Customer miseducation is the root cause of your No Fault Found issues

Many reverse logistics platforms assume a customer issue is a configuration, application, or hardware issue.

In several cases, they are right:  the removal of a misbehaving app, a software update or even a reflash or physical repair is needed. 

However, as evidenced by a large number of NFFs (“no fault found” cases) and avoidable repairs it is often customer misuse caused by a lack of product knowledge that is at fault. 

To illustrate this, here are some common smartphone issues that generate support calls (and often a device being sent to a repairer) when nothing is wrong with the device itself:

  • Devices using a similar looking charger that is not the right amperage, resulting in a trickle charge. This accounts for a surprisingly large number of devices being submitted for repair due to “battery issues”. 
  • Customers reporting problems where it is simply the case that the volume is turned down. This can account for 4% of devices being submitted for repair with “audio issues”! 
  • Customers reporting battery issues after using the device for several hours with video streaming and graphically intensive games. 
  • Poor quality apps that drain battery excessively. 
  • Poor storage management that leads to lack of memory and subsequent issues (performance, inability to send SMS, etc.). 
  • Viruses due to no virus protection being installed. 
  • Misunderstanding of the device’s capabilities – file formats supported, internal memory, network bands supported, etc.

Its not just related to repairs either, customers: 

  • Complaining about excess charges due to in-app purchases on “free” apps. 
  • Not understanding their bills.
  •  Not understanding how to transfer data from an old device.
  •  Returning products as they do not understand the features. 
  • Losing data due to weak passwords or spyware apps. 

Any diagnostics suite must also take into account education as a cure as well as or instead of a factory reset – education is a low-cost, less-intrusive alternative that must exist alongside traditional approaches. 

Even better, proactive education should be considered alongside customer on-boarding, but that’s a topic covered in another article.

Download the PDF version of this article here.

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