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My White Nose Hair

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.

Having issues with your wireless provider? Look here for some tips!

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.

Media Markt (Germany) selling used phones as new - Warning!! SCAM alert.

Welcome
I hope this is the right forum section for such information. My intention is to warn as many possible customers of Media Markt in Germany (Hessen) as possible.
Yesterday we bought a new phone for my sister - Sony Xperia M2
The phone looks brand new, box was sealed with "Media Markt" tapes, the case had still the protective foil on the back and the screen.
Phone technically is performing fine... but the problem is, it was sold as "New" yet turned out to be used one.
My sister initially thought it's possibly a built in Chrome/Google+ feature that it gives you a "template" account to fiddle with yet I asked around, poked around the internet... nowhere was such thing found (Eventually I did find, that she wasn't the only person who bought a used phone, marked as new with Gmail account already present and such)
The price of the phone was to be 189 Euro... on the label... at the register it was already 199 Euro... that was weird but we thought just a label error.
On next day my sister is bringing the phone to me to check it out and teach her how to use some things... and I notice that when I go to Chrome browser... it says that someone with initials "M.P." (Well it's full name there but I will just use initials here since I, as opposed to Media Markt respect other people) with even messages still not read and such, with 2 followers, the G+ account has been operational for some time already.
In that G+ account I am able to see both Gmail and Hotmail e-mails of the previous user together with phone number (which I checked already, it's a German T-Com number).
Still... having just found that account logged in Chrome... I thought... perhaps it's a glitch? But how would it be? Not just IP but also cookies would have to be there from someone else, this didn't make any sense. So I checked more, I see that Facebook on this phone also was accessed, with the same e-mail as in G+ (password wasn't kept this time though and session was logged out).
But what made me 100% that the phone was used was when I went into photo album... while most images there were all default stock images, there was also a screenshot (which ofc is stored in other folder than images, hence why I'm assuming the person responsible for this crime was sloppy enough not to delete it)
The file has a timestamp of October 21 and shows the lock screen with 82% battery, no sim coverage (or no sim at all, not sure about that icon), vibration profile, wifi connected and notifications I think from cloud app, some mail app perhaps Gmail.
All in all, this cemented my suspicion that the phone bought in Media Markt yesterday - sold for full retail price as new, even wrapped to be sold as new, was in fact a previously used phone, for around a month if not longer which is by no means worth the money they sold it for.
Tomorrow me and my sister's husband are going to Media Markt to "Go Medieval" on those bastards. We will try to make it as much of a scene as possible as to let know as many possible customers there that Media Markt is engaging in fraudulent behavior by selling used devices as new.
We will demand as much compensation for it as possible and will NOT settle for simply exchanging the phone for another. This is a crime that was committed here and regardless if they "cooperate" or not this doesn't change the fact. If situation was reversed, if anyone would just take something from Media Markt walk out... and then - when caught - simply return it and apologized... would they not notify the police? I doubt. Would they not file in for a crime? I doubt it. These days, people get arrested for feeding homeless people in a park! And yet companies like Media Markt get away with obvious criminal behavior. And no, if they (Manager or whoever up) "knew" it's used or not has nothing to do. IF YOU or ME did not what you did was a crime... would the police/court take pity on you and say - ok, lad, it's fine, you are free to go and you didn't do anything wrong. A crime is a crime. And I am totally disgusted by it
So that's why we are not going to settle for a simple exchange for a new device.
- Assuming that the person who used the phone previously wasn't in on the scam, that person's data, G+ account and Play Store has been all exposed to a random customer who bought that phone as new (Google certainly not refund anyone if my sister started to buy apps only to land in the previous user's account, not knowingly).
- We paid for a "new" device, that was the contract between the customer and retailer. They never delivered the agreed upon goods, they gave us a "used" device. That is a breach of a contract and extortion of money.
- We had to waste time, energy and possibly (if this goes to court, prior to the settlement) our money because of them.
- When we called them tonight they've already told us they don't sell used devices, which as the example shows, was another lie.
In case Media Markt would refuse to compensate us for wasting our nerves, time and openly trying to scam us - and basically stealing our money. We will sue them.
Anyone who had similar situation with Media Markt can now know - You're not alone. This is more widespread than I initially thought, the more I read the more I see situations where retailers sell used things as new, possibly hoping that the customer would be naive and ignorant enough to not realize they have gotten a used - and why if it's stolen?! - device.
You're also free to join us and we can sue them together, more the merrier.
As proof I have all the purchase documents, the screens (some of them I include in attachments) and also some other things, they can try to deny it but that's for the court to settle.
In conclusion this is a warning to check twice or better yet - avoid as much as possible such criminal companies like "Media Markt".

