola refusing to honor its warranties have been making rounds on the Internet and social media. Customers expressed dissatisfaction with the way Motorola has been handling things and started to take their grievances to popular forum sites.
One user has made a lengthy post on Reddit narrating his disastrous experience with Motorola support.
"Motorola simply can't honor the warranty on their devices because they don't have replacement devices in stock," says the user.
More Reddit users have joined the conversation and shared similar stories. It appears that Motorola is unable or unwilling to issue warranty replacements, leaving its customers without a phone or smartwatch for days, or sometimes even months.
Motorola's warranty covers its device for one year starting the date of purchase. Users, however, claim that they are being refused repair or replacement even if their warranties are still in effect. Some customers who have been waiting longer than a month for a replacement device have demanded their money back, but Motorola has similarly denied their requests.
This news may come as a surprise to the loyal Motorola fan base. For many years, Motorola has been a trusted brand known for its devices' sleek design, quality and affordability. In 2011, Google purchased Motorola for $12.5 billion but later sold it to Lenovo for $2.91 billion. Google, however, made a deal with Lenovo to keep control of the software patents, as well as existing projects.
Motorola has been striving to make a comeback in the smartphone scene with the release of the Moto X series. The Moto X is a greatly customizable Android smartphone device that primarily targets mainstream consumers. Motorola currently offers more smartphone and watch design options that customers find attractive compared to its competitors.
This marketing strategy, however, may have backfired. A lot of the current warranty-related complains stem from Motorola's inability to re-stock its products on time. Keeping a lower inventory of goods is a common business practice among companies that tend to sell their products at a lower price point, but issues may arise. As Lenovo has gained full control of Motorola, changes in internal operation, marketing and branding strategies may all have contributed to the problem.
Motorola is yet to release a statement regarding this issue.
