Simply Electronics - Simply Avoid!

Uberchuck

Simply Electronics took £385 within 24 hours of my placing an order for a Samsung S3.

Four weeks later, with no phone and no sign of one being delivered, I have cancelled the order and am praying that they will refund my money.

I phoned every week since I placed the order and on each occasion the poor mug who had to face yet another angry customer could not tell me when the phone would be delivered.

The company looks as though it's based in Hong Kong, i.e. that's where its registered address is, and where its sales ("Anthony" etc.) and customer service ("Jay" etc.) people say they are based ("say they are based" because they say that they are not allowed to disclose where they are!!).

However, it seems to me that they claim that everything is in stock but actually have nothing in stock. I think that as they receive an order they then place that order with a supplier in mainland China. And that is the problem.

I ordered from them because, having lived and worked in Hong Kong, I trust its rule of law. However, mainland China is a whole different ball game.

Had I only taken a couple of minutes to Google the company and seen the slew of negative comments (and some less than convincing positive ones) then I would have gone elsewhere and spent the extra £100 to buy the phone.

I really hope they refund my money, but if the service to date is anything to go by, then I'm not too optimistic.

The authorities in Hong Kong HATE fraudulent companies that give the place a bad name. So they will take this sort of thing seriously.

If Simply Electronics fails to return my money within 5 working days then I will submit a cyber-crime report on the English language Hong Kong police website.

In short, avoid Simply Electronics. Pay the extra money from a reliable outlet, online or otherwise.

MikeWhite

Commiserations. A work colleague had a similar experience last year with a digital camera.
How did you pay? Hopefully by credit card. If so, the card provider is jointly liable and I would be approaching them, too.

Mike

grumbler

Both debit and credit cards do chargeback: Visa, Mastercard & Amex Chargeback Protection for debit card purchases

JJ_Egan

Simply Electronics

Multiple similar posts on here and other forums .

jje

cookie365

No postal address on their Contact Us page.

That would be enough for me.

Uberchuck

Thanks for your suggestions and feedback. Much appreciated.

Uberchuck

Having followed the advice of Grumbler and MikeWhite I found that my bank, Barclays, was helpful even though I'd paid using a Debit card and not a Credit card. (Lesson number 1).

However, progress there was very slow so I gave SimplyElectronics five working days to the return the money or I would submit an online crime form with the Hong Kong police.

After some initial bleating from them about their processes taking up to two weeks etc and my repeating the deadline, lo and behold, the money was back in my bank within five working days.

In terms of all the other threads that address this rather errant company, I DID a search on MSE for 'Simply Electronics' and 'SimplyElectronics' and nothing directly relevant came up for me. Hence I went blindly on.

Nevertheless, all's well that ends well.

Thanks again for your help, guys.

Ian_from_?

A positive and good experience with this company.

Placed an order with Simply Electronics for a Galaxy S4 phone UK version (I9505 LTE
) had a problem paying via Paypal on their website so phoned their customer services desk (UK number). The person was polite, efficient and sorted out the payment. So the payment was taken and the website stating that delivery is usually between 7-14 days - no problem.

It was only the next day that for some reason it occurred to me that there might be UK VAT and Duty to pay so I looked at their website and discovered that Simply Electronics are based in Hong Kong. It was only when I looked up Simply Electronics for this purpose that I spotted on the search page some websites that were giving Simply Electronics some really bad reviews and my heart sank. So I emailed the company explaining that I had discovered that they were based in Hong Kong and because of this and the type of product that I had ordered, should there be a fault with the item this could cause me all sorts of problems and that I might have to pay UK tax and duties. I also stated that I wished to cancel the order and asked for a full refund of the money paid via PayPal

My email was promptly replied to stating:
“Thank you for your email.

I would like to assure you that all our stock comes with UK specification with 3 pin power plug and English Manual. In addition, all products from SimplyElectronics also come with a 12 month warranty from receipt of the purchase. We do pass all our savings on to our clients which is due to special arrangements we have made on your behalf. As this, we do take care of all VAT payable. The price you see on the website is all you pay – there are no hidden charges.

As a result, we have passed on the saving to our customers by selling our items at a lower and more competitive price.

Once we have received your order, we will send you a confirmation email.

We hope that this helps clear up any queries in your mind, but please let us know if further clarification is required”

I replied stating that i wished to cancel my order. Within 2 days they had refunded the full payment back to my Paypal account without any quarrel or problem whatsoever.

So bottom line:
1. The person on the UK customer service phone was polite and efficient.
2. Their standard emails that came with the order were prompt and clear.
3. Their replies to my emails were received promptly and were very polite.
4. They had no quarrel with canceling my order.
The refunded payment was in my Paypal account within two days.

So sitting back and reflecting on the above:
I really cannot fault my experience with them.
Would I purchase items from them in the future? Yes I probably will.
In terms of the Samsung Galaxy S4 their price was getting on for £200 cheaper than what you can purchase it Sim free for in the UK - assuming there available from stock in the UK!

Doc_N

Ian_from_? wrote: »

A positive and good experience with this company.

You took the trouble to join this website today, and your entire activity has been to make two more or less identical posts supporting Simply Electronics against all the people complaining about its activities.

Some might think you have some connection with Simply Electronics, but that would be uncharitable, wouldn't it?

MikeWhite

Ian_from_? wrote: »

I would like to assure you that all our stock comes with UK specification with 3 pin power plug and English Manual. In addition, all products from SimplyElectronics also come with a 12 month warranty from receipt of the purchase.

That doesn't mean anything. You will still get a HK spec. grey import with no Samsung warranty.

Ian_from_? wrote: »

I replied stating that i wished to cancel my order. Within 2 days they had refunded the full payment back to my Paypal account without any quarrel or problem whatsoever.

So despite the wonderfully polite and fast response and all the reassurances you cancelled. May I ask why?

grumbler

MikeWhite wrote: »

You will still get a HK spec. grey import with no Samsung warranty.

And 12 month warranty for Samsung proves this.