Any update on your story? I`d like to hear how it went.
Das ist wirklich ne zumutung... naja, nichts anderes zu erwarten von MediaMarkt...

Here's how it went.
Next day we went to that Media Markt right when it opened. IF you're interested which one was it exactly, here is the address:
Rudolf-Walther-Straße 6, 63584 Gründau-Lieblos, Germany
At the info counter we've explained that we were sold a used phone as a new one... the woman there looked as if she's offended we even suggested it was used, but my brother-in-law elaborated that we've got the proof of it and we'd like to talk with the manager of the shop - Of course, the manager is "on vacation" -_-'. We were directed to the aisle with phones.
There we've asked another staffer, loudly letting everyone who was considering a purchase there, that they better be careful, because this shop sells used devices as new. The staffer said ofc it will be dealt with, but again, not his business, we were directed to the service. ::
Already a bit frustrated by all this running around, we've explained the situation to the service staff. My brother-in-law immediately turned on voice recorder in his Galaxy phone and put it on the counter to make sure this whole thing would be on the record. Sadly, the service staffer had NO NAME TAG! None of the service staff had... how convenient?
First the service guy tried to show as much disbelief and deny that it's even possible to buy used phones from them... then when we've showed him all the proof and talked him through it he said that "Oh, it must've been a mistake! Clearly we must've had such phone delivered to us from the supplier" (doubtful since the person's profile was a person living nearby). Next we kept drilling the guy who was like he's having a lot of fun talking about it - quite annoying attitude if you ask me. He obviously had limited knowledge about phones too.
When asked about why do they sell things with previous users data? - He said it was a mistake and he's just as surprised.
When asked how can we be sure, that now, when we give the phone away, they won't sell it (with my sister's leftover data) to another customer? - He said it's gonna be cleared up and returned, thinking we'd take his word for it.
When we asked him why was the price 199 when we purchased, yet on the shelf the price even now is still shown as 189? - Oh must've been the previous week price tag, someone forgot to take it off.
In the meantime of the discussion we have called my sister to confirm the color and if she's going to sue them or not. She, being a very peaceful person decided she'll settle for their "compensation".
The compensation was a miniscule one to say the least. This is what we've achieved after my sister decided not to sue them:
- Without any apology they agreed to replace the phone (we spent 30 minutes waiting for them to find another like it)
- There were no more phones of that color, so they could give us only purple one (my sister was happy, my brother in law said it looks like crap)
- Because of the lack of color, they have "generously" agreed to give us a crappy black xPeria M2 phone case for 1 cent
- They have returned us the 10 Euro they've asked more vs the shelf price tag
- Not trusting them to do the job I have wiped everything from that bogus phone before I gave it back to them
I disagree with my sister's decision but it was her to make so I can't force her. We are waiting till we get more free time so we can contact the previous owner, she also deserves to know what happened with her data and previously owned phone.
We have decided not to buy stuff from MediaMarkt again after this. My sister said that she's pretty worried now, she had no idea - being just a casual user - that such things happen and now she "understands" why there was so many malfunctions in the past when she was buying laptops from there and things tended to break inside like wifi card and sound card etc.

Here is additional read I found after we came home, turns out this is more widespread than I thought
(given that I've got a fresh account have to put the link in txt file attached to this reply)

I suggest you direct this towards the Metro Holding Group. http://www.metrogroup.de
It's the company that owns the entire Media Markt chain. This seems like a complaint to take a bit higher up if the manager won't speak to you.
I do have to mention, in all the times I've been to Media Markt, the boxes with the Media Markt tape on it were the ones that were previously returned.
New ones had factory seals on it. (And usually a 'If seal is broken, do not buy/sell device" over the rim.) Were those still present on the box when you bought it?
I've always bought about half of devices and electronics at MediaMarkt (The other half at Saturn or Conrad. I remember when Conrad was still just a small store in Boekelo!), in Nordhorn, and Dorsten. I've never experienced what you're describing, as those devices have always had a sticker on it marking them as used.
But I'm not doubting that it happened. Media Markt Netherlands has a tendency to do this as well. And they charge us 100-300 euro more for the same devices, too!

