BENGALURU: Thanmaya Bekkalale bought a fridge three years ago with an extended warranty, but every time an issue cropped up with the appliance, the contract slipped from his mind. Many others, he reckoned, would be in similar situations – purchasing a product, misplacing the warranty card and thereby unable to claim the benefits. These everyday stories of lost and misplaced invoices – the only proof accepted for warranty claims – was the trigger for SCAMPII (Service Contract and Agreement Management Program Index).
An app-based productivity tool, it helps a person manage warranties and service contract for household goods like pressure cooker, air conditioner, phone, microwave, etc. “We decode the fine print and take off the burden of keeping track of records. We analyse the contracts – terms for servicing, replacement of spare parts, etc. We’ve done all the ground work to make these details understandable to the layman,” says Bekkalale, the co-founder of School of Fish Technologies.
Even as purchases have been veering towards the online route, Bekkalale points out that when it comes to appliances and gadgets, buyers still prefer offline shopping. “If you buy it from an online aggregator, chances are that there are hundreds of other purchases you have made. Or even if you keep track through the product company’s app, you will require multiple apps,” he reasons.
The app is simple to use, and the consumer first needs to click a photo of the product invoice through the phone camera. The product can be selected either from a curated database of 28,000 consumer durables or added as an own product. It can then be tagged to a location address. The added product can also be shared with others. You can add multiple warranties and service contracts for a product.
For instance, for a mobile phone, you can add and manage its standard factory warranty, the extended warranty that comes into effect once the factory warranty ends, and the screen guard insurance effective for six months post-purchase. The entire invoice can be shared with service engineer by email or WhatsApp.
Bekkalale had been working on the app for the last three years, and it was to launch earlier during Ugadi. He has invested Rs 75 lakh to Rs 1 crore in the venture. “With the festive season here, this is the time when most households go for purchase of new consumer goods since discounts and warranties on products drive the demand market. People are looking for post-purchase service network, and they are the ones we are targeting,” he says.