Fujiaire’s Impressive Air Conditioner Warranty

by Adrian How

I recently saw the Fujiaire’s commercial on Youtube featuring their 3 year full body warranty on air conditioners. What impressed me was that this concise 11 second commercial was able to promote their warranty feature using a really cute angle.

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YouTube

The ad features an adorable baby elephant wearing oversized earmuffs, letting out a sneeze. Immediately, two large ears rise from either side of the calf, covering it completely. You then realise the calf was in fact sitting atop its mummy all this while. A very poignant way indeed to portray Fujiaire’s 3 year ‘full body’ warranty.

The ad actually got me thinking on the following points:

1. Air conditioners are a critical fixture in Malaysian homes – living at the equator line simply translates to a year long tropical climate with high humidity. I cannot recall being in a home without an air conditioner installed. In fact, what amazes me is the volume of air cons installed in small homes these days, denoting families’ reliance on this appliance to convert the localized tropical climate into a more temperate one.

2. A while ago, I read somewhere that external temperatures have a direct effect on one’s state of mind and moods. I then recalled that Lee Kuan Yew kept strict temperature regiments as it was believed that the temperature of a room directly impacted his performance and wellbeing. His offices were kept at a constant 22 degrees Celsius and he slept in a room where the temperature was always 19 degrees Celcius. He was always a very scientific and research oriented person, hence he must have had empirical reasonings for needing to keep cool. A simpler litmus test to prove that temperature affects moods is simply to pay attention to the number of times you feel agitated, aggravated and simply irritable in a place which was stuffy and warm. I’m sure its happened to most of us at some point.

3. Back to air conditioners in homes… most units are used heavily – daily, for hours at a time. Hence, reliability and after sales support becomes a critical purchase consideration factor. As the industry matures, performance parity is being achieved, making after sales support and warranty a key differentiator with competing brands. Whilst some brands may offer extended warranties, you need to be careful especially to ‘what’ is actually covered by the warranty.

All Fujiaire air conditioners come with a standard 1 year warranty that covers all parts and labor. However, if you register online at www.fujiaire.com.my within two weeks of purchase, you’re entitled to an extended warranty up to three years that covers parts only. It’s great to see a local brand doing something out of the box to differentiate themselves from the competition and showing consumers that they care about after sales support. I also assume the Fujiaire folks must have high confidence in the quality of their product in order to be able to promote such an audacious warranty! A win-win for consumers either way you look at it.

One of the smaller details that I appreciate if that they’ve simplified the warranty registration process by doing away with manual registration. Registration can be done self-service online by simply submitting your purchase online to enable the warranty. Fujiaire seems to be moving in the right direction by focusing on the consumer experience.