ShadowLea said:
I suggest you direct this towards the Metro Holding Group. http://www.metrogroup.de
It's the company that owns the entire Media Markt chain. This seems like a complaint to take a bit higher up if the manager won't speak to you.
I do have to mention, in all the times I've been to Media Markt, the boxes with the Media Markt tape on it were the ones that were previously returned.
New ones had factory seals on it. (And usually a 'If seal is broken, do not buy/sell device" over the rim.) Were those still present on the box when you bought it?
I've always bought about half of devices and electronics at MediaMarkt (The other half at Saturn or Conrad. I remember when Conrad was still just a small store in Boekelo!), in Nordhorn, and Dorsten. I've never experienced what you're describing, as those devices have always had a sticker on it marking them as used.
But I'm not doubting that it happened. Media Markt Netherlands has a tendency to do this as well. And they charge us 100-300 euro more for the same devices, too!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the suggestion, but like I said, we've decided to give it a rest and just avoid the shop altogether, it's not like there's no competition that can do better. Hell even on eBay/Amazon I can get a brand new for same price and used? Would never go for the MediaMarkt price which makes it not useful to us anymore.
As for the packaging, it wasn't market as used, it was together with other boxes (some with MediaMarkt stripes over them, some not, it was as if up to the customer to pick up with no indication of devices being used) and all of them had given same price 189 and the one my bro-in-law bought turned out to be counted for 199 which doesn't seem like it was all supposed to be "sold as used" unless it's MediaMarkt's policy to sell used at higher price than brand new not to mention they've denied and looked all surprised, not a moment they said "We sell used goods this way".
The broken seal thing. I disagree that it's an indication that I shouldn't be buying it - First of all it was my brother-in-law, who just got back from work, asked for a NEW device and was willing to pay all the money needed to buy it for his wife, he wasn't "hunting for a bargain" and he was not notified and had the benefit of not even caring about any policy the shop has, he was buying a new device, hell he even asked for black one and then the woman servicing him there told him they don't have them so he can only take the white one, which could be taken as he was railroaded into buying crap by the employee of the shop, is that how it should be? I don't think so.
Other than that, there are plenty of shops that OPEN the packages when they get them delivered from suppliers to "test" if the goods are working and then reseal it after verifying things work. So why is it all of a sudden the customer's duty to make sure which shop does what? You go to a shop, wanting to buy new device, you should get one. Also, I never seen a "returned, second hands merchandise" corner in MediaMarkt, they don't seem very up front about it at all.
Furthermore, to entertain the "MediaMarkt seal" notion. Are you honestly suggesting that MediaMarkt is totally not culpable for selling used goods with previous user's private data, passwords, e-mail account, G+, Apple store, Google Play, MS Store and so on? Is simply "putting a MediaMarkt wrap" on it means that those goods can be sold with such blatant breach of privacy of previous customer?
As for you being happy with MediaMarkt that's irrelevant, as analogy I also never had problems with racism it doesn't mean that racism isn't a thing. I've used their franchise across 3 different countries and had small issues now and then, but this is unacceptable.
To contrast this say, with "Expert Klein" which I had wonderful experience with. Here's the Expert Klein story to show how different that one is from MediaMarkt:
I went to buy a computer monitor (LG) and they had the last one on display, but I really wanted to get that last one, it was already on discount (by 20 Euro from org price) and when talking with the staffer who was very helpful and spoke good English (In MediaMarkt we had to do everything in German) he said he can get the price lower (he seemed genuinely sympathetic that I got unlucky to find myself buying last one of that model), called the manager, while I checked the monitor if it's in good condition (was almost perfect 'cept a bit of dust on it which the employee cleaned before packing it for me). In the end I got over 70 Euro discount for a computer screen worth a bit more than 150 Euro. That's almost half the price lower.
Now back to MediaMarkt... there he was sold a used device 10Euro dearer than a brand new. It's unacceptable.

eglobal - a warning!

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..

Is S B E Ltd. scamming people? Xiaomi, Sony, OnePlus, Huawei, Apple, Motorola, Cat and others are involved.

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.