Where do you go to when your phone dies on you and you don't know what to do? Bring it to the service centre of course. In today's post, I'll talk about my experience at the LG Service Center since my phone was malfunctioning and wanted to get help. When I checked out Google for pictures of the service centre, none popped up so I'll be the first to write about my experience. I'll also include photos of the service centre just in case if you want to know how it looks like. Of course, I can't just capture the photos like that, so I secretly took the photos of the interior and exterior while they were busy tending to my phone.
Since this is the LG Service Center, they will deal with whatever products that are manufactured by LG such as mobile phones, refrigerators, air-con, microwaves, TVs and so much more. However, the building is quite far if you don't live near the HarbourFront area. Thanks to the Labrador Park MRT Station which is just located outside, you can come here easily to get your LG product fixed by just taking the Circle Line MRT. If iou're hungry and want to do some shopping, there's a new shopping mall opposite called Alexandra Retail Centre along Alexandra Road.
The service centre isn't actually a store so you can't buy any LG products here. Even though it's a service centre, the place looks appealing with the big glass windows, comfortable seats at the waiting area, a customer lounge and a nice ambience. Sure, it doesn't really look as nice as the LG retail stores but it's visually appealing enough. Do note that there's a security post when you want to enter the service centre. Just tell him that you're going to the LG Service Center to get your item fixed. Also, please visit the place only if you have a purpose and not for the fun of it.
When you come in through the doors, there will be a receptionist sitting at the reception counter ready to serve you. Just approach her and state your purpose of coming here. In this case, I was here to get my LG phone fixed (1st visit) and to collect it back (2nd visit). She will then give you a queue number and you can wait at the waiting area. There's no receptionist at the counter as pictured above because she was attending to my phone.
You'll get a ticket like this with the queue number. If you think the service centre has very few people, well, you're wrong. There's quite a number of people waiting and some of them were waiting at the Customer Lounge. I actually visited this place twice. First visit was on 14 Jan 2012, I dropped my phone off and explained to the staff the problems that I faced. They gave me a call a few days later notifying me that I could collect back my phone. On the 2nd visit which was on the 27th, I collected back my phone which was totally fixed and best of all, I don't have to pay for it since my phone was still on warranty.
On my second visit to the service centre, there weren't that much people and not all the staff were present at the counter. I think there were only 2 of them working excluding the receptionist. One of the counter staff was tending to my phone for my collection. Most likely I came to the service centre minutes before it closes so maybe some of the staff left early since there weren't that much customers. I like the clean and simple layout of the area along with the white and dark red coloured interiors. The seats at the counter were also comfortable.
After collecting my phone from them, the service centre have not closed just yet and I still had some time left. I took the opportunity to hang around at the Customer Lounge. There was this LG netbook sitting lonely beside the window and it was a working model. Seems that the netbook looks pretty outdated since it's still running Windows XP when netbooks currently run Windows 7. You can actually use the netbook actually but I'm not so sure if the internet browser can be used.
Apart from that lonely netbook, the lounge also has this large HD TV made by, of course, LG and showed the popular free-to-air channel, Channel 5. During that time, America's Got Talent was on (Or was it X Factor? I don't recall) and there was this half naked performer doing weird things and received three X's. It was quite funny. You can sit on the comfy sofa and watch the TV while waiting for your turn to arrive.
At the side of the Customer Lounge, there's this school known as the LG Air Conditioning Academy to teach people about the LG air-con systems and how to fix them. Not so sure if it's for the public or not but still, it's cool.
Above the HD TV at the Customer Lounge, there's this display which shows the current number so while hanging out around here, you can check out the display to see if it's your turn to talk to the LG staff. Pretty neat huh? You don't have to turn around and be paranoid into thinking that you have missed your number. Just right beside the netbook that I've mentioned earlier, there were a few dummy phones on display along with product brochures and cards of current LG mobile phones. You can have a feel of how light the phone is and how thin the phone is but it would be better if the dummy phones were actually working models. Anyway, it's a service centre and the actual demo phones are currently available at LG retail stores instead.
At the lounge, there's even a drink dispensing machine which dispenses coffee, hot water and the one that I got, Teh Tarik which is pulled milk tea. Okay sure, the Teh Tarik may not be the actual authentic one and comes from the machine itself. Furthermore, the drinks were free of charge so you can grab an empty cup, press the button, accessorise your drinks with some sugar and drink away. Beside the machine, there are some magazines for you to read and browse through while waiting for your turn.
Here's a close up view of how the machine Teh Tarik looks like. It tasted exactly like the actual Teh Tarik itself. The cup's not too big nor too small so it was of a perfect size.
Here's a full view of the bar table and bar seats along the window with the netbook and dummy LG phones on display. I like the designs of the seats. Very minimalistic and clean.
Here's how the service centre looks like from far. As you can see, the building's quite big and the actual service centre is located at the first level of the building. This is also the headquarters of LG Singapore. Any enquiries or help you need with your LG product, you can come here to seek assistance. There's also plenty of parking space if you wish to come here by car or private transport.
Overall, the visit to the LG Service Center was great. They repaired my malfunctioning phone within a few days time, the customer service was good, the Customer Lounge made me feel like as if I'm at home and the place itself was futuristic-looking and minimalistic. I like the clean look of it overall. You may be wondering what was the problem with my phone. My phone, the LG Optimus 7 running Windows Phone, crashed on the 5th of Jan and when I restarted my phone, the message "Memory Card Not Working" was showing. I kept receiving that particular message and was so frustrated, I decided to come here to get it fixed. It's a good thing I already backed up most of my stuff although I did lose some things like messages and game scores. Since my phone was still in warranty, the repair was free of charge.
I got back my phone and was totally satisfied with their repairs. They replaced my phone's circuit board and everything was back to normal. Kudos to them for helping me and solve the problems. I'll definitely come here again to get my phone fixed if I need it. The place was quite far away but thankfully, there's an MRT Station beside it. Though, I wish they fixed the body of my phone which is slightly cracked and scratched.
Getting Here
Bus services available: 51, 57, 61, 93. 97, 97e, 100, 166, 175, 408, 963, 963E, 963R (Bus stop along Alexandra Road opp. NOL Bldg)
Nearest MRT Station: CC27 Labrador Park MRT Station (Circle Line)
Website: http://www.lg.com/sg/general/contact-us/index.jsp
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