Choosing which mobile phone to buy can be one of the most important decisions Kiwis make every few years.
Not only is it the device many of us use more than any other on a day-to-day basis, but the cost of a premium smartphone has crept up and over that $2000 mark in recent years, making them an increasingly expensive investment in the cost-of-living crisis.
When you spend a couple of grand on a device, you should feel confident that it's going to last you at least a few years. But some companies - even some of the biggest companies there are - might not look after you if your phone gets damaged a couple of years down the line, unless you fork out several hundred extra dollars for a protection plan.
That's not the case with OPPO.
Ask a Kiwi who has had a problem with an OPPO smartphone what happened and they'll probably have a very different story to someone who had a similar problem with a Samsung or Apple equivalent.
OPPO has their own call centre in New Zealand to help you out with any issues and if one of their devices needs to be repaired, that'll be done by them in this country, rather than being sent overseas or by a local third-party repairer.
On top of years of software and security update guarantees and free screen repair offers, many OPPO smartphones offer a three-year warranty in Aotearoa. If your phone gets damaged beyond repair, its replacement ships from within the country, too, which means you'll never be waiting more than a few days for your repaired or replaced phone. The company will also give you a loan phone while you wait, if needs be.
Auckland-based customers can even walk into OPPO's office, drop off a phone that needs repair and then pop back an hour later to pick it up. If you live elsewhere in the country or would simply prefer to use a courier, OPPO will pay for the shipping both ways and include a loan phone with the initial courier ticket.
Of course, OPPO is an international brand and if travelling abroad many of the protections Kiwi customers enjoy in New Zealand will continue to be available to them through the International Warranty Service on selected models.
As a challenger brand that quickly became the third most popular smartphone provider in Aotearoa, OPPO has sought to earn good word-of-mouth recommendations by providing the best possible service as a strategy for taking customers away from other brands.
"When we launched here we did our own research into what Kiwis want. On top of that, most of our team are New Zealanders and have worked in New Zealand retailers before, so we know that the New Zealand consumer prioritises really great customer service," said Morgan Halim, the Country Manager of OPPO NZ.
"We felt there was a gap in the market as really great customer service hasn't been provided by our competitors. So how we do that is, for example, by having our own after sales service rather than contracting that out somewhere else.
"We believe our interaction with the customer is a journey that shouldn't stop when they purchase our phone. We need to be able to take care of them until the end that phone's life - that's what we're trying to achieve."
OPPO recently announced it is releasing the Find N3 in Aotearoa, the highest-spec foldable smartphone ever produced by any manufacturer to date. As a global release, the company is hoping to attract consumers around the world with the device's state-of-the-art camera setup, super powerful chipset and unique folding conveniences, all for a competitive price.
But on top of that, in New Zealand OPPO wants to offer purchasers better service for the device than their rivals can for years after they've purchased it. It's not just the company and their customers praising their service - OPPO was awarded Consumer New Zealand's Top Brand in the mobile phone category for three consecutive years.
And they're not satisfied - they want to get even better.
"We're constantly monitoring customer feedback. We welcome Kiwis to check out reviews of our service - you can see the Google reviews for our service centre, it's not a perfect five rating, but it's very positive compared to other brands and we keep monitoring it to ever improve overall customer satisfaction," said Halim.
More information on the protections afforded OPPO customers in Aotearoa with the company's latest smartphone range is listed below:
OPPO Find N3
- 2-year international warranty
- 5-years of security updates
- 4-years of software updates
- Free unlimited screen protector replacement for the 2-year warranty period
- Free screen repair (internal and external) once each within the first year.
OPPO Find X5 Pro
- 3-year NZ warranty / 2-year international
- 4-years security updates
- 3-years software updates
- Optional 1-year screen repair cover available for purchase.
OPPO Find N2 Flip
- 3-year NZ warranty / 2-year international
- 5-years of security updates
- 4-years of software updates
- Free unlimited screen protector replacement for the 3-year warranty period
- Discounted one time screen repair $99 within the first year.
Article created in partnership with Oppo New Zealand.
