Now that I got your attention with my headlines.
Has anyone here ever bought phone from this SMG-GSM -Selling Mobile They have same phones, but lowest price of the four that I found.
Now cheaper aren't always better. So if you bought a phone here. Would you mind sharing your personal experience.
Thanks
Why not stick to the topic in your title? Please tell us more...
I can say that it is accredited by the BBB , Better Business Bureau . And that doesn't come easily or without certain standards having to be met.
My Business is also BBB approved and I had to meet with the local BBB people, they investigated my business for disatisfied customers and made sure that my business was financially solid before they let me advertise as BBB approved.
On that alone I would take a chance.
Related
Not sure if this is the right place to share this or not, but wanted to give some others some help from my own experiences.
I have recently gone through an awful battle with ATT regarding my upgrade status for a new phone. The very vague version of the story is that three months ago my online account showed me as eligible for an upgrade and I was going to get the Iphone 3GS. When I went to the store to buy it, I was told that I was not eligible because my account (on their end) said I was not eligible. After countless arguments and working my way through the 'ranks' of management I FINALLY came to learn that Apple's agreement with ATT does not allow them flexibility to correct customer concerns with the iphone and they are not allowed to do price overrides. The truth of that is questionable, but regardless they outright refused to give me the standard upgrade pricing on the Iphone. In the end I chose to go with the Captivate and from what Ive read, it was the right choice . I thought though that I would share with you all some free tools and services that are available to consumers that helped me and can help you get your complaints and concerns taken care of.
Most of you I hope already know about some of these, but if you dont they can be priceless.
1. The Better Business Bureau: (w-w-w. bbb .o-r-g) The BBB are the knights in shining armor for consumers. They basically will act as a mediator between you and a company who you are having difficulty getting through to or who you feel are giving you the run around. The best part is that since the BBB gives 'report cards' to millions of companies across the country, you can almost always get in touch with a very high up customer service worker who has more flexibility to help you. ATT in general has a department dedicated strictly only to addressing BBB complaints (Corporate Escalations Department Consumer Complaints Division) The only way you will ever have the privilege to speak with these individuals is to go this route. Theres never a guarantee with the BBB, but it will beat dealing with mindless call center drones who are unwilling or not allowed to take care of your issues appropriately. The complaint process is very easy and user friendly and in the best case scenario you will be contacted by the company within 7 days of filing. The BBB will stay in contact with you throughout the entire process and keep you updated with what the company is submitting to them as well.
2. The Federal Communications Commission: (w-w-w. fcc .g-o-v) Did you know that the FCC oversees the doings of all wireless carriers in the country? If all else fails, an FCC complaint is the equivalent of calling in a customer service artillery attack against a wireless company. The company is REQUIRED to address any complaints submitted by consumers to the FCC and you WILL hear back about your complaint. Best yet, the FCC will fight for your side of things and encourage the carrier to work towards getting you a fair resolution. Again, there are no guarantees, but if your getting the run around continuously then go this route! One of the most common complaints to the FCC about carriers regard early termination fees and with the FCC on your side you can almost always get a clean break from a cell contract without having to pay any of those nasty fees that can add up very quickly.
3.BASIC CUSTOMER SERVICE CALL CENTER WORKERS ARE COMPLETELY WORTHLESS TO YOUR CAUSE! I would repeat that but I think you get the point. Call Center employees are extremely limited in what they can actually do for you. Do yourself a favor and ask to speak to a manager, if they tell you that you the manager will say or give you the same resolve, ignore them and again demand to speak to a manager. Call Center employees are trained to try and steer you away from speaking to anyone above them and they will try to convince you that doing anything above them is pointless. DON'T LISTEN! Stick to your guns and talk to a manager or supervisor.
When it does come time to speak to a manager you will be in much better hands because you will actually be talking to someone who has the authority to resolve your complaint and offer you something in return. Supervisors are USUALLY more sympathetic about your complaint as long as you don't jump down their throats from the get-go. Explain your issue sternly and tell them what you want in return. You don't have to break out the boxing gloves but don't be a pushover either, if you don't get what you want, then move onto the next rung on the ladder. It may sound like a lot of work, but if your getting the work around then it is worth every bit of your time and energy to fight it. Don't back down till you get a fair resolve.
Also, the BBB and FCC are excellent bargaining tools to use in your favor. Threatening to file a complaint with either organization can sometimes be enough to tilt the scale. Companies fear this because they know its incredibly easy to file one and there's a good chance that your going to do it if you threaten it.
