Database Info

[Q] Has anyone purchased anything from htcdirect.co.uk?

As above has anyone purchased anything from htcdirect.co.uk?
Just I notice they don't have any contact information apart from online messaging.
No phone number, No address, No company VAT reg nothing.
I would be cautious with websites like that.

i had purchased a screen protector from them and received my goods in excellent condition!
however if you don't feel comfortable using them then go to other retailers

Hmm, I checked who owns the domain and it doesnt seem to be a company but a person:
Whois query for htcdirect.co.uk...
Results returned from whois.nic.uk:
Domain name:
htcdirect.co.uk
Registrant:
Paresh Chauhan
Registrant type:
UK Individual
Registrant's address:
1, Leas Gardens
Westcliff on Sea
Westcliff on Sea
SS0 8JL
United Kingdom
Registrar:
123connect Limited [Tag = 123CONNECT]
URL: http://www.123connect.co.uk
Relevant dates:
Registered on: 17-Apr-2007
Renewal date: 17-Apr-2011
Last updated: 08-Jun-2009
Registration status:
Registered until renewal date.
Name servers:
ns1.terrassl.net
ns2.terrassl.net

Thought so, thats actually worst than buying from an individual seller on somewhere like amazon or play as this one has no contactable phone number, address, and no VAT reg.
Definitely stick to reputable retailers.

ToneyEricsson said:
As above has anyone purchased anything from htcdirect.co.uk?
Just I notice they don't have any contact information apart from online messaging.
No phone number, No address, No company VAT reg nothing.
I would be cautious with websites like that.
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Please don't purchase from this website. I've purchase an Otterbox case for my phone when I was being told the item was posted out on 7th Jan. Up to today 18th Jan, I have yet to receive my item. Really regret purchasing from them

@jlws90
I would contact your bank to let them know and get your credit card number cancelled and issued with a new one so that person doesn't have it.
I thought it looked dodgy, no VAT reg showing that would be one to inform HM customs about with the information about the person as shown above as not being vat registered is obviously highly illegal as well and they will do him for it.
Good retailers I can recommend in the UK are such as the obvious play.com and amazon.co.uk and mobile specific being mobilefun.co.uk and expansys.co.uk which you will never have any problems with, best to stick with them.

Not being VAT registered is not illegal. You only need to be, if you turn over £70,000 a year.

Yeah your right a site like that wont be turning over much and hopefully not turning anyone over.
You would expect a decent reputable retailer to have all the basic contact and address info up already and not use use messaging as the only means of communication.

ToneyEricsson said:
@jlws90
I would contact your bank to let them know and get your credit card number cancelled and issued with a new one so that person doesn't have it.
I thought it looked dodgy, no VAT reg showing that would be one to inform HM customs about with the information about the person as shown above as not being vat registered is obviously highly illegal as well and they will do him for it.
Good retailers I can recommend in the UK are such as the obvious play.com and amazon.co.uk and mobile specific being mobilefun.co.uk and expansys.co.uk which you will never have any problems with, best to stick with them.
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But I purchase it using my debit card instead. Didn't really want to give out my credit card details.

With so many trusted sites - I would not risk it.

llcooljazz said:
With so many trusted sites - I would not risk it.
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Htcdirect are fine. They also have a shop in London called inkino.co.uk I purchased my old Htc hd from them with no issues.
Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk

Cheap electronics site too good to be true?

I tried to find a place on XDA not specific to any phone to ask this question, but I didn't see a general Q&A spot. I was just randomly checking out phones and their going rates when I came across this site.
http://www.altiuscart.com/rainbowelectcomm/
It has stuff like the Note 2 for $330 new unlocked international version. and the Sony Experia Z for similar prices. I figure this has to be too good to be true, but they accept paypal. So doesn't this mean it's worth a shot? Paypal buyer protection should reimburse you if you don't get the goods right?
The back traced phone number shows
"740-318-8364
CoreComm landline from Sugar Grove, OH" (*edit* just called the number and it's not in service)
So it's not an international phone number. I guess it's fake since "rainbow electronics" comes up as being located in London. Is this person who created it just stupid? Are they making a profit if Paypal just takes the funds back if the product never arrives? If it's confirmed fake is there a way to report this, and who would it be reported to?

Doesn't sound legit, probably should check it out on http://safeweb.norton.com/ and do some research on the website.

