How long will the. O. Smith American card last?

Nanjing Hua news recently, "Guangzhou users complain about A.O. Smith water heater after-sales kick ball incident" once again triggered the industry's attention to the company. A recent investigation by a reporter from Beijing Business Daily found that the domestic patent of the "carbon monoxide safety protection system" used in the new A.O. Smith gas water heater has expired last year. But A.O. Smith still endorsed it with a U.S. patent.

Prosecution incident

Mr. Li, a consumer who lives in Guangzhou, said that in May last year he spent more than 20000 yuan to buy a HPA-80A2 A.O. Smith heat pump electric water heater, but it still could not be used normally until September this year. Mr. Li called the. O. water heater after-sales service department many times and asked to come to solve the problem. The other party also came to the door several times to repair, but claimed that the accident had nothing to do with them. This matter dragged on for more than a year. At that time, Mr. Zhang, a dealer of A.O. Smith, also said that it was true, but he stressed that it was the problem of pipeline laying and had nothing to do with the product. In response, Mr. Li retorted that the decoration company laid the pipeline under the guidance of A.O. Smith's staff. Due to the stalemate between the two sides, the problem of Mr. Li's family has not been resolved.

Because repeated communication failed, Mr. Li complained to the Guangzhou Consumer Council. At the end of October this year, Mr. Li told Beijing Business Daily that the water heater problem had been solved. The reason is that after repeated urging, A.O. Smith's engineers came to his home to check. After disassembling, they found that the equipment was not properly debugged and there was a problem with the central pump that managed the cycle. However, until now, A.O. Smith has not given Mr. Li an explanation, admitting that it was his own mistake.

Regarding this complaint, a reporter from Beijing Business Daily also contacted the relevant person in charge of A.O. Smith by phone, text message and email, but as of press time, the other party did not make any reply.

In fact, the product allegations against A.O. Smith are not the only one. According to the Beijing Evening News, Ms. Xia, who lives in Beijing, bought an A.O. Smith gas water heater in 2010, but the water heater could not be used normally when it was first installed, and no gear could catch fire. After many after-sales repairs, the water heater is completely unusable.

A.O. Smith's reply was to suggest depreciation and purchase of new machines, which can be purchased at a discount of 70%. Ms. Xia said she could not accept the plan. She believes that A.O. Smith's advertisement says that the product can be used for a century. Now her gas water heater breaks down without being used, needs to be repaired every year, and parts are not produced in six years. This is an extremely irresponsible performance of the company, and the advertisement also involves false publicity.

American Identity

For years, A.O. Smith has proclaimed himself to be an "American hot water expert". According to the relevant person in charge of A.O. Smith, the company's products have a market share of more than 40% in the United States. However, there are many doubts in the industry about the company's self-proclaimed "one of the largest manufacturers of domestic and commercial hot water equipment and boilers in North America.

Nanjing Huaxun pointed out that A.O. Smith's so-called "American hot water expert" title is not in line with the facts. In the United States, A.O. Smith is only a small manufacturing company that started with the production of child seats and strollers. The history of producing electric water heaters is less than 60. Years, not to mention gas water heaters and water purification equipment. It is the electric water heater. With the decline of the electric heating market in Europe and America, it has basically transformed into a manufacturer of construction equipment and electric tools.

When a reporter from Beijing Business Daily visited a Suning store in Chaoyang District a few days ago, the shopping guide of A.O. Smith said that A.O. Smith water heaters are not imported products, because if they are all imported, they may not be suitable for China's water quality.

In the view of industry insiders, the only way for foreign brands to enter the Chinese market is localization, such as Samsung and LG, but A.O. Smith has done the opposite and has been playing the "American card" in publicity ". Taking its newly launched full range of Jin Gui inner tank air energy water heaters as an example, A.O. Smith said: "The welding technology used in this product has become the core technology. This core technology can enable A.O. Smith to patent Jin Gui inner tank to reach the US standard (2.0MPa), which is far higher than the Chinese and European standard (1.2MPa)."

