Consumers

Okay, I admit it: you can't Yarraa a turkey. But you can Yarraa the freezer you keep it in, the oven you cook it in, the blender you use for your cranberry sauce and before-dinner drinks, the mixer you use for your mashed potatoes, the microwave you heat up the appetizers with, the toaster oven you use to heat up the bread, the telephone you use to give Uncle Charlie last minute directions to your house, the refrigerator where you'll keep the leftovers, the dishwasher that will be overflowing with plates and glasses later on, the garbage disposal you'll inevitably need for whatever the kids didn't want to eat, the television you watch football on after dinner, and the CD player the teenagers in your family listen to instead if they don't like football. The last thing you need to worry about on Thanksgiving is how to get any of the above fixed - and with Yarraa, you won't have to! That's one more thing you can give thanks for this year.

All my friends know I like to take pictures; they’ve been victim to my pointed lens at too many inopportune moments. They also know that when it comes to digital equipment, I am, in their terms, “unlucky.” When my dual-lens panoramic digital camera died, I missed out on an awesome 1-year warranty that would’ve repaired my camera for free. Believe me, if I had thought of it, I would have used it faster than you could’ve said, “Klutz,” me cackling and beaming in absolute delight the whole time.

My dad, who had bought me the camera, reminded me of the warranty after I had bought a cheaper replacement with less memory, less gigapixels, and less zoom. I sighed, regretted buying the replacement—but we couldn’t find the piece of paper with all the warranty information anyway. My free camera repair was lost amongst all the papers I had probably thrown out when we moved from our old house.

Yarraa remembers all the warranty information for you. Once you’ve filled in all the necessary information, you don’t need to keep track of the warranty paper anymore. All the information you’d need—the warranty number, the bill number, the length of time, and the warranty provider—will be stored on the Yarraa site, untouchable by tidy, well-meaning roommates.

My current camera’s warranty is safely stored on yarraa.com, and it doesn’t matter that I have no idea where the paper or box went. Just glancing at my consumer homepage lets me see how long much longer I have to use my warranty. Yarraa even stores a scanned image of the receipt for me, just in case someone wants to contest my purchase.

If my current camera breaks down, I know I can find and use my warranty easily and be a little less unlucky with my digital equipment.

There are so many benefits to a site like Yarraa.com, including the fact that it helps those of us that are extremely disorganized keep it together by tracking things we might normally misplace, like warranties and receipts. However, one of my favorite features of the site appeals to the side of me that is constantly on the wrong end of the customer service spectrum.

The Yarraa.com service request section is such a great feature for anyone who has spent hours ---literally --- on the other end of the phone, appealing to a completely unsympathetic customer service representative to help with a service issue. This can be so irritating when all you want to do is be able to drop off the item in question at the nearest service center for any necessary repairs.

Well, now you can save your phone rage for another matter, because Yarraa.com offers a service specifically aimed at helping people like you --- and me – to navigate through this frustrating process. You can use Yarraa to contact a service center and essentially do the requisite haggling for you. All you to do is look under the listing of your products on the Yarraa site and submit a service quest, listing the problem and choosing from nearby service centers. Who knew it could be so simple to get service request done without having to take an entire day off of work to do it?

The best part is that when you arrive at the service center, they will already have the information needed to address the problem for your product. However, if you don’t see a nearby service center listed, you may have to contact it directly and make arrangements, all the while encouraging them to become part of the Yarraa network.

Again, though, this is where Yarraa makes your life easier because let’s say you don’t know where in the heck to find a service center; Yarraa will help you find one through a very detailed map of your area, with authorized and unauthorized service centers.

I am all for anything that not only helps me find things easily online, but also helps me avoid those uncomfortable phone calls with customer service reps that seem more interested in arguing the details of my warranty and what I “might have done to the product” than helping me to fix it. This is just another component of Yarraa that helps the entire site stand out as a must-have for those into life organization of any kind.

There are a few necessary traits to be a successful business owner, manager or CEO. You have to be somewhat of a skeptic, but you definitely need to keep abreast of upcoming trends and what the big players are doing.

Yarraa offers one of those hot business services that will catch on big. The concept of reverse logistics is very appealing to retailers. Utilizing the power of the internet, this service can not only make the lives of owners, upper management, and staff less stressful, it can streamline the operations of a business. However, it's easy to ask what the catch is when you hear that Yarraa is free for both your customers and your business.

