Related
http://www.metrocellinc.com/htc-touch-pro.html
was the first listing on google.
Anyone know????
ekerbuddyeker said:
http://www.metrocellinc.com/htc-touch-pro.html
was the first listing on google.
Anyone know????
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Click to collapse
Gotta be a crock tbh.
Cheapest ive seen it around and according to our vendors list is £490 (notice pounds).
mrvanx said:
Gotta be a crock tbh.
Cheapest ive seen it around and according to our vendors list is £490 (notice pounds).
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I'm gonna have to agree this seems like a crock. I paid £424.80 without VAT at hantech.co.uk
Umm stay clear is my advice......with a "business email that is a yahoo email address. In the uk i always check for a VAT number, not sure if its the same over there, but there seems to be very little info about them......
What the hell is VAT? I see that on all the Europian sites. What exactly is it.
Vampire2800 said:
What the hell is VAT? I see that on all the Europian sites. What exactly is it.
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Value Added Tax. see the wiki description here.
VAT
Value Added Tax,
It's the equivalent of the State Sales Tax, however for the UK it's a massive 17.5% - OUCH
All sites in the UK show their registered VAT number, which is unique to that business. I purchased cheep software (MS Office) from a site once, didnt have a vat number, and the software turned out to be hacked.
The Real Deal Or Not!
Anybody know about this website, is it the real or not? uhhh! I think I will do some research on this website tomorrow............!
I call BS. If you think it's too good to be true, it probably is.
total BS! think about it.
Kitchicus said:
It's the equivalent of the State Sales Tax, however for the UK it's a massive 17.5% - OUCH
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Duh
In the Netherlands the legal thieves (government) take a humungous 19%
And they were even considering to raise it to 20%, but that had so much economic consequences that they didn't dare to do so.
But on-topic now: It has to be fake.
I bought the Raphael (HTC Touch Pro) for €602.= , est. £400,= or $870,=
That was almost the cheappest price possible in the netherlands.
So $450,= is almost 50% off, can't be legit.
checking It Out Now
ronh said:
Duh
In the Netherlands the legal thieves (government) take a humungous 19%
And they were even considering to raise it to 20%, but that had so much economic consequences that they didn't dare to do so.
But on-topic now: It has to be fake.
I bought the Raphael (HTC Touch Pro) for €602.= , est. £400,= or $870,=
That was almost the cheappest price possible in the netherlands.
So $450,= is almost 50% off, can't be legit.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got my peolpe checking it out now!
Metrocellinc?
Well I was suprised too ...and I e-mailed them,so that's what I was told:
***************************************
ME: "I would like to buy Xperia X1, but before that I have a few questions:
First of all I would like to ask why are those cell phones so cheap and are they clones?Are they woking properly and can I use them to Europe?
Second how can you sell Xperia when the world premiere of that phone is in November?
How can I be sure that is secure? And what is the cost of delivery to Williamsburg VA? And how can I return it (if I'm not pleased) and have the full price back?"
Metrocellinc: "Thanks for your Inquiry.
We have the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 available in stock, Brand New, Unlocked, Factory Sealed and comes with a 1 year warranty.
You have been able to find phones at this price due to our Summer closeout sales (offer valid while stock last) We are Authorised sony dealers and we are currently on introductory sales into the market.
You will be getting a 3days return policy and a 1 year warranty. The X1 is compatible with any carrier anywhere in the world as it supports triband and quadband.
Delivery is $40
How many units do you intend to purchase?
We accept payments via Money Gram. Do you know where a Money Gram Agent is located?
Regards,
Jean."
Me: "Can I Pay with Visa?"
Metrocellinc: "At this time we are unable to accept payments via Credit Cards as we are currently facing problems with our credit card processor.
Money Gram is the only payment alternative."
*********************
Althought there's no note about that paying problem in their site!!!
Also...
do they look familiar?
http://www.cellconet.biz/htc-touch-pro.html
http://phonecot.com/index.html
http://weberstores.us/mobile-phones.html
http://market-actionsltd.com/electronics.html
http://www.electronikstore.com/mobile-phone.html
http://pacificproductsltd.com/ -the last one has Registered No.05990322
JOJIA said:
Metrocellinc: "At this time we are unable to accept payments via Credit Cards as we are currently facing problems with our credit card processor.
