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simply electronics IS A Big scam website....

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  • vuvuzela
    vuvuzela Posts: 3,648 Forumite
    edited 22 October 2014 at 2:48PM
    jonesy81 wrote: »
    I have ordered from them and had no problems what so ever!

    It's nice when people join and post a single post to defend a website that hasn't been talked about on the forum for weeks. They've clearly searched on google or on the forum for the website name of the place they work for or own and joined to try and defend it.

    However, it's pretty !!!!ing obvious when it happens and also stupid for a couple of reasons :

    1: the post gets bumped on the forum, therefore more people can see the title " simply electronics IS A Big scam website...." - please note I am not commenting that this is accurate, it's just what the OP chose to call the thread.

    2: SEO being what it is, now that the post entitled " simply electronics IS A Big scam website...." has been bumped on here and commented on more, anyone searching for the terms simply electronics scam website will get it higher up in the google search lists.

    So congratulations, jonesy81. You've singularly failed in your attempt to fool people on here and in doing so have raised (or lowered, depending on how you look at it ;)) the profile of simply electronics. Have a drink, you've earned it.
  • vuvuzela
    vuvuzela Posts: 3,648 Forumite
    Oh, people wanting to read other revierws of how bad simply electronics may be according to reviewers should go to https://www.trustpilot.co.uk/review/www.simplyelectronics.net which ranks them as a very shoddy 3.5/10.
  • vuvuzela
    vuvuzela Posts: 3,648 Forumite
    There's also another huge thread about simply electronics and people not receiving goods / bad service : Simply Electronics - WARNING
  • I've been scammed by them, ordered a Samsung phone from them, took ages to get near being despatched. As it was a Xmas present which would be arriving too late for me to give I cancelled the order .
    However Simply Misdirectional sent out the phone anyway.
    I returned it in early January 2014 and have been trying to get a refund ever since.
    I don't for one minute believe the glowing endorsements that have popped up on Trustpilot & other review sites.
    At best you get Grey goods with questionable warranties and menus in foreign languages, at worst you get ripped off like I and many other people have been.
    Beware these Hong Kong scam merchants.

    Oh, and that Ekomi review site is such a joke
  • wealdroam
    wealdroam Posts: 19,180 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    I've been scammed by them, ordered a Samsung phone from them, took ages to get near being despatched. As it was a Xmas present which would be arriving too late for me to give I cancelled the order .
    However Simply Misdirectional sent out the phone anyway.
    I returned it in early January 2014 and have been trying to get a refund ever since.
    I don't for one minute believe the glowing endorsements that have popped up on Trustpilot & other review sites.
    At best you get Grey goods with questionable warranties and menus in foreign languages, at worst you get ripped off like I and many other people have been.
    Beware these Hong Kong scam merchants.

    Oh, and that Ekomi review site is such a joke
    How did you pay for your phone?
    Hopefully with a credit card?

    Was the purchase price over £100?
  • Do not use simply electronics. They have just ruined my husbands birthday. They take money from you but don't confirm or acknowledge the order. I telephoned them the day after the order to check it had gone through ok as nothing on screen. I went through to an Asian lady that first of all hung up on me when I asked to check if my order had worked. Then when I called back she couldn't understand I didn't have an order number and told me to email. I didn't get a response for another day. The items said 'despatch 2-3 days. Clearly not true as it's now been 8 business days and they have my money ( over 1200 euro) which they took on day 1. I Had a response around day 6 asking for proof of address when it went to PayPal and the card logged with them had already been charged. Nice of them to take fraud risk seriously when they're the ones committing that fraud - clearly just stalling for more time. I now don't know if I'll ever get the goods but husbands birthday now ruined - 2 weeks should have been enough. So advice is don't use them. For the extra 50 euros it would have cost me I should have stuck with Amazon. I won't make that mistake again. Scamming money and disgraceful customer service that's the summary.
  • Equinoxe
    Equinoxe Posts: 1 Newbie
    edited 24 April 2015 at 9:43PM
    Gaining a refund (2015)
    * Several helpfull direct links were put on my post, but the forum won't allow them due to being a new user *

    First of all, if you were anything like me first stumbling across these threads, you'll be in a bit of panic.
    Because of that, you are desperate for tips on what to do next amidst all the highly alarming words.

