WARNING !- Simply Electronics

[stan1968]

Having ordered Canon 100-400 IS USM lens about three weeks ago, I want to warn people about the company I have attempted to buy from. I hope it will not be felt this is out of place and in order to ensure fairness, I will not give any opinions, only the facts I have discovered.

Simply Electronics has a very large website advertising their wares and they offer good prices when you compare with others.

I wanted to buy from the UK and not from Hong Kong as I wanted to be sure I had some simple redress in the case of any problems.

On the SE website, contact details are clearly given with a full postal address in the Isle of Man.

They are not in the Isle of Man. Checkout their website and there is absolutely no indication of this whatsoever. However, go to Whois.net and do a search for their domain name registration and truth is revealed: they are based in Kowloon, Hong Kong!

I ordered from them because their website said then, says now and has said every single day bar none in between: IN STOCK. This is simply not true.

They took my full payment from my bank account (used a debit card as I don't have a credit card) as soon as my order went in, fully knowing they could not deliver the item.

I decided to do some research about this company and found a whole forum warning people about their experiences with this company. Lots of people, just like me, stories identical. Some have not received goods after months, some asked for a refund and have still not received it for months later.

I have no idea when (or even if) I will receive that lens. The company says 'We have passed your refund request to the relevant department and will e-mail you once the payment has been made.' That is what they always say but you will never hear from them other than replies to emails which are 80% automated or pre-prepared responses.


I have not given my opinion of this company nor of the sales service. I think you can work it out for yourself so I have stuck to the facts. If you are looking to make a major sale, I recommend you look elsewhere: You have been warned!

Cheers

Stan

[Stephen]

Re: WARNING !- Simply Electronics

Having ordered Canon 100-400 IS USM lens about three weeks ago, I want to warn people about the company I have attempted to buy from. I hope it will not be felt this is out of place and in order to ensure fairness, I will not give any opinions, only the facts I have discovered.

Simply Electronics has a very large website advertising their wares and they offer good prices when you compare with others.

I wanted to buy from the UK and not from Hong Kong as I wanted to be sure I had some simple redress in the case of any problems.

On the SE website, contact details are clearly given with a full postal address in the Isle of Man.

They are not in the Isle of Man. Checkout their website and there is absolutely no indication of this whatsoever. However, go to Whois.net and do a search for their domain name registration and truth is revealed: they are based in Kowloon, Hong Kong!

I ordered from them because their website said then, says now and has said every single day bar none in between: IN STOCK. This is simply not true.

They took my full payment from my bank account (used a debit card as I don't have a credit card) as soon as my order went in, fully knowing they could not deliver the item.

I decided to do some research about this company and found a whole forum warning people about their experiences with this company. Lots of people, just like me, stories identical. Some have not received goods after months, some asked for a refund and have still not received it for months later.

I have no idea when (or even if) I will receive that lens. The company says 'We have passed your refund request to the relevant department and will e-mail you once the payment has been made.' That is what they always say but you will never hear from them other than replies to emails which are 80% automated or pre-prepared responses.


I have not given my opinion of this company nor of the sales service. I think you can work it out for yourself so I have stuck to the facts. If you are looking to make a major sale, I recommend you look elsewhere: You have been warned!

Cheers

Stan

[Ian]

Re: WARNING !- Simply Electronics

I believe some debit cards do carry some payment insurance, it's worth contacting your bank and explaining the situation.

I did some googling and there seem to be a lot of complaints about this company, but in general those that were owed money did get it back after several weeks, so don't give up just yet.

But as a point of observation and based on the comments many people have made, I would certainly not buy from this company.

Ian

[Patrick]

Re: WARNING !- Simply Electronics

I believe some debit cards do carry some payment insurance, it's worth contacting your bank and explaining the situation.

I did some googling and there seem to be a lot of complaints about this company, but in general those that were owed money did get it back after several weeks, so don't give up just yet.

But as a point of observation and based on the comments many people have made, I would certainly not buy from this company.

Ian

The truth is some of the best deals are at the moment to be had from genuine UK dealers.
I have just bought a Sigma 10-20 EOS fit from Misfuds http://www.mifsuds.com better price than anything in Hong Kong, China or Taiwan and delivered within 24 hours, and with someone to talk to at the end of a phone if something goes wrong.
As Stephen has said its safest to buy with a CC and pay your bill in full on statement, your interests are then protected.
Also just bought a new Cokin filter system from Crooked Imaging on Ebay, first class service and excellent prices, over 29000 100% feedbacks on Ebay and fully deserved.