Money Gram is the only payment alternative."
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FYI wire transfers are bad ...
http://pages.ebay.com/securitycenter/mrkt_safety/instantcashtransfer.html#moneygram
even they tell you it can be bad
http://moneygram.com/MGI/EN/ConsumerProtection/index.htm?CC=US&LC=EN
now down to 484 inc vat at expansys
This is a scam...like jodia I emailed them for validity. Never heard back after I told them COD only!
MetroCellInc:"Hi, Thanks for your Inquiry. We have the Htc Touch Pro available in stock, Brand New, Unlocked, Factory Sealed and comes with a 1 year warranty. This is a worldwide unlocked version. 100% compatible with T-Mobile. How many units do you intend to purchase and where will you be shipping to?
For payments we can only accept Money Gram at this time as we are currently facing technical problems with our Credit Card processor.
Regards, Jean."
Me:"Hi Jean, Unfortunately, our Company is not authorized to use Moneygram. We can only use MC, Paypal, or Cash On Delivery (COD). Since your MC Card processor is broke, you can mail it COD to complete this sale."
...so the last reply is:
*************************
Metrocellinc:
"At this time we can only accept payments via Money Gram. Below are the details needed to send funds via Money Gram:
Receiver's First Name: Emma
Receiver's Last Name: Depoe
Address: 20330 Northeast 2nd Avenue, Miami, Florida 33133
Amount: $440
Once payment is sent, you are to send the Reference Number, Sender's Name and Address as it appears on the payment receipt for confirmation.
Regards,
Jean."
**************************
I don't feel secure about this!!!Although the prices are fantastic....
....again too good to be true
Hmmm heavily underpriced, Payment exclusivly MoneyGram? Definite Scam. This kind of thing is often all over ebay. Has anyone actually gone through with a transaction with this crowd and got anything?
If yer looking for a cheap Raphael take a look at the Raphael Vendor Wiki
I keep that up to date weekly and at this time the top 3 cheapest sellers are Tiga Dua Cellular in Indonesia for €497.43 , 2Call from Netherlands for €576.00 and DigiTec of Switzerland for €585.60.
The most expensive I've seen is €739.00 in Portugal by Fnac.
Anyways Head to the Vendor Wiki at http://wiki.xda-developers.com/index.php?pagename=HTC_Raphael_Vendors
If you know any other retailers add them to the wiki
From http://www.fraudwatchers.org/forums/showthread.php?t=17890:
I was scammed by an electronics seller which offers iphone 3G, Nokia, and all phones of the moment. (they say they are located in the US but i´m not sure of this!)
DONT BUY ANYTHING FROM HIM !! THIS IS A BIG SCAM !!
the link :http://my-diversitydepotinc.com/
but also
http://www.cellphoneltd3g.com
and for sure other ones powered by e-yahoo which allows anyone to create a store on the internet. They also have a cart system...
Big scammer !!!
And of course, the money was send via Western Union to a certain :
Emma DEPOE
139 High Road
FL 32304 Tallahassee
My so called customer´s contact was: Patrick M. Peters.
Dont make the same mistake as i did and just be aware that companies which have an account by e-yahoo, even with a good looking site, may be a scam. Be sure not to pay with Western Union or unsecure ways.
SCAM SCAMMER :
cellphoneltd3g.com
solution-connection-mart.com
phonesuperstoreinc.com
phonecitytelecommunications.co
metrocellinc.com
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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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Click to collapse
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
Some of you may give me the advice of avoiding Craigslist all together, however as I am a poor college student, there's not much you could say to deter me from risking a little for a cheaper Samsung S3. On Ebay most S3s are 400-550$ while on Craigslist I see quite a few in the 300-400$ range. I understand that deals that are too good to be true are scams, but there are certainly exceptions to the rule. I need your help understanding the tricks of the trade and how to prevent scams. Here are the few that I know and how to prevent them, I ask you as the community to add onto this list:
SCAMS:
Stolen or Unpaid Phone
Agree to meet @ carrier store, ask a CSR to check IMEI and if it's clean to change the phone to your account. Assuming that your partner knows the info to his account, this will ensure that your phone will not be blocked in the future.