Their website isn't flashy. In fact, it seems fairly straight forward and user friendly - but what will likely catch your eye is the "who's who" of recognizable household brand names flashing across the screen at the bottom. From Sony Erickson and Samsung to Cuisinart, any skeptic will be impressed. If these lists of high ranking “satisfied customers” are using Yarraa, then maybe you should be.

Make the simple step of registering your business and join a growing group of forward thinking retailers and product manufacturers who are partnering with Yarraa to provide a better service for customers.

 Sometimes I contact a customer-service center, talk with a representative, and get confirmation that s/he will deal with my problem. OK, fine. Hours pass . . . then weeks . . . then sometimes even months. By that time, I’ve probably forgotten about my initial request, since there’s really no efficient way to track it, and I’m likely no longer a high priority on the service center’s Fix-It list.

But not anymore! When I use Yarraa to submit and track my service requests, it does all the work for me. If I want to know how long it’s been since I asked for that broken blender to be fixed, it can tell me exactly when I submitted my request and what the status is. Honestly, that’s so much better than calling a 1-800 number every time I have a question about my product . . . and it lets me be that much closer to having delicious smoothies again!

I like to say, "Things break around me" more than I'd like to admit, "I break things because I'm an absent-minded klutz." Regardless, I end up with damaged items: I've broken several cell phones while climbing, running, diving, etc. My latest digital camera has developed a focusing problem. So far only my camcorder has survived abuse, but mainly because I've begun to rein in my belief that cement is softer than it looks.

Now, if I had known about Yarraa back when I purchased my first generation of cell phones and digital cameras, I could've probably saved myself some time and embarrassment when searching for help and explaining the damage.

Yarraa is an online service where you can plug in-say, your camera's-vital information for future accidents or unexplainable breakdowns. Signing up is a cinch; you just need an email address and you're ready to start extending the lifetime of your delicate material possessions.

With the serial number, product type, brand, and model you inputted earlier, Yarraa will find you a repair store, and it will even provide you a map of its location. All you need to do is select a product you've registered, click on Service Request, and everything you need to know for a repair order is right there: the sneaky serial number that nobody's willing to memorize and a list of repair services in your zip code area.

This may not be stunning for people who know repair services for each of their possessions off the top of their heads-but there's an element of convenience for them, too. If that particular repair service is registered with Yarraa, you can send them a damage description straight from the Service Request tab. That way, helping hands aware of your injured item's history and present condition will be waiting when you arrive.

A product breaks and you need the receipt and warranty information for a return. But you haven’t kept your paperwork organized. Instead, you’re buried elbow-deep in yellowed papers, the ink faded beyond legibility. You’re not even sure if you kept the receipt.

You squint at the date and product name on a crumpled register receipt, sigh, and toss it aside. You’ll get to filing them later, when you’re not in a time crunch. Did you buy your iPod at Best Buy or the Apple store? If only you could remember.

Filing receipts is often the last task on a busy person’s to-do list, which often means it doesn’t get done. When a product breaks, you pay the price, settling for store credit if you make a return or paying for repairs because you lost the warranty information.

But if you have a computer, Internet access and a scanner or digital camera, the days of searching stacks of papers for an old receipt are over.

Yarraa.com lets you input all your receipt and warranty information, where it is safely stored on Yarraa’s secure servers. You’ll probably find that entering product receipt information is the feature you use most frequently on Yarraa. How do you do it?

Entering product information is easy and intuitive. On the left side of the screen, after you login and “skip introduction,” click the big green button that reads: “Click here to Add Product.”

On the right side of the screen, enter the requested information. Any information with a red star beside it is required information. When you are finished, click “next.” You will now have the opportunity to enter warranty information and to upload a JPG of a receipt – either a scanned image or a photograph.

If you don’t want to do this right away – perhaps you don’t have the extended warranty information in front of you – you can click “submit” and your product will be saved in the database. You can return at any time to edit the information or add more details about your warranty.

You’ll find the process goes quickly if you want to enter a large backlog of receipts so you can file them away in a box or filing cabinet, or even recycle them. Your information is safe on Yarraa.

Now, with all that paper clutter off your desk, don’t you feel better? And, look, there’s that iPod receipt, at the very bottom of the pile.

I haven't worn a watch in over a year.