Patrick

[Javier88888888]

Good experience buying an iPad 2

Good morning,

Let me tell you my case. On 14/11/11 I placed an order for an iPad 2. The next day they sent an email saying that to prevent fraud I had to email them a copy of a bill in which it appeared my mailing address, and optionally, a copy of my passport or ID card (which I also sent since they told me it will accelerate the process because if they ever need it, they would already have it). After sending the documentation, in the section of outstanding orders, the order status changed from "Please, contact us by email or telephone" (though they contacted me in fact) to "New".

After a week I wrote saying it was urgent, that was a gift, and they said they would do their best to send the order as soon as they had in stock.

29/11/11 On the morning the order status had changed to "Packing".

On 30/11/11 at 1 am I got an email with the tracking number of the order, which had already been sent the previous day (11.29.11) with the company City Link.

The iPad 2 arrived on 30/11/11 at 10.45 am.

I have upload to youtube a clip where I am unboxing the iPad 2, speaking in English and Spanish. You have to search the title of the video directly in youtube. The title is next:

iPad 2 Simply Electronics



After placing the order with this company, and after having read the reviews on different forums, I have concluded that:

1.On many cases they do not keep the deadlines, but even if it takes more days than expected, it finally arries. In my case 16 days after placing the order.

2.If yoy cancel the order before they send it, it will take a long time to return your money (1 month minimum), so I would advise you to have patience, specially if you think about using that money to buy the product elsewhere .

Anyway, I hope that my experience has been helpful.

Regards.

[TheBull1875]

[Patrick]

Re: Good experience buying an iPad 2

Good morning,

Let me tell you my case. On 14/11/11 I placed an order for an iPad 2. The next day they sent an email saying that to prevent fraud I had to email them a copy of a bill in which it appeared my mailing address, and optionally, a copy of my passport or ID card (which I also sent since they told me it will accelerate the process because if they ever need it, they would already have it). After sending the documentation, in the section of outstanding orders, the order status changed from "Please, contact us by email or telephone" (though they contacted me in fact) to "New".

After a week I wrote saying it was urgent, that was a gift, and they said they would do their best to send the order as soon as they had in stock.

29/11/11 On the morning the order status had changed to "Packing".

On 30/11/11 at 1 am I got an email with the tracking number of the order, which had already been sent the previous day (11.29.11) with the company City Link.

The iPad 2 arrived on 30/11/11 at 10.45 am.

I have upload to youtube a clip where I am unboxing the iPad 2, speaking in English and Spanish. You have to search the title of the video directly in youtube. The title is next:

iPad 2 Simply Electronics



After placing the order with this company, and after having read the reviews on different forums, I have concluded that:

1.On many cases they do not keep the deadlines, but even if it takes more days than expected, it finally arries. In my case 16 days after placing the order.

2.If yoy cancel the order before they send it, it will take a long time to return your money (1 month minimum), so I would advise you to have patience, specially if you think about using that money to buy the product elsewhere .

Anyway, I hope that my experience has been helpful.

Regards.

Wouldn't touch Simply Electronics with a burnt chip, heard to many horror stories first hand from friends and read on forums a whole lot more.
I bought my iPad2 direct from Apples refurbished site, saved money and it was delivered within two days and no delivery charge. They do not charge your card until the goods are ready for despatch, and if for whatever reason a refund is required its done the day the goods are received back at Apple.
Apple may be a touch more expensive (other than the refurbished products which come with full warranties and apple care if required and save you mony), their service is first class honest and up front.
I checked Simply Electronic prices and they are only marginaly cheaper than Apple and more expencive than the refurbished goods.
I have now purchased three products, iMac, iPad, and a Time Capsule all refirbished and work perfectly, despite the warnings may have marks, my purchases have been perfect.

Patrick

[Pops]

Re: WARNING !- Simply Electronics

Well they are certainly based in Kowloon.....
quite easy to find this but then again I wouldn't have bothered looking without reading the last 3 posts in this thread.

[ltw]

Re: WARNING !- Simply Electronics

I purchased a 5D Mark II from Simply electronics in early March and after cancelling the order following lies and empty promises, I did not receive a refund until late April. As follows:

Simply Electronics lied that the item was in stock
They lied both verbally and in writing about the ETA
Goods were meant to be shipped within 3 working days. After 10 days of non-delivery I cancelled the order.
Simply Electronics did not refund the order despite 8 phone calls being made and 6 e-mails being sent over a 4 week period each making empty promises.
I had to lodge a claim through paypal disputes to recover my $2100.00
Simply Electronics

are a dishonest, disreputable company with no integrity who run an illegitimate operation taking interest-free loans from unassuming customers.
The company is not based locally despite website claims and I would urge anyone considering shopping with Simply Electronics to run away from the idea as fast as you can.

