Several months ago, we wrote an article about why people should not get a OnePlus 11 from the grey market, where the Chinese versions get region locked once it detects that it’s being used in a different region. While the fix is supposed to be easy, you lack peace of mind because there’s no official warranty. We would say the same thing with Xiaomi products that you should ONLY buy from official channels.

Even with all the savings you can get from grey-market Xiaomi products, having no warranty can be a real pain in the butt–especially if said product, unfortunately, dies before turning a year old. I recently experienced the advantage of buying Xiaomi products ONLY on their official channels in the Philippines after my dad’s Mi TV P1 died a few weeks ago. Fortunately, the Mi TV P1 was purchased through the Authorized Xiaomi Lazada store (which is managed by Grimalkin), and since it was still under warranty, I decided to avail it.

Availing of the warranty is an easy process, and here’s the step-by-step procedure:

• Check which service center can cater to your Xiaomi product
• Give them a call
• Bring your Xiaomi product to the service center
• Wait for feedback
• Get back your Xiaomi product

Check which service center can cater to your Xiaomi product. 

Depending on the product involved, Xiaomi has different service centers nationwide that cater to various products ranging from phones, TVs, to any of their IoT products. Make sure to check which service center fits your needs before contacting them. This should save you precious time from travelling to a service center only to find out that they can’t service your Xiaomi product.

Give them a call. 

Before bringing your Xiaomi product to the service center, it’s best to give them a call and tell them your concern. Should you call them (or send a message via Viber), make sure to know the serial number of your Xiaomi product that needs to be serviced. The serial number is crucial, as Xiaomi Philippines does have a database of products that are sold through its official channels–from there, they can assess if your Xiaomi product is covered by the warranty.

Bring your Xiaomi product to the service center. 

Head over to the service center that will cater to your Xiaomi product. In my case, Telecom Concepts Inc. in Kapitolyo, Pasig is the service center that caters to the repairs of any Mi TV products. 

While you can bring along the receipt with you, this is not needed as service personnel will check on the serial number of your product to determine if it qualifies for a warranty claim. For this part, only products that are sold through official channels are covered by the warranty. Those purchased through the gray market may incur out-of-warranty charges, while Xiaomi products that are meant for the Chinese market will be rejected upfront. 

Wait for feedback. 

After sending your Xiaomi product for repair, they would usually take around 3-5 business days to call you and give you feedback. Depending on the repair that needs to be done, Xiaomi will try to replace the defective part–otherwise, they can opt to give you a new unit, which was the case for my dad’s Mi TV P1 since it was a motherboard issue and that Xiaomi Philippines does not have any replacement parts in store.

Get back your Xiaomi product

Depending on the scope of repair, you should be able to get back your Xiaomi product after a week. In my case, I got the replacement Mi TV P1 4 days after sending it for repairs. This can be much faster for phones–if you are going for a battery replacement, the whole procedure would usually take around 2 hours, and I was told that replacement batteries do not cost over Php 1k BUT you will need to pay Php 500 for labor.

With my pleasant aftersales experience with Xiaomi, I can finally attest to the importance of buying their products ONLY through their official channels, as it gives you peace of mind in case something goes wrong.