Again, desperate times call for powerful action. Don't let these comapnies bully you, tell you that your wrong or the worst one: tell you that you don't understand how something works. Companies love trying to convince you that your wrong and that its your fault that your account or whatever is messed up.
http://teacherdudebbq.blogspot.com/2010/12/apple-resellers-law-suit-threatens.html
"As I write this Greek users of Twitter are flooding the micro - blogging service with comments and complaints about the Apple reseller in Greece, Systemgraph. According to the newspaper Protothema, a Greek internet user is being sued for 200,000 euros by the company following complaints he made online about how his attempts to get his imac repaired went awry.
In his post blogger Arkoudos wrote that Dimitris Papadimitriadis, a 35 year old doctor problems began when he saw that there were shadows on the screen and returned it (under guarantee) to the authorised service provider, Systemgraph who identified and claimed to have repaired the issue. However, when Papadimitriadis realised that the problem had not been fixed and returned his machine once more to the company his troubles began in earnest.
On the other hand Systemgraph stated in their defence that the customer had been "rude and aggresive" and that the company had offered to repair the screen once more and was under no legal obligation to replace the machine (that being the responsibility of the store that had sold the computer). According to their statement on the AV Club forum the law suit was in response to an "organised attempt to slander and insult" the company via social media sites, blogs and forums.
This case in disturbing on two levels. Most importantly is the idea that any unwanted or disagreeble comment made on the internet can be punished with massive fines or the threat of legal action. As Papadimitriadis puts it on Twitter, "If the blogger/consumer loses (the case), then all we will be able to write in our own name will be recipes". Already freedom of expression and freedom of the press in Greece is in deep crisis with the country's Press Freedom Index ranking dropping over 30 places this year alone making it the lowest placed in the EU.
Also what the case highlights is just how weak consumer protection is in Greece and that buying any big ticket item involves a risk which most other European consumers do not have to factor in. Even when the guarantee is valid some companies are loathed to accept the costs involved with repairing or replacing faulty goods. Of course, the consumer can insist on their rights as Papadimitriadis said he did when he took his case to the consumer ombudsman but this can be a long and often futile affair and even if the courts find in favour of the customer businesses can just chose to ignore the decision.
Whatever the rights or wrongs of the case are the uproar which is currently being generated on the internet via Twitter and blogs shows that consumers do have the power retailers think carefully about how they are preceived online and remind them of the power of negative word of mouth".
That's just a ****ty deal! I don't see how they aren't obligated to fix it if they,
1.Didn't fix it in the first place,
2.It's still under a guarantee.
If they took it in to fix it, but didn't, and I took if I had to take it back again to get it fixed, I would be mad too! Even more when Macs aren't exactly the lowest priced item on the block. If I'm buying a product and a service from you, then actually do your job.
People are taking the Internet too seriously. The company I used to work for let go of me because of a facebook post, just saying that "work ****ing sucked today".
Too bad he couldn't use that first amendment right...
And.. always need to be careful what you post on the intarwebs it seems nowadays - especially if you use facebook and don't set your privacy settings correctly.
Might be dumb but this is the turn of the times. I hope the Doctor wins as he was sharing his experience with support for just the one machine. Apple is getting ridiculous after "Attenagate".
avgjoegeek said:
And.. always need to be careful what you post on the intarwebs it seems nowadays - especially if you use facebook and don't set your privacy settings correctly.
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that idea is just wrong , why the users ? why is it the people who "should" hold their mouths always ? isnt the consumer internet made for the people ?
whys it always the honest tax payer who has to back off , when unlawfulness , and tyranny appears ?
there should be an uprising and boycotts against scum corporations and companies and governments that see people as nothing but cockroaches
too bad ppl have "better" things to do , like watch football on tv , with their mouth shut
I hope this sticks!!!
He won even though he was tethering. David against Goliath!!!
http://www.pcworld.com/article/250721/atandt_to_appeal_ruling_in_throttling_case.html
Although it is in small claims court, that is AT&T's fault. Their contract negated class action lawsuits (where nobody but the lawyers get money anyway) in favor of arbitration OR small claims court. I hope they end up with MILLIONS of small claims cases against them!!! Let us watch them play whack-a-mole with pissed off subscribers!!
There are a lot of appeals to work through, but I hope this sticks!!!
In case anyone is considering buying their phone (or any items) from this criminal company, I just want to emphasise the dangers of buying from them. I've been through 7 months of hell in an attempt to get my Samsung S7 Edge back from them. It seems they are never going to send it back to me. £500 down the drain and lots of anger and distress.