It's no big deal, really. My cell phone has a clock on it, so when my watch started wearing out last year, I simply chose not to replace it. But it did occur to me this morning that a watch is another good example of a product you can safeguard with Yarraa.

There's a lot of variety when it comes to watches - everything from prestigious high-end brands that cost as much as a car, down to the plastic digital types that are given out for free when you buy a pizza on the right night of the week. (Yes, I do have one of those somewhere.) But a decent watch, while not as expensive as a car, will cost you. And as such, it's an investment worth taking care of. It's also the type of mark of prestige whose manufacturers care about their reputation in any market, so most of them probably have excellent warranty programs - if you remember to register, and if you can find the paperwork when you need it!

And with Yarraa, that's easy! A watch isn't quite like a computer or a cell phone or a refrigerator, but it's just as easy to take care of with Yarraa. Why not register yours today? And do keep an eye out for your favorite retailers to start using Yarraa for warranty registration in the not too distant future.

Now, why didn't I - Mr Yarraa! - register my watch with Yarraa? The short answer is that I'd been meaning to replace that particular watch for a couple of years anyway. It didn't keep time very well even when it was new. But it was a gift from a now-departed family member, so I didn't have the heart to replace it.

Well, that and the fact that Yarraa was still in development back then. If the watch had kept running for one more year, I could have found a service centre to get it fixed and I could have purchased an insurance policy for it. Oh well!

If you live in or near Singapore and you’re in the market for a new computer, cell phone, television, camera or almost any other electronic product, chances are you’ll be attending the SITEX convention at the Singapore Expo from 26-29 November. If you’re not planning to, you should: admission is free and the selection can’t be beat.

And Yarraa will be there!

We will have a booth in Hall 5, where we will be available to register your new purchases, so you can go home and enjoy them without worrying about receipts and warranties. If you don’t have a Yarraa account, our staff will create one for you in a matter of minutes – for free, as always! You will also earn Yarraa Points for your purchases and – if you’re a new member – for creating an account. We’ll be working in conjunction with a number of retailers, who will be offering cash vouchers for your next purchase if you join Yarraa. Our staff will be on hand in the retailers’ booths to let you know of all the details. Special bonuses will also be available for members of Challenger’s loyalty programme. Free gifts will be available for everybody who joins Yarraa, and lucky draws will be held daily for attractive prizes, including a notebook computer.

If you have questions about Yarraa membership, our staff will be on hand during the convention. Feel free to come by and talk to us. And don’t miss the unbeatable chance to register your new purchases and earn rewards through Yarraa! Hope to see you there.

We will soon be adding a new feature to your one-stop after-purchase resource: Yarraa Points.

Yarraa Points is a loyalty program that benefits you and the makers of your favourite products alike. You earn Yarraa Points every time you register a new purchase, a warranty, or even an older product that you’ve owned for a while. You also earn Yarraa points for every service request or recycling request you make, and every shipping or insurance service you purchase through a Yarraa link. If you haven’t joined Yarraa yet, you can earn a Yarraa Points bonus just for signing up. If you have friends who haven’t joined Yarraa yet, you can earn Yarraa Points for recommending them to Yarraa! (We’ll show you how this works once the program is live.)

Your Yarraa Points balance will be updated automatically, and will be displayed on your Yarraa home page. When you earn enough Yarraa Points, you can exchange them for prizes, or for services at lower rates from our partners. We’ll have lots more information about the rewards shortly, so check back here for details!

We are proud to announce the arrival of Yarraa 1.3. It looks just like the Yarraa you already know and love, but now it's even more user-friendly for addressing all your after-purchase needs.

Yarraa 1.3 works just like the previous edition did, so there's no need for you to relearn anything. Just log in and keep your warranty and service information up to date as you did yesterday. What has changed is that a couple of things just got a lot easier for you. We've updated the user-interface so that changes you make to your account (adding new products, filing service requests, etc.) will now be made with a faster turnaround time and without having to refresh your browser page. This reduces the risk of technical difficulties, and it also means you can see your changes added more quickly than before. Which means you can get back to your day-to-day business that much faster without worrying about registering your warranty for that new computer, or about filing that service request for your refrigerator.

Here at Yarraa, we know that when it comes to getting things fixed, there's no such thing as "too quick". That's why we'll never stop looking for ways to make the repairs process as quick and painless as we can for you. Yarraa 1.3 is just one more way we're working to make addressing your after-purchase needs easier than ever before!