Understanding Warranty Policies
- Persia Xenopoulou (Deactivated)
- Former user (Deleted)
- Andros Papageorgiou (Unlicensed)
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Table of Contents
What are Warranty Policies?
A Warranty defines how Physical Goods bought by customers can be replaced, free of charge, within a specific period after the purchase. Warranties are provided based on configured Warranty Policies that provide the rules that the Warranty follows. Warranty Policies establish the Physical Goods covered by the Warranty, the period following their purchase for which the Warranty is valid, and the cases in which the Warranty offers a free replacement. Warranties are then automatically applied by the System on the Physical Good during the sale. As there can be multiple Warranty Policies in effect applicable to a Physical Good, the latest Warranty Policy set up in the System is the one applied.
Warranties are only offered for Physical Goods that are either directly or indirectly sold. i.e. Rented Installed Items do not have any Warranty.
Warranty Policies Glossary
| Term | Description |
|---|---|
Warranty Policy | Simply this is the definition of the policy on how a set of traceable goods are covered by Warranty. |
| Coverage | Whether a traceable item is under Warranty, in other words, covered by a specific Warranty Policy. |
| Physical Good under Warranty | Indicates that the Physical Good is still under Warranty. |
| Physical Good out of Warranty | Indicates that the Physical Good does not have a Warranty or that its coverage period has expired. |
| Coverage Reason | The reason for the replacement request of a Physical Good under Warranty, which the System uses to determine whether or not the replacement will be free of charge. |
| Replacement Coverage Policy | Determines whether or not the Warranty of a replaced Physical Good will be transferred to the new one, or whether a new Warranty will be applied. |
| Warranty Remaining Duration | The time left before the Warranty runs out after being carried over to a replaced Physical Good. |
Warranty Policies Key Processes and Concepts
| Processes / Concept | Description |
|---|---|
| Automatic determination of Warranty coverage | The System applies the Warranty Policy automatically at the point of order and sale (through CRM.COM Jobs). If more than one Policy can cover the Physical Good, then the most recently created one is applied. |
| Checking Warranty coverage of Physical Goods | By raising a Service Request, agents can check whether a Physical Good requiring replacement is still covered by a Warranty and if there will be a charge for its replacement (depending on the cause of damage, determined by the Coverage Reason.) |
| Transferring Warranty coverage between Physical Goods | Determines whether a replacement Good benefits from the remaining Warranty time or gets a new Warranty. |
| Billing of replaced Physical Goods with Warranty coverage | The decision on whether a new Physical Good replaced under Warranty should be billed or not is undertaken automatically based on the Coverage Reason selected by the agent. Coverage reasons are configurable. |
| Moving damaged replaced Physical Goods to specific warehouses | Sold Physical Goods which are replaced free of charge under Warranty are returned to a company Warehouse, while damaged Physical Goods that are not replaced for free remain at the customer's location. Physical Goods are returned to different Warehouses depending on who made the initial sale (company or a partner). |
| Warranty Policy Management Tools | Dashboards and a Report offer an overview of Warranty Policies:
For each Installed Item with Warranty coverage, a Printout is also available directly from the item's page. |
Access & Viewing Controls
Network Characteristics define the level of access for each record. i.e. whether it will be available for selection, viewing or editing.
| Entity | Network Characteristic | Description |
|---|---|---|
Warranty Policies | Controlled Selection Entities | A Warranty Policy can be applied on a Physical Good only if the User adding the Physical Good on the Job belongs to one of the Organisational Units added in the Allowed Organisational Units (AOU) of the Warranty Policy, or a collaboration exists between their Unit and the AOU of the Warranty Policy, or is a Super User. |
| Warranty Coverage Reasons | Global Viewing Entities | Warranty Coverage Reasons have no access restrictions. They can be viewed and selected by all logged in Users. |
Warranty Policies Related Modules
| Entity | Interaction of Warranty Policies with Entity |
|---|---|
| Installed Items | The Installed Items are the traceable Physical Goods that the Warranties are applied to when added or swapped via Jobs. |
| Jobs | Warranties are applied automatically by the System on Physical Goods when orders are made through Jobs, based on configured Warranty Policies Jobs for Swapping Subscription Physical Goods are used to determine the coverage of damaged Physical Goods sold to the customer and replaced under Warranty. |
| Service Requests | Service Requests on damaged Physical Goods are raised to check Warranty Coverage. |
| Inventory Management | Used to specify the warehouses where damaged Physical Goods under Warranty that are replaced free of charge should be returned. |
| Reports | Reportsspecifically developed for Warranties, providing the number of Physical Goods that have been sold and are under Warranty or whose Warranty has expired. |
| Dashboards | Dashboardsspecifically developed for Warranties, providing information on raised Service Requests or Jobs for swapping Physical Goods. |
Warranty Policies - Business Examples
The following section provides business examples on how the CRM.COM Warranty Policies module is used.