This is the story:
https://uk.trustpilot.com/reviews/58ab865ff434950bc4fe0860
And a previous thread looking for advice on XDA: https://forum.xda-developers.com/s7-edge/help/received-phone-screen-fix-looks-t3506196
As they are priced very competitively, it may be attractive and tempting to bite the bullet and buy from China. That's why I bought the S7. I felt confident in a Samsung product. If the item works flawlessly and never fails, you are going to be happy. But if anything fails you will lose out big time as they ARE NOT willing to help in case of faulty equipment. Instead, their strategy is to exhaust you with non-answers until you simply give up. I am not rolling over though.
Stay far far away from this company.
I can imagine your troubles and exactly imagine how exhausting this may be. However one overall valid rule in buying from China is that the tempting cheap price in the beginning may be very expensive afterwards. This is just a risk you need to be willing to take. Your experience is not limited to eglobal or anyone else but applies to this part of business in General. Also, it is a bit harsh to call them "criminals" though I can fully follow your point of view and conclusion.
I was living in China for some time and it is just common in their understanding that you buy things as they are. There's generally no such thing as warranty. Once the business is concluded everyone goes its own way. There's even no service line built up that a distributor has anyone in contract for repairs. This is just the practice over there and it meets our high level service expectations on the other end of the world. I don't think they want to cheat you but they just don't know how to deal with that all along with their boss requiring that no business should be done with loss (which limits the budget for such handling).
All those shops coming up recent days they are just trying to get a small piece of the cake. They even don't get their products from the manufacturer but through third party shops whom they cannot turn to out of the reasons mentioned in case of any problem. And to be clear: I am absolutely against those businesses and aside of some known sellers for Chinese phones I would never buy anything of value from such websites / ebay / Amazon.
So you ship your phone to your Warehouse and it goes with the next batch to China (most probably someone takes it flying there to avoid the paper work for import) and over there they are trying to find a small shop who may be able to do this or not. After that it goes the way back it came. Seriously, don't expect too much. They're already doing more than maybe most of such shops would be doing.
However, if I'm not mistaken eGlobal is despite many other sites with a UK company behind. The people are pretty much the same but you would be able to take legal action as UK law and - most important - Court applies. In the end you would be able to seize their Warehouse if a judge finds your claims are true. Unfortunately especially in UK such Limited companies are easily shut down and re-opened under a different name.
To sum it up: Buying from such Chinese sources goes always without any liability and warranty from seller and you should be prepared for total loss in worst case.
andiling said:
I can imagine your troubles and exactly imagine how exhausting this may be. However one overall valid rule in buying from China is that the tempting cheap price in the beginning may be very expensive afterwards. This is just a risk you need to be willing to take. Your experience is not limited to eglobal or anyone else but applies to this part of business in General. Also, it is a bit harsh to call them "criminals" though I can fully follow your point of view and conclusion.
I was living in China for some time and it is just common in their understanding that you buy things as they are. There's generally no such thing as warranty. Once the business is concluded everyone goes its own way. There's even no service line built up that a distributor has anyone in contract for repairs. This is just the practice over there and it meets our high level service expectations on the other end of the world. I don't think they want to cheat you but they just don't know how to deal with that all along with their boss requiring that no business should be done with loss (which limits the budget for such handling).
All those shops coming up recent days they are just trying to get a small piece of the cake. They even don't get their products from the manufacturer but through third party shops whom they cannot turn to out of the reasons mentioned in case of any problem. And to be clear: I am absolutely against those businesses and aside of some known sellers for Chinese phones I would never buy anything of value from such websites / ebay / Amazon.
So you ship your phone to your Warehouse and it goes with the next batch to China (most probably someone takes it flying there to avoid the paper work for import) and over there they are trying to find a small shop who may be able to do this or not. After that it goes the way back it came. Seriously, don't expect too much. They're already doing more than maybe most of such shops would be doing.
However, if I'm not mistaken eGlobal is despite many other sites with a UK company behind. The people are pretty much the same but you would be able to take legal action as UK law and - most important - Court applies. In the end you would be able to seize their Warehouse if a judge finds your claims are true. Unfortunately especially in UK such Limited companies are easily shut down and re-opened under a different name.
To sum it up: Buying from such Chinese sources goes always without any liability and warranty from seller and you should be prepared for total loss in worst case.
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Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply.
I will definitely look into taking legal action. I have friends who are willing to help me out.
I'm now at a point where they pretended to agree on sending me a replacement phone which was "fully functional", but now that I accepted, they claim it needs to be tested and refuse to give me a timeframe.
They are just trying to wear me out mentally. It has been going on for almost 6 months now, but I just become increasingly determined to take them down.
