Survey on Mobile Phones and

their defects
JAI AWATRAMANI & ALIASGAR NAVAGHARWALA
MBA(Tech.), Telecom, Class of 2004-09
NMIMS University

The study result is intended to give understanding of the

Indian Mobile Phone Market in terms of the defects that
occur in Mobile Phones, Customer Satisfaction to
complaint handling and Customer Loyalty.
 Executive Summary
India and the Indian Telecommunications Market
Mobile phone production growth
•The Second fastest growing economy. estimation in India
•The fastest growing telecom sector of the
• CAGR of 28.3 per cent from 2006 to 2011,
world. Teledensity of more than 28%.
totalling 107 million handsets by 2010.
•300 million mobile connections
• Revenues CAGR of 26.6 per cent from 2006
The Stretch of Mobile Phone to 2011, touching US$ 13.6 billion
• Teenager to 75 year old
• Urban to Rural
• Multimedia Rich to Plain
vanilla
• Rs.1500 to Rs.50,000
• More than 10 brands for
options
• More than 150 options
• Available Everywhere
• Highly Marketed
• Prices Declining by the day
• Niche Players also starting to
gain increasing market share
 Executive Summary
The Survey
• Need for the Research
• In the Month of October-November a spate of incidents among friends with regard to defects
occurring with their Mobile Phones prompted us to discuss the issue
• A deeper observation revealed that there are many defects and there is a decreasing level
customer care by service centers to defects complaints, leading to frustrations among the user
• The two researchers being from the field of telecom further generated huge curiosity to do a
sample survey study and see the actual statistics prevalent.
What did we measure? Survey Details
• The Mobile Phone Manufacturer • Sample Size – 309
• The Price of Mobile Phone • Duration – Nov’07 – February’08
• The Type of Defect
• Total Cost of phones measured –
• Rectification of Defect? 30 lakhs
• Days required for Rectification
• Location of Rectification
• Customer Satisfaction to
Complaint handling
• Satisfaction to Current working of
Phone
• Changeover Chance
 28% of Phones sold in market have
manufacturing defect
Proportion of Defective Phones Due to Internal Problem
The Results
occuring within 1 year from the date of Purchase from the total
sample Average time To get phone repaired – 16 days
Average time To get phone replaced –>30 days
87, 28%

38% of the
Yes people who
No visited
authorized
service center 23, 38%
were not
satisfied with
the way their
222, 72% complaint was
handled
38, 62%

20% are of total respondents

are not satisfied with current Would you like
working of their Phone to purchase the
phone from the
61, 20%
same company
again

108, 35%
Maybe
No
166, 54% Yes

35, 11%
248, 80%
 Mobile Phones and their Defects
Research problem
• A study of defects in Mobile Phones, the rectification
process and its effect on Customer Loyalty.

OBJECTIVE
• To study the percentage of defective phones in
the market
• To study the time taken for rectification.
• To study customer satisfaction towards
rectification process and Customer loyalty
towards the handset manufactures.
 VARIABLE CLASSIFICATION
• Dependent Variable: Defects
• Intermediate Variable: Rectification Process
• Independent Variable: Customer Satisfaction & Customer
Loyalty
 Operational Definitions
• Defect in Phone: - Malfunctioning of the Handset in
certain identified areas
• Multiple occurrence of Defect: - Defect occurring more
than once (whether same or a different defect) in the phone
lifetime.
• Software • Keypad • Hearing
• Type of Defect: • Headphones/ • Display • External Body
Attachments • Speakers
• Joystick • Network

• Cause of defect: - Whether the defect is within the phone or

cause by some mistake from the user
• Rectification of Defect: - A defect can either be rectified or
replaced.
 Operational Definitions
• Place of Rectification: - Defective phones are rectified
at any Provate Shop or Authorized Service Center
• Time required for rectification: - No. of Days
• Satisfaction for complaint handling: - Are the
customer satisfied or unsatisfied with the way their
complaints are handled
• Customer Satisfaction for current working of
Phone: - Regardless of defect or no defects
• Customer Loyalty occurring from various
factors: - How many users would like to purchase from
the same manufacturer again.
 HYPOTHESIS
Hypothesis framed based on possible manufacturing standards and
service levels timing given to solving customer complaints

Hypothesis
1. 99% phones do not have manufacturing defect
2. 90% is the service level of complaints. 90% of all phones need
repairing should be repaired within 2 days.
3. 99% of the people will always be loyal to manufacturer of the
current handset they are using
 Scope of the Research