Help needed importing a Samsung Relay to Germany

as i can see, most of us here went the G1 -> G2 -> Relay way.
unfortunatly i'm sitting here in germany where the Relay is not available. and all attempts importing one so far failed. amazon doesn't have it in stock, ebay sellers don't ship overseas etc.
Can anybody help me aquire such a phone? Either get me one and send it to me or point out a dealer that ships to germany?
Any help would be much appreciated.
Thank you.

kilr00y said:
as i can see, most of us here went the G1 -> G2 -> Relay way.
unfortunatly i'm sitting here in germany where the Relay is not available. and all attempts importing one so far failed. amazon doesn't have it in stock, ebay sellers don't ship overseas etc.
Can anybody help me aquire such a phone? Either get me one and send it to me or point out a dealer that ships to germany?
Any help would be much appreciated.
Thank you.
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you have 3 options
1) negri electronics (they are trustworthy, i got my doubleshot from them)
2) canada gsm (never tried, and you gotta mail them to sort out the international shipping stuff before you order)
3) ebay
of course, going with ebay is the less expensive but the most risky option. i got my relay from ebay, i had to camp ebay.com for a while and message all the people that had a good auction open (try to stay away from fishy stuff that may be stolen or just a scam) and ask if they would ship oversea.
most of them do not, but some do, it's just a matter of patience.
keep in mind that you will have to pay the duties for importing goods, and they will probably be quite hefty, hovering around ~100€ if you go with a shop like negri electronics

Braccoz said:
you have 3 options
1) negri electronics (they are trustworthy, i got my doubleshot from them)
2) canada gsm (never tried, and you gotta mail them to sort out the international shipping stuff before you order)
3) ebay
of course, going with ebay is the less expensive but the most risky option. i got my relay from ebay, i had to camp ebay.com for a while and message all the people that had a good auction open (try to stay away from fishy stuff that may be stolen or just a scam) and ask if they would ship oversea.
most of them do not, but some do, it's just a matter of patience.
keep in mind that you will have to pay the duties for importing goods, and they will probably be quite hefty, hovering around ~100€ if you go with a shop like negri electronics
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The main reason why ebay sellers don't ship overseas, is due to customs and shipping. USPS Express mail, is the only way you can ship internationally with tracking. But some countries simply won't allow those shipments.
And the hassle of dealing with problems if something goes wrong...
Sent from my Captivate Glide

thanks for the 2 shops. i will look into it
i do a lot of international trading via ebay, but rarely with the US. but do i get this straight: in a country as large as the United States there is just one carrier which offers sending insured parcels overseas??? hard to believe...
Sent from my HTC Vision using xda app-developers app

gtmaster303 said:
The main reason why ebay sellers don't ship overseas, is due to customs and shipping. USPS Express mail, is the only way you can ship internationally with tracking. But some countries simply won't allow those shipments.
And the hassle of dealing with problems if something goes wrong...
Sent from my Captivate Glide
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this is incorrect information.
first of all, customs duties will be paid by the buyer when he receives the package. the seller won't even know how much will be paid.
second, you can ship overseas with any major courier like FedEx (i recommend), UPS, DHL and of course USPS which will then be handled by your local postal service.
about stuff going wrong (in the shipment phase) there isn't much if you pay with paypal and make sure the shipping is made via a trustworthy courier with a tracking number.
of course after you have got the phone, you'd be on your own if it has some problems but if you do it right the shipment shouldn't be that much of an issue

negri was out of stock so i just placed an order with canadagsm. camping ebay didn't work for me since i've already tried that one for some weeks.
as the story continues, i will post updates as others might be faced with the same situation

kilr00y said:
negri was out of stock so i just placed an order with canadagsm. camping ebay didn't work for me since i've already tried that one for some weeks.
as the story continues, i will post updates as others might be faced with the same situation
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What about a service like SHIPITO?
I am from Czech Rep and have a luck that many of my colleagues are flying to US on regular basis but this service could be used just for this very special purpose.