Disgusting people.
R u referring to the "eglobaldogitalcameras(.)com(.)au site? I "almost" ordered from them because they were so cheap...i ended up just renewing contract via another carrier...as i was also concerned about horror stories i heard buying from ebay and other China sites that send flagship samsung and htc smartphones from china or hk to rest of world..
Does anybody of you return the phone to SBE Ltd. before?
SBE Ltd (Service Beyond Expectations)Unit A1-A2 Beaver Industrial Estate, Beaver Road, Ashford, Kent, TN23 7SH
https://sbeglobalservice.com/worldwide-locations/
What was the outcome?
Reviews of SBE online:
Yell (~60% of negative comments)
https://www.yell.com/biz/sbe-ltd-ashford-4846566/#reviews
Google (twice as many negative comments)
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/SBE+Ltd/@51.1355629,0.8657654,17z/data=!4m17!1m8!3m7!1s0x47deda4b23107a5b:0xe5cdb3c3290af8c5!2sBeaver+Industrial+Estate,+Beaver+Rd,+Ashford+TN23+7SH!3b1!8m2!3d51.1355629!4d0.8679541!16s/g/1tmbvd91!3m7!1s0x47dedb0ee0f74def:0x8c5eb7539d9cc645!8m2!3d51.1359687!4d0.8681304!9m1!1b1!16s/g/1thsqnrf
Trustpilot >750 negative reviews (13%)
https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/uk.sbeglobalservice.com?stars=1
I found those reviews SHOCKING!
After reading a few of the stories you will notice the pattern. This company operates globally since 1996!
This is an invitation to the discussion as the scale of this practice is huge!
Xiaomi, Sony, OnePlus, Huawei, Apple, Motorola, Cat and others are involved.
After reading a few of the stories you should notice the pattern. This company operates globally since 1996!
Fostel said:
I planned to return a phone that was switched on only once. It was purchased as a gift but the birthday boy did not like it.
Contacted customer service via chat the next day asking what the return procedure looks like. Instead of explaining, they started the process for me and I received the jiffy bag today.
I had a gut feeling that something is not right when I realized that the jiffy bag was posted by this SCAM company so XIAOMI UK already broke the LAW by selling my details to them (third party - GDPR).
And I mean, everything. My name, home address, email, phone number also IMEI, and the serial number of the device.
The included letter state: ‘Returning your Device for DOA Assessment’
As far as I know, DOA means Death On Arrival. I never claimed the device to be damaged in any way. It was turned on for an hour or two and put down. The condition is the same as it arrived minus a foil wrap (there were no seal stickers on the box).
• What do they play here? Is this a generic letter for a 'change of mind' return?
• Does anybody of you returned the phone to Xiaomi before?
This is an invitation to the discussion as the scale of this practice is huge!
Xiaomi, Sony, OnePlus, Huawei, Apple, Motorola, Cat and others are involved.
After reading a few of the stories you will notice the pattern. This company operates globally since 1996!
I found those reviews. SHOCKING!
https://www.yell.com/biz/sbe-ltd-ashford-4846566/#reviews
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/SBE+Ltd/@51.1355629,0.8657654,17z/data=!4m17!1m8!3m7!1s0x47deda4b23107a5b:0xe5cdb3c3290af8c5!2sBeaver+Industrial+Estate,+Beaver+Rd,+Ashford+TN23+7SH!3b1!8m2!3d51.1355629!4d0.8679541!16s/g/1tmbvd91!3m7!1s0x47dedb0ee0f74def:0x8c5eb7539d9cc645!8m2!3d51.1359687!4d0.8681304!9m1!1b1!16s/g/1thsqnrf
https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/uk.sbeglobalservice.com?stars=1
SBE Ltd (Service Beyond Expectations)Unit A1-A2 Beaver Industrial Estate, Beaver Road, Ashford, Kent, TN23 7SH
https://sbeglobalservice.com/worldwide-locations/
Why nobody is discussing this?!
I decided to keep this phone but this may be the last Xiaomi phone that I purchased.
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They responded to your review left on trustpilot....
I dunno...they don't look like a complete "scam" you are making them out as...there are tons of positive reviews among the completely negative -- that isn't so likely if it was a complete scam. It sucks they were given your information and details, but I don't know how they would function (as a repair/replacement company) without some of that information...
simplepinoi177 said:
They responded to your review left on trustpilot....
I dunno...they don't look like a complete "scam" you are making them out as...there are tons of positive reviews among the completely negative -- that isn't so likely if it was a complete scam. It sucks they were given your information and details, but I don't know how they would function (as a repair/replacement company) without some of that information...