Apply Warranty to replace damaged Physical Goods free of charge
Business Requirement
Company ZX wants to provide a 24-month Warranty for decoder products bought by its customers.
- If the decoder is reported as 'Faulty' within this period the company:
- Will replace the item
- Will not charge the customer
- Will transfer the Warranty to the new item. i.e. if the decoder is replaced on the 13th month after purchase, the new decoder will be within Warranty for another 11 months.
CRM.COM Solution
Configuration
- Configure Coverage Reasons.
- Configure a Warranty Policy.
- Add the configured Coverage Reason as 'Covered'.
- Select Replacement Under Coverage Policy - Carry Over Remaining Duration.
- Set the definition as 'Effective'.
User Process
• Create a new Subscription - Sell a new Decoder
The decoders added on every new Subscription created via New Subscription Jobs will automatically get a Warranty that expires 24 months after their removal from the warehouse
The Warranty is applied, only if the decoder is sold (directly or indirectly). The Warranty is not applied to Rented Installed Items.
• Customer with faulty decoder
When a customer calls to report a fault on their bought decoder, the user will:
Raise a Service Request
â—˜ Raise a Service Request for the Subscription.
â—˜ Select the decoder from the Affected Products and select 'Faulty' as the Coverage Reason.
The System will automatically calculate Coverage and update the related field to YES.
Create a Swap Subscription Installed Item Job
â—˜ Create a Swap Subscription Installed Item Job.
On adding the Installed Item on the Job, the System will require a Coverage Reason.
â—˜ Select 'Faulty' as the Coverage Reason.
The System will automatically calculate Coverage and update the related field to YES.
â—˜ Select the item to replace the faulty decoder.
On completing the Job the System will:
• Transfer the new item to the customer.
• Place the returned item back to the Subscription/Job Warehouse.
• Transfer the Warranty onto the new item.
• Set the Coverage period of the new item equal to the remaining period on the Warranty.
Replace Physical Good and charge for its replacement
Business Requirement
Company ZX wants to provide a 24-month Warranty to decoder products bought by its customers. The Warranty will cover the replacement of the product free of charge if it is faulty, but the customer will have to pay for the new item if the damage is identified as intentional. In both cases, the new item should get a renewed 24 month Warranty Policy.
- If the decoder is replaced due to intentional damage, then Company ZX process is as follows:
- Replace the damaged item
- Bill the customer
- Provide a new Warranty for the new item
CRM.COM Solution
Configuration
- Configure Coverage Reasons.
- Configure a Warranty Policy.
- Add one configured Coverage Reason as 'Covered' and another as 'Not Covered'.
- Select Replacement Under Coverage Policy - New Warranty for both reasons.
- Set the definition as 'Effective'.
User Process
• Create a new Subscription - Sell a new Decoder
The decoders added on every new Subscription created via New Subscription Jobs, will automatically get a Warranty that expires 24 months after their removal from the Warehouse
The Warranty is applied only if the decoder is sold (directly or indirectly). The Warranty is not applied for Rented Installed Items.
• Customer requires Decoder Swap due to broken decoder
When a customer requests a replacement decoder and the agent identifies that the damage has been intentional then:
Raise Service Request
â—˜ Raise a Service Request and relate it to a Subscription.
â—˜ Select the decoder from the Affected Products and select 'INTENTIONAL DAMAGE' as the coverage reason.
The System will automatically calculate Coverage and update the related field to NO.
Create Swap Subscription Installed Item Job
â—˜ Create a Swap Subscription Installed Item Job.
On adding the Installed Item on the Job, the System will require a Coverage Reason.
â—˜ Select 'INTENTIONAL DAMAGE' as the Coverage Reason.
The System will automatically calculate Coverage and update the related field to NO
â—˜ Select the item to replace the damaged decoder.
On completing the Job the System will:
• Transfer the new item to the customer.
• Leave the damaged item with the customer.
• Provide a new Warranty for the new Physical Good.
• The new Installed item will be billed when the Job is billed.