Smart Lock After-Sales: Response, Claims and Spares

Buyer Guide · Published 2026-10-15

After-sales is the part of a supplier evaluation that is hardest to judge before you buy, because there is nothing to look at. The useful questions are about response time, classification and spares, and all three have checkable answers.

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Response time, by severity

Critical	A fault that stops a project or creates a safety risk	Within 1 hour	Video call, then parts dispatched within 24 hours
High	A functional fault that stops the product being used	Within 2 hours	Detailed reply, then a plan within 48 hours
Medium	Cosmetic or packaging issues	Within 4 hours	Reply, then a plan within 72 hours

Ask what the response commitment is and on which channel. A commitment that is not written down against a severity level is not a commitment.

The five steps of a claim

Report with the batch number, the affected quantity and a photo or a short video
Acknowledgement against a severity level, with a named owner
Diagnosis: the batch is traced to the board, spring or packing stage
A written root-cause answer, not only a remedy
Remedy: replacement parts, a credit, or a swap in the next shipment

The root-cause step is the one that stops the fault recurring. A supplier who sends a replacement without explaining the cause has solved one shipment and not the problem.

How a fault is classified

Material defect	Cracking or distortion	Critical	Replacement dispatched within 24 hours, cause analysed
Functional fault	The lock jams or the electronics fail	Critical to High	Remote diagnosis, then parts or a unit
Finish defect	Paint loss or a colour mismatch	Medium	Replacement or a credit against the next order
Transit damage	Damage found on arrival	Medium	Checked against the packing photographs

Why spares ship rather than whole units

Returning goods to China is usually uneconomic: the freight often exceeds the value of the units, and it takes weeks during which the customer has no resolution. Parts, a credit or a swap on the next order solve the same problem faster.

Kit parts: bolts, latches, springs, gaskets and battery covers
Electronic parts: boards and readers, where the fault is electronic
Consumables: gaskets and seals, which have a service life of their own
Spares ordered with the original shipment, because a re-order carries its own lead time

What to agree before you order

Swipe the table sideways to see the full specification →

Response commitment	Written down against each severity level
Warranty scope	12 months on electronic parts, confirmed per order
Spares availability	Which parts are held, and how fast they ship
Claim evidence	Batch number, quantity, photograph or video
Who pays freight	On a covered replacement, confirm it in writing

The two questions worth asking are what happens in the first two hours and where the spare parts come from. Everything else in after-sales follows from those two answers.

Buyer Questions

Three questions this guide usually raises.

On this topic

How fast will you reply to a problem?

Within 1 hour for a critical fault, 2 hours for a functional fault and 4 hours for a cosmetic one. Ask for those commitments in writing against each severity level.

Do we have to return faulty units?

Usually not. Return freight often exceeds the value, so a claim is settled by replacement parts, a credit, or a swap on the next order.

Can we order spare parts separately?

Yes, but spares ordered with the original shipment avoid a second freight cost and a second lead time. That is worth planning at quote stage.