A.O. Smith's shopping guide also said that A.O. Smith uses U.S. patents and U.S. technology. "A.O. Smith is a wholly-owned brand in the United States. It is built for China's water quality. The specially built Jingui liner is anti-corrosion and anti-scale for ten years." Beijing Business Daily reporter on the water heater also saw a sign with Jin Gui protection system. As for A.O. Smith's statement that he adopted American standards and American patents, the guide said that the American standards were higher and stricter. Taking the pressure-bearing index of water tanks (pressure fatigue test of water tanks) as an example, the Chinese standard was qualified only 100000 times, while the foreign standard was 160000 times.

In this regard, the person in charge of the patent business of a domestic home appliance company told a reporter from Beijing Business Daily that for home appliance companies, having a national patented technology, especially an invention patent, is a recognition and affirmation of their technological research and development strength. Similarly, for many years, A.O. Smith has also used American patented technology to promote its electric water heater and demonstrate its technical strength.

"But a patent right is a 'legal exclusive' granted by a country and government to an invention-creation, so the prerequisite for this right to be valid is that it is within that country. In other words, any patent is a patent of a particular country, and it is valid only in that country, and can be used by anyone in other countries without compensation." The above-mentioned person in charge said.

Invalid patent

At the China International Kitchen Expo held last month, A.O. Smith released the new gas water heater to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning in 2016, and declared: "All three new products are equipped with the US patented carbon monoxide safety protection system innovatively developed by A.O. Smith."

According to a reporter from Beijing Business Daily, A.O. Smith also applied for a patent for the above system in China. However, A.O. Smith's carbon monoxide safety protection system patent has expired in China. In this regard, the person in charge of the patent also confirmed this situation to the Beijing Business Daily reporter. It is understood that in April last year, the Patent Reexamination Board of the State Intellectual Property Office of China issued a decision on its official website that the. O. Smith carbon monoxide alarm patent did not meet the provisions of the patent law and declared the patent invalid. However, a reporter from beijing business today can still see the slogan of A.O. Smith's "products can monitor CO" in the terminal store.

An industry insider who has worked in the field of water heaters for more than ten years pointed out that A.O. Smith's so-called "American hot water experts" and American standards are actually of little significance. First of all, the United States used to be dominated by electric water heaters. In recent years, because of energy-saving regulations, electric water heaters are no longer allowed to be produced and sold. Second, there is a fundamental difference between the United States and China gas water heaters, the United States is generally used in the boiler type, for the entire household water. China is mostly using tankless gas water heaters. "A.O. Smith started to sell instant gas water heaters only after seeking a Japanese contract manufacturer in 2005, and began to produce it himself three years later. Therefore, it is accurate to say that the instant gas water heater technology of A.O. Smith comes from Japan, not the United States." The person said.

"I have never heard of the.O. Smith brand in the United States, but I have seen its advertisements in China. In the United States, every household relies on small gas boilers for heating and cooling." Mr. Liu, who settled in the United States and acted as an agent for an air purifier brand in the United States, revealed.

As A.O. Smith has been labeled as an American, the price of water heater products has also risen. A reporter from beijing business today found in the store that the overall price of A.O. Smith's products is much higher than that of his peers. Basically, the price of electric water heaters is in 4000 or 5000 yuan, and the price of gas water heaters is even more frequent in 7000 or 8000 yuan. On November 2, a reporter from Beijing Business Daily saw in the Suning store that the EWH-60E10 price of its 60-liter electric water heater was 5088 yuan, and the JSQ40-HX price of its 20-liter gas water heater was 8728 yuan. However, domestic Haier and Midea products of equivalent sizes are generally priced at around 2000 yuan, and there are even products below 1,000 yuan.

Despite the skepticism, A.O. Smith's market performance is good. According to the retail monitoring data of Yikang, a market research organization, in June 2016, A.O. Smith's share of the domestic water heater market reached 16.4, ranking third, second only to Haier and Midea. Thanks to the high price, the latest week (October 23-29, 2016) offline retail sales data released by China Yikang showed that A.O. Smith ranked first with a 24.4 per cent share.