The head of the Aftersales Services Commission of the Mobile Importers Association announced that a thorough review and supervision of the activities of mobile import and warranty companies is planned to provide better and more accurate services to the public.
As reported by IDEA, according to statistics provided by the Customs and the Mobile Importers Association, the volume of mobile phone imports into the country has significantly decreased compared to previous years, and now, with the establishment of a specialized office for supervision in issuing permits and evaluating mobile import and warranty companies at the Ministry of Industry, it is possible that the number of these companies will also decrease significantly. Currently, more than a thousand companies have licenses for mobile imports, and out of this number, only fifty companies are actively engaged in this field.
In a press conference at the Information Technology Company, “Farshad Mehranpour” explained the history of the reduction in warranty service provider companies stating:
“After the sanctions restricted mobile phone imports and services, the support organization, in order to prevent a shortage of goods in the market, easily issued licenses to all companies that wanted to import goods. Any company engaged in imports had to specify whether it had the necessary infrastructure for after-sales services. However, many of these companies were newcomers at that time and only wanted to engage in imports. The legislator or the government decided to issue licenses without carefully verifying and examining the necessary infrastructure for after-sales services and provided an equal opportunity for all to prepare the required infrastructure for after-sales services.”
He believed that providing services was a costly endeavor, and those who became mobile importers were not familiar with many of the expenses in this field: “Most of the individuals who became mobile importers used to import and distribute goods through various methods and were committed to providing services. In the past, it didn’t matter from which border and origin the phones entered the country, but now the situation has changed.” According to him, a product known as an “unlocked product” means that the product was not originally intended for this region; it was produced for another region, used once, and then brought to Iran. This indicates that it lacks proper brand support for services.
As Mehranpour said, those who entered the service sector could not make the necessary investments. After a period passed, and in the new government, it was felt that the licenses issued for providing after-sales services were not very effective; they had only opened the door to imports and people faced difficulties in receiving services.
The public complaints have increased following the growth in granting import licenses
He made these remarks as a witness to the complaint statistics in the Association of Importers and the Protection Organization and said: ‘I have been responsible for the after-sales service commission in the Association for three years. People complain a lot, and it’s their right. This prompted the government to change the way licenses, inspections, and evaluations are provided. Companies are required to be evaluated. In the past, an evaluator would come and evaluate your office, but according to the laws, the evaluation might not yield the desired results. However, now they have defined systems where even complaints are registered, and it is clear how much a company complains relative to its imports, and it can be concluded that some cannot provide services. Now evaluations are supposed to be done annually with precision, the error rate has decreased, and companies that cannot meet the requirements are warned to make corrections within a short period, and if they cannot, they will not be allowed to import with a warranty.’
He believes that this process is time-consuming and that the idea that the number of warranty service providers should be reduced to 10 is not accurate: ‘The issuance of licenses and the evaluation process are to be managed so that people receive satisfactory service for the purchased product, and this is in line with consumer protection.’
Some experts fear that reducing the number of mobile phone importers and warranty providers could lead to rent-seeking behavior in the mobile phone market.
Former President of the Mobile Importers Association: In the previous period, everything was clear from top to bottom
Hossein Gharavi Ram, former head of the Mobile Importers Association, in response to a question about the reason for resigning from the Mobile Importers Association, referred to his history of activities in the association as the chairman of the board and said:
‘The Mobile Importers Association was an influential organization during my tenure. Our communications with decision-makers were excellent. I can confidently say that we were the top professional organization among importers. The reason for this was that we had a strong board of directors, and we dedicated our time to it. Most of our work was during Mr. Rouhani’s government, and the ministries and government stakeholders, in my opinion, had clearer responsibilities. I don’t want to interfere in recent developments, but in my view, at that time, everything was clear-cut; we talked about a specific issue, the commitments we made, and what I truly desired to happen within the profession were all clearly defined.’
He noted that during his years in the Mobile Importers Association, the outcomes were entirely clear. ‘We received monthly data on mobile phone imports for all brands, and we had statistics on the country’s mobile phone consumption.’ It should be noted that accurate data on this subject has not been disclosed for a long time, and it is unclear why this data is no longer published by peers and the Mobile Importers Association.
Gharavi mentioned that in the past, foreign exchange allocations for mobile phone imports were provided on time. ‘According to the latest report on mobile phone imports that was available during my tenure, we had over $4 billion in mobile phone imports. However, gradually, due to numerous issues that complicate matters, these imports have decreased. Now, according to the Customs report, mobile phone imports in the first 5 months of this year have been less than $1 billion.
Some Say When the New iPhone Arrives, iPhone 14 Registration Will Be Unlocked
He complained about the ban on importing iPhone 14 to the country and said, ‘They ban iPhone 14, and iPhone 13 comes to the market for sale. Of course, they say no, but it seems so from the consumer’s perspective. iPhone 13, which is not produced anywhere and you cannot find brand new products of it, is sold in Iran. It’s even joked that when the iPhone 15 arrives, they will reopen the import of the iPhone 14 so that iPhone 14 can finally be sold somewhere. Why should an Iranian pay more for an iPhone 14 and end up with an iPhone 13?
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