@fantomex:
yeah.. i stumbled over services like that and i'm considering it.
about canadagsm: i wrote a couple of mails with them back and forth about shipping and conditions and after everything was sorted out i told them that i would like to order. no answer from them now for 2 days. seems like it's back to the drawing board. :-/
found an ebay-seller who's willing to ship to germany, but auction is still up for 3 days... and dunno how that will turn out.
anybody can suggest more online stores that will ship to germany? spend an hour or two torturing google and co but it's hard getting any results since search results are filtered by location. and i guess i cannot deny my german IP ^ ^
found a couple of phone stores but they were either out of stock of didn't have the Relay listed at all.

weird that canadagsm stopped responding. anyway negri has written on its site that it is on backorder, and that they usually ship backordered items within few work days (they probably will just buy a phone then unlock and ship it) so i think you can try and ask them.
if you wanna go the ebay way, make sure you buy a perfect (mint) condition phone, no bad imei, and that the seller will ship with tracking to you. (and, ofc, paypal payment)

yeah.. it's weird about canadagsm.. took them an hour to reply to the initial mail. but now: nothing. already re-sent the mail twice..
will contact negri when i get home since the phone on ebay dissapeared without a trace all of a sudden..
Sent from my HTC Vision using xda app-developers app

Hi
Ebay india has a sevice called 'global easybuy'. One can buy anything from ebay usa (irrespective of the seller ships internationally or not) and ebay will deliver to your doorstep. Shipping, customs etc charges are included at the time of payment and are quite nominal. Look for 'global easy buy' on ebay germany. Hope they have this service.

negri said: "we don't know. check our website for updates"...
i have found some forwarding services, but i don't feel to comfortable with it. none of them i ever heard of. don't consider it to be too safe at all with another anonymous person in the middle.
i'm on an ebay auction again atm which will end tomorrow. maybe i get lucky.
Sent from my HTC Vision using xda app-developers app

hint: *cough* jbidwatcher *cough*

I'll ship you one if you paypal me the funds and agree not to sue me if the post office loses it. PM me.

thanks for the offer, nardholio, but i've got lucky on ebay. cell was $305, shipping was $45 via usps... and other means of shipping were clearly un-affordable.
brand new and sealed... and locked ^ ^ but that should be the least problem
let's see what the custom fee will be...
5 days and it made it to san francisco so far.. i guess that's why they call it "snail mail" ^ ^

it's here up and running cm10.1
spent another 50eur on customs. but... worth it
Sent from my SGH-T699 using xda app-developers app

OX Mobile Spy
I personally still relatively tend to eBay shopping, everything went smoothly, you can try.

Can customs charge me? HELP!!!!

Hi, my cosuin bought a note 3 for me from dubai (UAE). He then went to pakistan for a wedding and took the note 3 with him as my brother was also going pakistan at the same time so he could give it to him. If my cousin were to post the note 3 from paistan bought from dubai via fedex then can customs charge me in UK as it is not a purchase from pakistan?
Thanks

??????

I don't think customs would care about 1 unit....
Sent from my SGH-T889 using Tapatalk 4

You don't need to report anything. Whoever is bringing your Note 3 doesnt have to mention "his" note 3 at all.
And even if someone do an checking your brother will say it's his private device... If you want to be 100% sure remove the Note from the box put the battery, add to your pocket and that's it.

You will be charged VAT and import duty and if you try and scam it they will confiscate your phone.
Good luck

My question is that when you purchase something outside of eu then uk adds vat on delivery. But if someone sends you something via post (not a purchase) can the uk add vat on delivery?

hayat55 said:
My question is that when you purchase something outside of eu then uk adds vat on delivery. But if someone sends you something via post (not a purchase) can the uk add vat on delivery?
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"Goods with a value exceeding £15, for commercial items including internet/mail order purchases, or £36 in the case of gifts between private individuals, are generally subject to Customs charges."
Have a look here for a bit more info. Hope this helps.
http://www.parcelforce.com/receiving-parcel/importing-uk/customs-charging

Tell him to take it out the box, and "Use" it, and just get him to send the empty box back. Customs are a bugger, I bought something then got a £130 Bill two weeks later.
Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk 4

chrmit said:
"Goods with a value exceeding £15, for commercial items including internet/mail order purchases, or £36 in the case of gifts between private individuals, are generally subject to Customs charges."
Have a look here for a bit more info. Hope this helps.
http://www.parcelforce.com/receiving-parcel/importing-uk/customs-charging
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RavenY2K3 said:
Tell him to take it out the box, and "Use" it, and just get him to send the empty box back. Customs are a bugger, I bought something then got a £130 Bill two weeks later.
Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk 4
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What i mean is that if i ask him to post the phone unopened from Pakistan and because it is not a purchase from Pakistan then can customs still charge?

