Simply Electronics - WARNING

martinox

I am afraid this will be an all too familiar tale. A friend wanted me to get a phone for him and take it to North Cyprus. He even gave me the link to get it from Amazon. Thinking I was clever I googled it and, of course, found it was a lot cheaper (about £50) on SimplyElectronics. The time-frame was just about ok for my intended departure for Cyprus. However, when it did not arrive and they kept telling me that because of high demand they had not dispatched it I cancelled. I received an e mail on 18 September confirming the cancellation and saying I would be refunded. Guess what? Two months later and many e mails on no refund. So for now I am £345 down for something that I have paid for twice and it was for a friend in the first place!!!

Hammockthing

Sorry to hear that, are you out of time to do a chargeback?
I started a chargeback this week but on the day that I sent it off, something most bizarre happened, I got my refund. Well, I can only put it down to what I was prepared to do about these scum. As you might have read, I wanted a coordinated mass emailing from people to the HK police and to google adwords because without Google's help, these criminals wouldn't be so successful.
I told SE all about this and that they should weigh up the cost of refunding me against potentially losing out on lots of victims to steal from. They must have realised it's cheaper to refund one and go on to steal from more people without the hassle from the cops or Google.

aob78

I post this to advise consumers not to use this site. Yes they appear cheaper, and I ignored warnings in the hope of getting a phone for £40 cheaper. However, they will take you money on the first day, and then do not deliver. They are the experts at just making out that your order is progressing. However, this is just a ruse to convince you to let them keep your money for longer. DO NOT DECEIVE YOURSELF THAT YOU WILL GET YOUR ORDER IN 7-14 DAYS.

Everytime I asked where it was, I get a response back saying that they apologise that it has not been dispatched yet and they will chase up with relevant department (notice how they do not answer question!)

Now I am trying to get a refund. I have complained to Skrill, the payment processor but they ignore my emails. Everytime I ask where my money is, I see a slight change in the wording.

1> Your refund request has been submitted.
2. Your refund request has been received.
3. Your refund request is now in the priority list.
4. Your refund will be processed imminently.


It is all rubbish. I suspect its strategy is to make money by 1) its expensive consumer phoneline and 2) interest on the money it keeps for a couple of months. Once it has kept your money for a couple of months, you may be lucky enough to receive the product you ordered or get a refund.

This is a company that will one day go bankrupt and you will lose everything if you do not have protection through Paypal or potentially your credit card provider. I believe it is based in HK and that is why the phone appears cheap as it is not a UK version.

I have now spent a couple of weeks trying to get a refund.

Hammockthing

aob78 wrote: »

I have now spent a couple of weeks trying to get a refund.

You actually can get a refund, I did it. I have to confess though, you need to be prepared to get on to Google adwords (I told them about SE but they didn't reply) and the HK police (I can send you the link). I also went over all their youtube vids and left a comment about them - remember to click thumbs down on all their vids so that unsuspecting viewers get suspicious and check their reputation.
I told SE I would get a bunch of people to report them if they didn't refund me. No one actually seems bothered enough to join me in this though, maybe this is the wrong forum.

Phone your credit card provider and tell them you want to do a chargeback and start the process asap. Be aware that some people said that Simplyelectronics made unauthorised transactions on their cards afterwards too. So you should then ask for a replacement card.

They won't go bust, they've been at this some time. They appear to rely on you not doing a chargeback, so they get to keep your money.
They will continue to succeed at this until people act on it as a group. Some hopes eh?

aob78

My order status now says "refund completed. please allow a few days for the transaction to appear"

I suspect this is just another delaying tactic but I will hold off until tomorrow to see if it happens before I contact bank.

aob78

I've now started clicking on their Google Ad's just to eat into their marketing budget.

Hammockthing

Rather than do that, actually contact Google adwords. These people claim in their adwords subtitle that they dispatch from the UK, which they do not, even when they send items out (according to what I've read by buyers online). So they're not being truthful about that part and Google accept complaints based on that. You can't tell Google they're criminals and have them jump out of their seats and quickly block them in search results unfortunately. Enough complaints from people should at least alert them to look into it though.

aob78

Thanks for your suggestion. I did actually send a complaint to Google AdWords highlighting that it did not deliver items as claimed and that you had to push hard to get a refund. No response and I suspect Google will ignore it. It has taken them a decade to ban child abuse pictures so I doubt a dodgy HK retailer is going to make much of an impact. I suspect that it is only a matter of time before SimplyElectronics declares bankruptcy and consumers lose out.

nessykids

just saw this today realised I had been scammed by these charlatans almost immediately prices seem too good to be real I usually thoroughly research any online items but had been looking for ages for 2 x s3 galaxy mini phones for wife and daughter as xmas pressies and last night found Simply (must think people are simple presumably) wish I hadnt.Paid for one phone and transaction went through successfully (wish it had not) but then tried to use another card to buy other phone and authorisation was declined so emailed thinking problem at there end got vague email saying had invoiced me and to pay through paypal account this started bells ringing in my head and low and behold found payment pending on my paypal account.Have started a dispute with them and paypal have helped me cancel transaction( hooray) via really snotty email which I am proud of (fraudsters and such) then recieved call from my bank saying possible fraud was reason for them not authorising 2nd transaction (wondered why 1st didnt register) turns out a company called Moneybookers involved and my bank has had bad dealings with them, they are based in S/Ireland apparently and as a security measure have let them block my 2nd account for 14 days to stop these fraudsters accessing it. Unfortunately my bank is waiting for them to debit from my 1st account and will then instigate a chargeback ( I hope this screws the A**e holes out of them ) then hope for my refund. I have sent numerous cancellation emails and will undoubtedlly send a few more. This company should be put out of business asap to avoid any more potential victims I will now go to YT and thumbs down all there videos and adwords Avoid this company at all costs unless you like being stressed and disgruntled

Froggitt

I contacted Google Shopping about another non-UK retailer pretending to be in the UK......and doing a VAT fraud (US retailers obviously don't pass VAT collected to HMRC and have no requirement to collect VAT). They obviously couldn't care less as they are still there.