• Majorly College going students

• Convenience method of random sampling
was adopted
 Research Tools

• Checklist with 4 parts

• Part 1: Customer Demographics
• Part2:Defect occurrence in Mobile & Defect detailing
• Part3:Customer Satisfaction to the way the Complaint
was handled
• Part4: Satisfaction towards the current working
conditions of phone and loyalty towards company.
Sampling Design – How was the
sampling done
The population consists of every college student owning a
Mobile Phone. Colleges are chosen because in Mumbai,
colleges have students coming from every part of Mumbai. The
population estimation of this sample covers all age groups as
fundamentally the different mobile phones used in al age
groups remains the same.
Information Flow Chart
 Objective 1
To find out the percentage of defective mobile phones circulating in the
market, the type of defect, cause of defect and occurrence of defect.

• Hypothesis 1: - 99% phones do not have manufacturing defect

• Question 1: How many mobile • Question 2: Cause of defect?
handsets in the market are User Mistake or Internal
defective? Problem? – Total defect - 129
No Yes
26, 20%

Your Mistake
Internal Problem of the Phone
129, 42%

180, 58%
103, 80%
 Objective 1
To find out the percentage of defective mobile phones circulating in the
market, the type of defect, cause of defect and occurrence of defect.

• Question 3: When did the • Question 4: Out of the total

defect occur from the date of sample how many were defective
due to internal problem of the
purchase? phone within the first year from the
120 date of purchase of the phone?
100 Proportion of Defective Phones Due to Internal Problem
100 occuring within 1 year from the date of Purchase from the total
84 sample

80 71 87, 28%

60
47 Yes

40 No
22
20

0 222, 72%
1) Within 1 2) Within 3 3) Within 6 4) Within 12 5) More
months months months months than 1 yr

Percentage
Cumulative Percentage
 FINDINGS OF OBJECTIVE 1

• 42% phones sampled are defective

• 28% are visibly due to internal problem of
the phone as the defect has occurred
within 1 year from the date of purchase
and it is due to internal problem.
• 71% of the defects take place with 6
months of purchase
 TESTING OF HYPOTHESIS 1

• Null Hypothesis: - 99% phones do not have

manufacturing defect
• The data shows that 28% of the Mobile
Phones have inherent manufacturing defect
when they are sold
• Hence

• Null Hypothesis is “Rejected”

 Objective 2:
To find out where did the customer rectify his handset and in how many days

• Hypothesis 2: - 90% is the service level of complaints. 90% of all

phones need repairing should be repaired within 2 days.

• Question 6: What was the • Question 7: Of the phones which

number of phones that were were repaired/replaced where the user
repaired replaced or were not did got it repaired from i.e. Authorized
rectified by the user? Service Centre or Private Shop?
Authorized Service Centre
12, 9%
Not Rectified 18, 14% Private Shop
Repaired
Replacement

50, 45%

61, 55%

99, 77%
 Objective 2:
To find out where did the customer rectify his handset and in how many days

• Question 8: Of the total number of the phones which were

repaired/replaced where did the user got it repaired from i.e. Authorized
Service Centre or Private Shop?
Replacement Authorized Service Centre Replacement Private Shop

3, 25%

47, 47%
52, 53%

9, 75%
Repaired Authorized Service Centre Repaired Private Shop
 Objective 2:
To find out where did the customer rectify his handset and in how many days

• Question 9: How many days it took for the Authorized Service Centre and
the Private Shop to get the defect rectified?
Replacement (days)
Repaired (days)
N 12
N 99
Average 55
Average 16
Upper Limit 76
Upper Limit 21
Lower Limit 33
Lower Limit 10

Repaired Replacement
Authorized Private Shop Authorized Private Shop
N 52 47 N 9 3
Average 15 17
Average 63 30
Median 6.5 5
Mode 1 2 Upper Limit 88 103
Upper Limit 22 25 Lower Limit 38 -42
Lower Limit 7 8
 FINDINGS OF OBJECTIVE 2

• Defects were rectified in the following

manner – 45% in Private shop, 55% in
ASC
• Average time to get phone repaired
from either an authorized service
centre or private shop is 16 days and
time taken to get replaced is 55 days.
 TESTING OF HYPOTHESIS 2
• Null Hypothesis: - 90% is the service level of complaints. 90%
of all phones need repairing should be repaired within 2
days.
• The data shows that population average time taken for
repairing a phone takes 7days to 22 days whereas for
replacement takes 38 days to 88 days this leads us to reject
the null hypothesis. This shows us the significant amount of
time taken to get a defective handset sold by the
manufacturer to repair or replace it.