hayat55 said:
What i mean is that if i ask him to post the phone unopened from Pakistan and because it is not a purchase from Pakistan then can customs still charge?
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In the UK at least yes! That's why I said tell him to take it out of the box and make it look like it's his own personal phone, and just send t he empty box in the post.
My friend got hammered bringing an iPad into the UK and had to pay taxes, second time he brought another high value item back, he took it out the box, posted it to himself back home. This way it looks like he had the device before he left the country.
Sent from my GT-N5100 using Tapatalk 4

hayat55 said:
What i mean is that if i ask him to post the phone unopened from Pakistan and because it is not a purchase from Pakistan then can customs still charge?
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As the goods are being sent from a country outside the EU then the answer is a straight yes. They can and will charge you the appropriate taxes. Some people would make a false claim on the paperwork stating the value as being lower and claiming the package contains something other that what is actually inside, but those people face the risk of being caught and fined or worse. On top of that, if the package got lost in transit there would be no hope of making a claim for compensation for the true value.

Just don't take the box, ship the box separately later on it he needs it and call it a day.

They can, and probably will, charge you. At 20%, there is too much cash there for them to waive it.
Here in Oz, anything under $1k is generally exempt, even for purchases. This probably saves a lot of work, but I'd also expect it to stop soon, especially if GST goes over 10% (I hope not).
I sent a laptop from my business address in Oz to my (same) business address in the UK. Customs tried to charge VAT @ 20%, even though it was obviously a used item, and actually several years old. It was cheaper to just ignore it and let FedEx ship it back, which is just stupid. Next time someone went to the UK, they took it as luggage instead.
I had the same issue sending 5 laptops (used for training) from the UK to Oz. Again, customs tried to charge, but I was able to prove that they were bought in Oz, and had GST fully paid. As far as I am aware, that is the only way to manage it.
So if you happened to have a UK receipt for that particular phone (and I'd never, ever suggest it might just be a receipt for any phone of the same model), you will probably be OK. Just tell them your cousin took it by mistake and is sending it back (a letter in the parcel could confirm this).

Buying from China...Blacklisted

Hi guys !
I bought a Smartphone from an Online Shop in China...the price were awesome and I jump on the opportunity
However, for safety purposes (it is the first time that I payed so much from chines online shop), I payed for an transport insurance that will payback if the phone get lost in the "journey" from China to Europe.
By tracking system info, I know that the phone get to Spain, than Portugal (no customs system )...but it's been a while since the phone is stuck in Lisbon and, next week, the deadline for the reception of the good will come to an end....
Now, my question is:
If I activate the insurance from China, since the deadline is overdue and Lisbon won't answer my requests for more informations, and that, by some miracle, the phone finally get to my address (it happened for some goods in the past), will the phone works?
I don't know if the seller will blacklist the phone in China or in worldwide carriers....in fact, I don't even know if I will get a payback
Thanks for the help !!

Shurykan said:
Hi guys !
I bought a Smartphone from an Online Shop in China...the price were awesome and I jump on the opportunity
However, for safety purposes (it is the first time that I payed so much from chines online shop), I payed for an transport insurance that will payback if the phone get lost in the "journey" from China to Europe.
By tracking system info, I know that the phone get to Spain, than Portugal (no customs system )...but it's been a while since the phone is stuck in Lisbon and, next week, the deadline for the reception of the good will come to an end....
Now, my question is:
If I activate the insurance from China, since the deadline is overdue and Lisbon won't answer my requests for more informations, and that, by some miracle, the phone finally get to my address (it happened for some goods in the past), will the phone works?
I don't know if the seller will blacklist the phone in China or in worldwide carriers....in fact, I don't even know if I will get a payback
Thanks for the help !!
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Why would a seller blacklist a phone they are knowingly selling? Was it listed for sale as a black listed item?
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

jr866gooner said:
Why would a seller blacklist a phone they are knowingly selling? Was it listed for sale as a black listed item?
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
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If the phone doesn't reach the client...it could mean 2 things, or it's lost or it was robbed by someone in the chain of transport...at least that's how I think.

Shurykan said:
If the phone doesn't reach the client...it could mean 2 things, or it's lost or it was robbed by someone in the chain of transport...at least that's how I think.
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So... No ones knows if a blacklisted phone in China will work in Europe?