Chinese Clone
Download Android System Info check info compare to screenshots found here. Avoid this.
OTHER TIPS
Ask seller to Bring Driver's Licence, & record their name.
Ask seller to bring account information if this phone used to be on the same carrier.
Make a call/ receive a call
Open browser
Check wifi radio
Check GPS
Ensure the touchscreen works in all areas.
Record video to ensure mic, camera works
Ensure the phone shut down and starts up properly
Ask about the warranty*
Test all hardware buttons
Test headset and loudspeaker work
using my daily bump
bumping, any advice?
Any thief worth his or her salt is going to have a good fake ID and no problem lying.
Agreeing to meet at T-Mobile support and have them check it out, tell you the details (if phone is under EIP or attached to another account), and make a record on your account is probably your best bet.
Pennycake said:
Any thief worth his or her salt is going to have a good fake ID and no problem lying.
Agreeing to meet at T-Mobile support and have them check it out, tell you the details (if phone is under EIP or attached to another account), and make a record on your account is probably your best bet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks a lot for the reply. If I am using the Tmobile prepaid 30$/month wallmart plan. Is there any way for them to make a note on my account is there? How do I go about this? I see two possibilities:
1) Phone in question is not paid off yet (purchased for discounted price):
If I go in there and they tell me the phone is attached to someone's account, is it still ever reasonable to go through with the trade? Is it possible to break that link somehow with 100% certainty that someone else's lack of responsibility won't come back and bite you in the arse?
2) Phone in question is paid off (purchased for full price):
no problem here, if I have them check it and it looks ok then done deal right? or can it still be reported stolen later and blacklisted despite me checking in with them?
Thanks a bunch.
Just spoke to a t-mobile CSR. Here's how the process works.
A phone can be blocked for 2 reasons and 2 reasons only:
1. A customer has not paid his monthly account bill on a discounted price phone
2. A customer reports a phone stolen within 30 DAYS.
The solution to avoiding getting scammed via either method is to ask the CSR at the store to add the phone to your account. It doesn't matter what plan you're using, as long as the phone is on your account, you are safe. Have the IMEI ready.
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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Click to collapse
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
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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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Click to collapse
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.
i have been offered a 2nd hand phone at a very good price, however the person offering the phone is not shall we say the most honest person in the world. if i were to buy this phone and shove a sim into it and use it could it
a. be locked at a later date
b. tracked
c. is there anything i could do in the way of rooting or something in order to avoid this.
many thanks
The answer would be to not buy the phone. I received an iPhone as payment once and I called to see if it was legit. It was stolen. I contacted the og owner and there was a huge fiasco with the cops and how the owner thought i was the one who stole the phone. If I had stolen it I certainly wouldn't have tried to return it. Long story short. Don't buy stuff that could potentially be stolen or lost and always check everything out before hand.
Sent from my D5503 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Unfortunately the ESN or electronic serial number CA be blocked by any of the providers and that means phone blocking which suuuuucks! What I have done in the past when I have received questionable devices I have called the provider and asked them to verify that the phone has a clean ESN before I paid for it or allowed it to be used as payment for services rendered. Most of the time if you play stupid and tell the provider that you bought the phone and were totally unaware that it had a bad ESN, they will usually send you the same model if you ask and tell them that you are going to send them the stolen one. There have been a couple of times they haven't done that and I've been stuck with the bad phone and in that case I used those as scrap and just cannibalize the parts to fix other phones.
I hope this helps you but if you have any doubt that it is stolen I would ask them to pay you with something that won't bring the cops to your door.
Sent from my LG-D950 using xda app-developers app
I used those as scrap and just cannibalize the parts to fix other phones
Don't buy it, when you buy you support robbery, I was robbed once so I know the feeling , if you want a good deal buy a nexus 5