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Thanks for popping in. Some of those positive reviews on Trustpilot do look fake. FYI Trustpilot can be played and many shady companies do it... daily. Also, would you write poems in reviews of the repair centre after they just did their job? I would still be upset at the manufacturer that the item broke in the first place and I had to go through a warranty claim.
I have read hundreds of reviews last night and I truly feel for people crying out their stories. They cannot all be wrong or coincidental as there is a pattern that I know full well as I learned the hard way. I lost my property and after months of chasing got another device with a different issue (somebody else's return). I sold it privately to minimise loss and moved on but many are naive enough to send it back to them again to get scammed a second time.
I am just trying to make people aware that this practice exists. Do not get scammed folks. Do your research. Peace!
Maybe the online chat was a chatbot and got the reason for return wrong. Or maybe it's Xiaomi UK's policy to have all phones returned, where the customer has changed their mind, to have the phone inspected to ensure it's still in as new condition.
Whatever the case Xiaomi UK are within their right to nominate any company to act as their service centre agent, and as such are well within data protection laws in sending relevant customer details to any third party company chosen as their agent to act on their behalf. It's exactly the same as passing on your details to a courier to deliver the phone, and I don't see any complaint about that. You will have scrolled passed something telling you these things when skipping past the Ts and Cs.
There does not appear to be a scam, nor has anything illegal happened.
It's just unfortunate that Xiaomi UK have chosen such an apparently disreputable company to act as their service centre.
Robbo.5000 said:
Maybe the online chat was a chatbot and got the reason for return wrong. Or maybe it's Xiaomi UK's policy to have all phones returned, where the customer has changed their mind, to have the phone inspected to ensure it's still in as new condition.
Whatever the case Xiaomi UK are within their right to nominate any company to act as their service centre agent, and as such are well within data protection laws in sending relevant customer details to any third party company chosen as their agent to act on their behalf. It's exactly the same as passing on your details to a courier to deliver the phone, and I don't see any complaint about that. You will have scrolled passed something telling you these things when skipping past the Ts and Cs.
There does not appear to be a scam, nor has anything illegal happened.
It's just unfortunate that Xiaomi UK have chosen such an apparently disreputable company to act as their service centre.
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You must be mad thinking that was a chatbot.
It's obvious you did not read the reviews of the people who had their property stolen/damaged/not adequately replaced/ money extorted.
In the UK, you need to consent to your details being passed to a third party otherwise, it will be a data breach. A courier or postman cannot be compared to any Ltd. company.
You've completely missed the point so I edited the original post to make it clearer.
EOT.
Fostel said:
You must be mad thinking that was a chatbot.
It's obvious you did not read the reviews of the people who had their property stolen/damaged/not adequately replaced/ money extorted.
Also, you are wrong about UK law. You need to consent to your details being passed to the third party. A courier or postman cannot be compared to any Ltd. company. You are free to send them your devices if you will.
You completely miss the point so I edited the original post to make it clearer.
EOT.
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You gave no info either way to indicate if the online chat was real or a bot. I only gave that out as a possible cause of why Xiaomi thought you wanted to return the phone because it was broken.
I've done numerous data protection courses in the UK for various companies of worked for. I know they don't need to ask your permission. As said previously this fact would have been buried in the T's and C's.
Xiaomi UK have obviously outsourced the service centre repair work to SBE Ltd. (Along with many other manufacturers) They have the right to forward relevant information to SBE to allow SBE to do the required work on their behalf.
It is exactly the same as when the phone was delivered. Xiaomi do not deliver themselves, they outsource the work to a delivery company. In order to do this, they have to give your details to the delivery company. In order for SBE to perform their duties for Xiaomi, they too require details of Xiaomi's customers they are performing the service for.
Xiaomi (and all other manufacturers) are not allowed to send customer data that is not relevant, but they are allowed to pass on data that is relevant and required to allow SBE to do the services they are contracted to perform.
The unfortunate part of all this is that it's not financially sensible for these manufacturers to have their own dedicated UK service centres. I would guess that almost all manufacturers use SBE Ltd. because their is no other company in the UK that can compete with the scale of work SBE can do. So as customers in the UK, if you have a problem within the warranty period, you have no choice but hope SBE get it right with your phone.
Now to get the point. In your case, your contract was with Xiaomi. If SBE had stuffed up your phone, whilst working on behalf of Xiaomi, then that would be between you and Xiaomi to work out. It would be Xiaomi's responsibility to deal with SBE. If Xiaomi's contractors are incompetent, that is only Xiaomi's problem to deal with.