Huawei's latest devices, the Mate 10 Pro and Porsche Design Mate 10 are landing in local retailers today, and priced at R17 999 and R26 999 respectively, these certainly fall into the premium bracket. The Chinese manufacturer isn't done there though, debuting an equally premium-priced after-sales service called Diamond VIP for the new mobile devices. 

Expensive post-sale offerings are nothing new in the mobile industry, with Apple touting iCare Plus and Samsung featuring Mobile Care, so it's only natural that Huawei has a similar product, especially as they've stated their intent to take on those two competitors locally.  

We recently asked Huawei Mobile South Africa for some feedback on the finer details of this offering, and this is what we learned. 

Cost

The pricing for Diamond VIP is dependant on the device, but is certainly not for the faint hearted. For he Mate 10 Pro consumers can look at paying R6 999, and Porsche Design Mate 10 bumps things up to R8 999. This payment will entitle you to two years’ worth of service from the date the device is purchased, or when the phone has been activated.  

Maintenance

One of the main reasons for getting this service, according to Huawei, are the number of different maintenance options that come as part of the Diamond VIP service. These include two free maintenance services during the two-year long warranty period, which happens at one of the Huawei-branded stores in Melrose Arch (Johannesburg) or Canal Walk (Cape Town). 

Part of the maintenance, Huawei will provide a screen protector, clean the inside of the device and perform a memory clean-up to keep things perfoming at a high level, according to the company. The clean-up is said to be done in front of the client, to ensure that no tampering or loss of data occurs. 

Added to this is one free screen repair or replacement during the warranty period. Free collection and delivery (home or office) is also available, should customers be unable to make it to one of the repair centres for their maintenance session. 

Extras

Some of the extras of the Diamond VIP service include loan devices. Huawei says the loanee phones may not always be the same as the one being booked in for repair, but will feature the same operating system. 

That said, given the Mate 10 series is the only Huawei devices currently sporting Android 8.0 (Oreo) and EMUI 8.0, it stands to reason that consumers should then get a Mate 10 phone as their loan option.  

During free maintenance sessions, users will also be able to get two images from their phone's gallery printed for free. There is also an engraving service, affording one free engraving at one of the Huawei customer service centres. 

Last worth mentioning is a dedicated customer care line for those who take up the Diamond VIP service. 

Validity

To qualify for the Diamond VIP service, the device must be purchased in South Africa, either from Huawei or from one of its authorised local distributors or retailers. 

Worth it?

This valued-added offering does not come cheap, and much of its value seems to boil down to what is and is not covered. 

Compared to Apple’s iCare Plus for example, which starts from R1 999 for the iPhone X (currently on discount for R499 for the iPhone 8, 8 Plus and X), covering the device for one incident of damage over a two year period. That said, in our past experiences with Apple, a service fee close to R1k often applied when using iCare. There also wasn't any other valued-added services or extras thrown in. 

All in all, for consumers that can afford the R27k asking price of the Porsche Design Huawei Mate 10, Diamond VIP shouldn't prove a hurdle in terms of costs. For users that opt for the R18k Mate 10 Pro, the R6 999 VIP service is likely out of reach.