COOL designs - seen it. Bleeding- edge technology - been there. Top-notch network coverage - done that.

Ironically, by putting virtually every good and fashionable feature in handsets, cellphone makers may have pushed themselves into a corner as far as differentiation is concerned.

So how does a brand stand out?

By one intangible thing, said serviceexpert Jochen Witz of the National University of Singapore (NUS): the quality of service standards provided by the brand's customer service centres.

The associate professor at NUS Business School said: "As products are becoming commoditised, one way to differentiate yours and make it stand out is to have great customer service."

He is also the co-author of the Services Marketing: People, Technology,Strategy series and has published several research studies on the importance of customer service.

Added Jochen: "Negative word ofmouth costs potential sales. It will take the company extra marketing and sales effort to maintain their market share, which affects margins negatively."

Festering discontent

Too bad IT companies don't seem to be heeding this warning. The Straits Times forum has published more than 10 complaint letters about the lacklustre service standards in customer care centres since December last year.

One writer was Muhamad Rani Osman, 39, who owns a communications training firm. His wife had bought a Nokia 5610 cellphone on Dec 31.

"A few days later, the phone malfunctioned and she had to send it to the Nokia centre in Tampines. What frustrated her most was that she had to wait for more than four hours before she was able to meet the Nokia staff to explain her problems," he said.

To add salt to the wound, the glitches persisted.

"Reluctantly, we went back to the service centre to voice our frustration. I was shocked to find fourother customers who faced the same predicament as my wife," he said.

There's more of such unhappiness. A check on local forums and blogs revealed that more than 20 Singaporeans have had poor experiences at Nokia centres. Another 15 received poor service at rival Sony Ericsson and another seven frowned on customer care at the Samsung service centre.

The Consumers Association of Singapore (Case) noted that of the 21,591 complaints it received last year, 1,465 were related to the electronics industry.

This was the highest percentage of complaints from a single industry.

The biggest bugbears were product warranties that were not upheld andrude service. Of 1,465 complaints, 77 were resolved by direct mediation or negotiation by Case.

Possible cause

According to experts, one reason for bad service could be because these customer service centres are outsourced.

Firms might try to minimise customer service costs as they can't quantify the effect of good service on their profits.

"Hence, as a result of low investment in customer care, it is difficult to break out from the cycle of low margins and low investment in customer service," observed Jochen.

A Digital Life poll of 10 major electronic companies in Singapore revealed that six of these firms outsource their service centres. They include Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Samsung.

Companies said outsourcing is cheaper than managing consumer complaints in-house. But external staff may not feel obliged to give the same level of care as internal employees.

"If service differentiation is important to the company, then a company should not outsource the service. Also, for very complex IT products, it would make sense to have the (service crew) in-house," said Jochen.

Mobile phone brand HTC is one company that bucks the outsourcing trend for its service centre. Its spokesman cited that "outsourcing does not enforce a strong after-sales sentiment".

But Jochen said "a third-party provider may have an easier time to highlight issues than an in-house department and would do so faster."

Outsourcing could be useful if the service centre conducts regular checks on service quality, proper staff training and has a clear complaints process.

This is what Nokia, which has the largest market share here and hence sees more complaints than its competitors, does. Aside from selecting and training the staff at its partner's customer care centres, it also conducts regular operational meetings with its customer care partner, "mystery shopping" and consumer surveys, as well as collects direct feedback from customers.

Training of frontline customer service staff has been stepped up, said Grant McBeath, the general manager of Nokia Singapore. They now undergo a continuous learning programme which includes better product knowledge and a more sensitive handling of customers.

Whatever the case, consumers aren't taking poor service lying down.

In a David versus Goliath case earlier last month, sales manager Tan Geok Hoon, 43, enforced a Small Claims Tribunal order to Nokia, the world's largest cellphone maker, to pay her $778 for a faulty handset she had bought.