I recently bought a ceiling fan from Kuhl which came with "free installation".
The experience was simple:
- Wait 4 days
- Nobody comes
- No installation
- No accountability
Ultimately I returned the fan - it took around 15 minutes over a phone call with Amazon's customer care to initiate the return process. This time could have been better spent on something else…
Now yes - I can install a ceiling fan myself.
That is not the point.
I did not pay money to become an unpaid field technician coordinating support logistics for a hardware company.
In contrast, Atomberg's service has been consistently prompt and professional for me across multiple Pune locations - Hadapsar, Undri and Manjri. YMMV though!
That matters.
Before buying the product based on Amazon "Reviews", I should have looked at
the Google Play Store reviews! The Kuhl Fan app is very poorly rated for good
reasons…
A ceiling fan is not a SaaS product where you can ship broken experiences and patch them later with emails and apologies.
Physical appliance products require physical execution:
- Installation networks
- Local coordination
- Spare availability
- Warranty handling
- Actual humans showing up
Indian consumers are slowly realizing something important:
A slightly less fancy product with reliable service is often better than a "premium" product with startup-style operational chaos.
Especially for appliances.
Specs are temporary.
After-sales support is the real product.