[Ian]

Re: WARNING !- Simply Electronics

Indeed, I could not recommend Simply Electronics to anyone. Sometimes it works OK and our late friend here, Stephen Anstey, had a positive experience buying a Canon L-series 100-400 zoom off them, although my recollection was that he only realised they were HK based after he had ordered the lens. But I see so many horror stories, it surely can't be worth the risk. If you must - take all possible precautions!

Ian

[Eamonn]

Re: WARNING !- Simply Electronics

I recently made a purchase for two phones from Simply Electronics prior to undertaking proper research (my mistake). Although I have been disappointed, I thought that I would post my experiences to balance those of others.

After nearly 3 weeks after purchase, I rang the local customer service line as I had not received the goods. I was attended to by a lady with a chinese accent (perhaps the call was redirected to Hong Kong) who was quite pleasant to talk to and checked my order promptly. She apologised that my order was not dispatched and advised that she expected that the goods would be dispatched by the end of that week.

The following Monday I checked again (had to ring 3 times to get through) and again spoke to another (chinese?) lady who attended to me quite well. She confirmed that the goods had not yet been dispatched and that she would check on this and e-mail me back the same day.
Despite some misgivings, I did receive an e-mail response as promised, which again apologised for the delay but stated that they were unable to despatch at the moment.

I replied straight away requesting that the order be cancelled and payment be refunded (I made payment by PayPal). I received a response within 1/2 hour stating the matter had been assigned to a reresentative and I would be contacted within 1 day. I was responded to the next day and advised that the order had been cancelled and a refund would be organised shortly. The following day I received e-mail notification from them adviseing that the refund had been processed and also an e-mail from Paypal advising the same.

SO..........Although my purchase was not supplied as expected (and I suspect that they may not have had the particular stock at the time), my experience with this firm has been positive. Apart from some difficulty getting through on the phone (which is probably not much different from trying to contact your local utility), I was reasonably impressed with the customer service extended to me and the quick service given in cancelling and refunding the full cost.

I can see the earlier negative reports but would have to say that my experience with Simply Electronics has not had any of the issues that others have experienced.

Eamonn

[John Perriment]

Re: WARNING !- Simply Electronics

Hi Eamonn and welcome to the forum. An interesting first post; thank you for redressing the balance with a slightly more positive experience of dealing with the company concerned, compared to what many have reported. I suspect that they have good intent but sometimes bite off a bit more business than they can chew. I also suspect that they keep little, if anything in stock but know where to source it and it's when the source turns out to be unreliable that problems arise. So, buyer beware! Call me old-fashioned, but I prefer to visit a bricks and mortar store and walk out with the box under my arm.

Look forward to reading more of your posts and seeing some of your pictures.

[Ray Shotter]

Re: WARNING !- Simply Electronics

"Call me old-fashioned, but I prefer to visit a bricks and mortar store and walk out with the box under my arm".

John,

I agree ! But when there is little or no choice within a reasonable distance - ie - 30 miles or so - then the internet is often the only option. I have taken an overseas chance on several occasions. For example, the USA, Canada, Hong Kong, Germany and have had good results. But I am grateful for the warning about Simply Electronics because their prices are often quite competitive.

Ray.

[Kurt]

Re: WARNING !- Simply Electronics

I have no idea when (or even if) I will receive that lens. . . .

Stan

Did you get the lens, Stan?

[David Rayden]

Re: WARNING !- Simply Electronics

I live in China, and I would strongly advise against doing business with any Chinese based business, Hong Kong or mainland, unless you have full payment protection; and check the smallprint of your card provider regards overseas internet purchases.

The Chinese will source and package refurbished products as new, clones as original, and anything else they can get away with. Customer service and honouring refunds are alien to many Chinese and, far too often, the internet is seen as a "get rich quick" scheme by even smart college students. People here either buy from recognised main street names, or through "guanxi" (relationships) purely because they don't trust strangers with their hard-earned money.

To balance: there are legitimate Chinese businesses and the situation is improving. However, from the UK you rely only on limited information - and a flashy website is no indicator of good quality or service.

I really don't think it's worth the risk for the money you could save, unless you have done some real research into the company.

On another note: Didn't "Simply" use to be a Tottenham Court Road retailer, and then a mail order UK based company?

David.