Samsung fights imitation with e-warranty

The rate at which customers buy fake Samsung phones on the Ghanaian Market has reduced considerably, the Product Manager of Samsung Electronics West Africa, Mr Tetteh Akornor has said.

Although he did not give the exact volumes by which the phenomenon has reduced, he said calls to the centre through the system had showed that more customers were becoming aware of the imitated products.

“By all means it will persist, but the quantity has reduced, compared to previously where we didn’t have the system. I am sure as more people get to know about it, hopefully we won’t have such issues,” he told the GRAPHIC BUSINESS on August 19.

He also explained that “we don’t actually keep track of the quantity that comes, it is difficult to give but what I can tell you is a lot of people do register and they have confidence in the system.”

Samsung Ghana over the years has had to fight counterfeiting of their products, especially the mobile devices, as it has been imitated perfectly to look like their original ones to unsuspecting buyers.

Although the genuine ones are expensive, the imitated versions are cheaper. For instance, the genuine Samsung Galaxy S4 is sold for GH¢1,100 while the imitated ones are sold for between GH¢500 and  GH¢600.

The e-warranty system, which was introduced a year ago, allows customers to verify the originality of the handsets they are buying.

Mr Akornor said the response had been great because people now bought Samsung phones knowing that it was genuine with the needed two years warranty. 

According to him, the e-warranty system had been designed in such a way that as soon as a customer buys a Samsung phone or tablet, he could actually verify from the manufacturer whether it was a genuine one or not. 

He said Samsung Ghana  had recently launched a promotion where customers with old smartphones could trade them for new ones at a lesser cost. GB