• Null Hypothesis is “Rejected”

 Objective 3
To study customer satisfaction towards rectification process and current
working of phone and Customer loyalty towards the handset manufactures.
• Hypothesis 3: - 99% of the people will always be loyal to
manufacturer of the current handset they are using
• Question 10: What was the satisfaction level of the people who
visited the Authorized Service Centre/ Private Shop to get their
phone rectified (replaced/repaired)? No
Private Shop
Yes

23, 38%

23, 44%

29, 56%

38, 62%

No
Authorized Service Yes
Center (ASC)
 Objective 3
To study customer satisfaction towards rectification process and current
working of phone and Customer loyalty towards the handset manufactures.

• Question 11: How many • Question 12: What is the

respondents of the total sample
are currently satisfied with the Brand Loyalty of the users?
working of their phone? Would you like to purchase the phone from the same company
again?
61, 20%

108, 35%
Maybe
No
166, 54% Yes

35, 11%
248, 80%
No
Yes
 Objective 3
To study customer satisfaction towards rectification process and current
working of phone and Customer loyalty towards the handset manufactures.

• Question 13: What is the relationship between the

performance of the phone and loyalty towards company?
160 Are You Satisifed with working of Your Phone = Yes,
Would You Purchase from the Same company Again? - YES/NO/MayBe

140

120 85, 34%

100 Maybe
Count

No
Yes
80 152
152, 62%

60 11, 4%

85
40
Are you satisfied with the working of your Phone now = No,
20 Would you Purchase from the same company Again? - YES/NO/MayBe
24 23
11 14
0 14, 23% 23, 38%
Yes No Maybe Yes No Maybe
Yes No
Maybe
Are you Satisfied with Working of Phone and No
Would You Purchase from the same company Again
Yes

24, 39%
 Objective 3
To study customer satisfaction towards rectification process and current
working of phone and Customer loyalty towards the handset manufactures.

• Question 14: What is the relationship between defect

occurrence of phone and satisfaction with current working
of the phone?
Did The Phone ever had a defect = No
Did The Phone ever had a defect = Yes Are You satsified with the working of your Phone Now -YES/NO
Are You satsified with the working of your Phone Now -YES/NO
61, 20%

52, 40%
No No
Yes Yes

77, 60%

248, 80%
 Objective 3
To study customer satisfaction towards rectification process and current
working of phone and Customer loyalty towards the handset manufactures.

• Question 14: What is the percentage of respondents who have

faced a defect within 1 year from the date of purchase and the
loyalty towards the company to buy from the same
manufacturer?
Defect occured within the warranty period, and loyalty towards
brand

45, 41%

46, 42%

Maybe
No
Yes

18, 17%
 Objective 3
To study customer satisfaction towards rectification process and current
working of phone and Customer loyalty towards the handset manufactures.

• Question 14: To find the relationship between a defective piece

and its effect on customer loyalty
 FINDINGS OF OBJECTIVE 3
• Of the entire sample, 54% would like to buy the phone
from the same company again, while 11% would not and
35% are unsure.
•When a phone does not has a defect 62% would like to buy the
phone from the same company again, while when the phone has a
defect only 43% would like to buy the phone from the same
Loyalty
company again. Defect YES NO MAYBE
Defective Phone 43 16 41
No defects 62 8 30

• Customers having a defective handset: - 38% were

unsatisfied with complaint handling.
• Phone Rectified to a Private Shop Centre, “44%” were not
satisfied with the way their complaint was Handled.
 TESTING OF HYPOTHESIS 3
• Null Hypothesis: - 99% of the people will always be loyal to
manufacturer of the current handset they are using
• The above data shows us 11% of the population would not
like to buy the phone from the same company again, whereas
35% is unsure. This leads us to reject the null hypothesis. Our
analysis also shows us the relationship between defective
handsets and loyalty. If defects were to be zeroed customer
loyalty would increase to 62% directly affecting the cost of
marketing. gives us a clear results whether to accept or reject
the null hypothesis, while point 2 gives us ways to improve
loyalty by having defect free handsets.

• Null Hypothesis is “Rejected”

 Recommendations

• Lower Defects increase loyalty

• Lower customer dissatisfaction towards
complaints handling increase loyalty
• Regulator should set quality benchmarks
• The Price paid should be worth the service.
 Following was the share of various
phones surveyed
• Nokia – 213
• Sony Ericsson – 47
• Motorola – 24
• Samsung – 11
• LG – 7
• O2 – 3
• Others- 4

• Total - 309 samples.

• Based on purely random sampling

For any further enquiries kindly contact
jai.awatramani@gmail.com
aliasgaryn@yahoo.com