    The following advice is only for what to do in the event that you wish to 'cancel' (preferably soon after ordering) and seek a refund, after stumbling across the tsunami of negatives online going back years. Ideally you want to get this done as soon as possible, to prevent the order from progressing to a second stage.

    Short and sweet background of my starting point. I had paid using a 'debit card' (yes, whip me now) through the payments system which Simply Electronics use - Skrill

    For this reason, I though I was out of luck.

    However, I ended up getting a full refund back into my bank account within 6 days.

    Based on that end result, may I suggest that these are the moves to make.

    Really it is only two steps, but I will also elaborate on how the process will probably unfold for everyone.

    Step One is to immediately notify Simply Electronics in words that you wish to cancel and seek refund.

    Go to the Simply Electronic contact page and on that page there are three lines in orange.

    Below the section words Customer Services Enquiries there is an orange line which has written :

    "Click here to send a message to our customer service team. (Click again to Close)"

    Left clicking on that orange line will open up the drop down submission form.

    On that form, fill in the required details and when it comes to the 'Your question' drop down, choose :

    ---- I want to cancel my order ----

    Below that, ensure that you put in the order reference number in (should be in your email inbox).

    It's up to you if you put anything in their 'message' field. Probably best just to keep it simple and not bother.

    Following your submission, you will then get an automated email confirming receipt of it with a Ticket I.D which will look like - "AER- 321-12345" (a unique number based on your cancellation request to them).

    From then on, this reference is the one you should always keep in the 'subject' of any further emails.

    Step Two :

    Following my initial cancellation submission and that automated email reply, it seemed wise to phone them too so I called the 0844 499 0616 (the number which appears on UK sales) phone number, to make double sure.

    It was a connection with poor sound and clearly a call centre operation based in the Far East (by the accent).

    I mentioned the original order number, and mentioned the initial cancellation email (which they magically find, once you mention it to them on the phone). I was told that it will be refunded in 5 days or so. However, I didn't feel fully convinced by the bored tone on the phone line and decided to keep on top of it.

    Later in the day I received another automated email which was thanking me for my 'order' and talked about processing as soon as they can / estimated delivery times. Understandably I was not happy to receive this.

    In their defense, these are probably automated emails coming from different departments but as in all the stages of gaining a refund it is best not to lay back yet but keep the pressure on, politely but consistently.

    (If) you receive that email too, the chances are that it came from web-support (at) simplyelectronics.net

    Very likely this is just another automated one that the call centre have no knowledge of, but you probably don't want to take a chance (as I didn't want to) , so I replied to that one direct from my inbox mentioning the Ticket AER Number, and repeating that notice of cancellation had been given twice already and that under no circumstances was the order to proceed to any processing stage - only refund was being sought by myself.

    Expect the names in these emails to be western names. If the support emails come from Britain or from the Far East I don't know, as Hong Kongers and Taiwanese tend to also posess a second western name.

    Whatever the case, I have to say that every email received from start to finish was clear and polite.

    For this reason, I suggest you do the same in all dealings. Keep it civil but 'slightly' firm throughout.
    In response to that email, one came later from the same email address but from a customer service officer.

    It politely asked for reason (s) for cancellation before they forwarded the cancellation request to their accounts team. It was not something worth getting into, especially if it could potentially complicate matters so my email reply was short and sweet -politely instructing them again to begin the refund process. On the following day an email came back respecting the cancellation request and saying refund usually take 2-5 days depending on the original method used etc, so to allow 7 days. Replied to that with thanks, but kept a keen eyeon my account. 4 days after that email, the full amount was taken 'out' of my bank account. Unsure of how this whole thing works, I suspected that this could be because once you use a middleman like Skrill, the payment process has already been set in motion and must complete itself before it is then 'reversed' as a refund. However, as with all previous cases it seemed silly just to gamble on that so it was wise to continue asking questions about it.

    Two people were emailed that same day.

    One : Skrill, the middleman payment system. On the same day of order and cancellation I had also contacted them via their online submission forms (but chose not to suggest this as a step because I suspect it had no effect at all). It was through an online submission form because there is no email to contact them. On that first mail the entire situation has been explained in great detail but nothing ever came back from that contact.

    On the day that the money came 'out' of my bank account though, there was a simultaneous email from Skrill with a header marked - "Refund from Simply Electronics ltd" but absolutely nothing inside. No text at all.

