Earlier Wednesday OnePlus announced the shopping experience they intend to implement, including how they plan to overcome most international shipping issues and address customer service issues.
Of course, it's normally not considered "news" when a company releases details about how they plan to improve the shopping experience, but it is news when that company is a brand-new Chinese smartphone manufacturer with CyanogenMod as its default OS. When companies like Oppo and Xiaomi announce their latest flagship phones with that unique combination of cutting-edge specs and cut-rate prices, they end up making little or no impact in the United States. The first thing many in the U.S. think when they see these phones is "that's great, but by the time it gets to my doorstep, it'll have added customs fees/tariffs, astronomical sales taxes and obsolete specs because it took months to get here."
OnePlus thinks they have an effective strategy in place to help customers avoid such hassles. To begin with, they maintain that they already have multiple warehouses in every continent they serve (we know they'll serve Europe and presumably they'll serve North America, but where else will they ship to?). Therefore when you order a OnePlus One it'll likely ship from a warehouse in your country. This is par for the course for big manufacturers such as Samsung, HTC and Motorola, but for such a new company to have this distribution network in place is a good sign.
Even they acknowledge that there will likely be some issues that will affect the shopping experience adversely, but they seem to have a good foundation in place to prevent some of the nastiest problems that could come up. They had the following to say to potential customers in the European Union who may be concerned with some of the snags of shipping in their locales:
As for customer service, OnePlus will have its already-existing forum for support along with the standard knowledge base and a live support team fluent in English. They plan to use "modern translation tools" to provide live support to users who prefer other languages (uh-oh). If you find yourself having to ship the product back for quality issues, the warehouses they use double as service locations and in some cases they'll even pick the phone up from you. It's not exactly Apple's Genius Bar, but it's not bad for a new company manufacturing its first product. Of course, if the quality issue is the fault of OnePlus, they'll cover the shipping costs for you.
They also announced that their e-commerce site will be available in the language of each country they serve, will process transactions in local currency and will provide a list of compatible carriers in each country.
Source: OnePlus forums
Of course, it's normally not considered "news" when a company releases details about how they plan to improve the shopping experience, but it is news when that company is a brand-new Chinese smartphone manufacturer with CyanogenMod as its default OS. When companies like Oppo and Xiaomi announce their latest flagship phones with that unique combination of cutting-edge specs and cut-rate prices, they end up making little or no impact in the United States. The first thing many in the U.S. think when they see these phones is "that's great, but by the time it gets to my doorstep, it'll have added customs fees/tariffs, astronomical sales taxes and obsolete specs because it took months to get here."
OnePlus thinks they have an effective strategy in place to help customers avoid such hassles. To begin with, they maintain that they already have multiple warehouses in every continent they serve (we know they'll serve Europe and presumably they'll serve North America, but where else will they ship to?). Therefore when you order a OnePlus One it'll likely ship from a warehouse in your country. This is par for the course for big manufacturers such as Samsung, HTC and Motorola, but for such a new company to have this distribution network in place is a good sign.
Even they acknowledge that there will likely be some issues that will affect the shopping experience adversely, but they seem to have a good foundation in place to prevent some of the nastiest problems that could come up. They had the following to say to potential customers in the European Union who may be concerned with some of the snags of shipping in their locales:
Given that they promise to charge under 350 Euros for the OnePlus One, that sounds like a good deal for European customers. Unfortunately, some customers in Europe and elsewhere will almost surely fall through the cracks somewhere. It will be interesting to see how the company responds to the unexpected problems that will inevitably come up.
As for customer service, OnePlus will have its already-existing forum for support along with the standard knowledge base and a live support team fluent in English. They plan to use "modern translation tools" to provide live support to users who prefer other languages (uh-oh). If you find yourself having to ship the product back for quality issues, the warehouses they use double as service locations and in some cases they'll even pick the phone up from you. It's not exactly Apple's Genius Bar, but it's not bad for a new company manufacturing its first product. Of course, if the quality issue is the fault of OnePlus, they'll cover the shipping costs for you.
They also announced that their e-commerce site will be available in the language of each country they serve, will process transactions in local currency and will provide a list of compatible carriers in each country.
Source: OnePlus forums