    Given how the money came 'out' of my bank account the same day as an email was received saying that the Simply Electronics had issued a refund, this was not looing good. Once more, Skrill were contacted through their online contact form with full info but no assisting reply came from them to this day, about the processl. Either they do receive them and get to work without replying, or they simply don't bother reading such mail.

    Two : Simply electronics were again contacted on the same email - web-support@simplyelectronics.net and my enquiry was why the money had come out even though refund process was under way. Basically, they were confused too as they had issued a refund that day (the same day Skrill had sent an email saying as such) and advised keeping an eye on it for the next few days as different banks operate at different paces etc.

    Two days later I noticed a credit of the full amount back into my account. Going to my bank personally, I doubly confirmed the money was actually back 'in' my account before finally relaxing after 6 days of anxiety.

    It seems to me that for the refund process to happen, the initial payment through a system like Skrill has to complete its journey even though my order was cancelled within half an hour of making it, but because Skrill never contacted me in detail this is just a guess. At the time of my order with Simply Electronics I had joined their website and this gave me the chance to see the progress status of my order. Immediately the status was - "payment processing" so this is where it seems you are unable to truly cancel the order in the sense of suspending payment from its momentum. For this reason, it is best to keep making it clear what you seek.

    Why was time of the essence for me? Well, dithering had left me just over a week away from travel overseas without having replaced a camera of mine which was now a bit of a wreck. In recent days I'd been reading reviews and saw one that sounded good. It was at this point that I, like others, walked into the trap of narrow focus when seeing the camera about £60 or so cheaper on the search results on Google, through Simply Electronics. It was that grey area where the cost was far cheaper than usual websites but not so cheap that it looked 'suspiciously' cheaper. Ordinarily my online caution is thorough, but that day it was a bit of a rush to make the order when factoring in delivery times. It was this which blinded me to noticing it wasn't UK based.

    It was actually my good fortune that the confirmation email mentioning something like - "expected to be delivered within 4-10 days" rang a bell post payment, because that was razor edge close to my leaving date. Googling then brought up the whole range of horror stories going back years about 4-10 ending up as a weeks or months etc, and my heart sank, especially when it sounded like some people had to threaten legal action to obtain a refund etc. Now, I cannot comment on what their delivery times are like thesedays because luckily I never had to experience it. Google was my friend that day, otherwise I would have still anxiously been waiting here a few days before travel, with no camera in sight and perhaps still none the wiser as to why that was.

    In the meantime I'd also had to gamble by purchasing 'another' camera (different model) from a well known trusted website 'John Lewis' while continuing the pressure on Simply Electronics. Going away without a camera wasn't an option, but this was a expensive gamble to make as there was no guarantee I'd get a refund.

    All in all, picking up my camera the same day of order from an alloted click and collect location in the next town reminded me why sometimes it is best to pay a bit more for a well known company, especially when dangerously close to going overseas. Contemplating having to keep the pressure on them all through my holiday or afterwards was not something that was welcome. Despite the stress, if time was not an issue it appears that going the Simply Electronics route does pay off for some people but wow the patience involved probably isn't worth the discount (imo) and the question mark over warranties being valid within Europe etc.

    So, hopefully this will help with refunds.

    Keep an email trail of all communications and keep up a a polite but slightly firm persistance and it seems things will work out in the end, even if you used a Debit Card (yikes).
  • I purchased a iPad air 2 as this site showed the cheapest around. They quoted me a 7 day delivery and I got it in 5. Everything is as it should be and the item is perfect. I told a friend about this site and he also ordered the same product and got his in the 7 days quoted. Again no failings or false promises from them. If the way they treated me is anything to go by then I would not hesitate to use them. I certainly will be using them again
  • Le_Kirk
    Le_Kirk Posts: 24,548 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    Wow, joined just to say how good the company is, this same company that has been the subject on numerous threads and 48 posts saying how bad they are, including one previous attempt at spamming. If the poster does not return to deny this, I am hitting the spam tin!
  • shaun_from_Africa
    shaun_from_Africa Posts: 12,858 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Personally, I think that reporting such posts as spam is the wrong way to go.
    Leaving them visible on the forum along with other poster's responses and opinions says a lot about a company when they have to resort to false praise in order to make that company appear more legit.
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