Defective Tablet from Geekbuying - Best Outcome?

shake on 22/01/2015 - 10:43

Hi all - has anyone here ever received a defective item from GeekBuying, and successfully resolved the situation?

Long story short - I ordered a tablet from GeekBuying, but it has a small dent around the Power button on arrival. To me, it looks like someone has tried to prise open the case, and bent it in the process. Here's a pic

GeekBuying's return policy says that if an item arrives defective, they will:
- pay for return shipping, and
- either send me a replacement unit, or provide a full refund.

But after multiple emails back and forth (and several irrelevant excuses from them) - they have offered a $20 refund if I keep the defective item.

On principle, they should comply with their stated return policy, and give me a replacement unit that's free of defects. In practice however, I fear this will just end up dragging on forever, and be more hassle than it's worth. (Would AusPost even let me ship a tablet with internal battery to China?)

So I'm just pondering what my best option is at the moment.

Has anyone had any similar experiences? Any advice on how to best handle this would be greatly appreciated!

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Comments

  • scrimshaw on 22/01/2015 - 11:24
    +2

    Auspost will not ship anything with a LiPo battery via Air mail. So if you need to ship it back, you'll probably need to organise a courier service, like Pack 'n' Send or something similar.

    And it may cost you around $40 or $50 to ship it — to me, this sounds like giant hassle and a waste of time (just for a little ding on the chassis), but if you want a perfectly good tablet, you can decide whether or not its worth chasing up GeekBuying.

    The $20 offer however seems like an attempt to buy your silence though… and it doesn't sound like a lot either.

    • AssociatedClear @ Geekbuying on 22/01/2015 - 12:27

      They don't accept packages from couriers. Would cost anywhere between $12-$30 from Australia to China via Auspost's package calculator.

      • shake on 22/01/2015 - 12:37

        The problem is, AusPost refuses to ship anything containing lithium batteries by air.

    • shake on 22/01/2015 - 12:32

      Thanks for the reply.

      In theory, even if it costs me $50-$60 to send it back, GeekBuying should be footing the bill, in accordance with their stated return policy. In reality I'm afraid that the reimbursement will not be easily forthcoming without a fight.

      They initially offered me a $10 refund, which I immediately declined of course. Then they upped it to $20.

      The whole thing is just frustrating.

      • scrimshaw on 22/01/2015 - 12:39
        +1

        Deal Extreme reimbursed me for the costs of delivery (it was a mobile phone).

        So good service on their part, but having to deal with BuyinCoins on the other hand was a major pain.
        Was offered a 'bribe' of $5 to keep my dead Mp3 device but I relented and they finally offered me a full refund (it was worth $20.). They wouldn't accept returns, and there is no return address.

        Hopefully Geekbuy has better customer service standards.

        • shake on 22/01/2015 - 16:11

          Did you pay for the return postage upfront first, and then DealExtreme paid you back later?

          And I assume you had to post via courier (as opposed to AusPost)?

          Thanks for any info.

        • scrimshaw on 22/01/2015 - 16:14

          DX actually has an aussie address for returns located in Sydney— I assume it's where their depot is. I just sent the phone using ordinary mail.

          I uploaded my Aust Post receipt to their helpdesk and they reimbursed me.

          This is why I would rather buy phones of DX, even though their prices aren't that cheap, they fact that they have an Aussie address means its much easier to ship stuff back for a refund or replacement.

  • AssociatedClear @ Geekbuying on 22/01/2015 - 12:17
    +1

    PM me your order number and I will see if I can get someone to help you out.

    • shake on 22/01/2015 - 12:36

      Thanks for that. However, I've just tried to PM you and it looks like your messaging has been disabled. Can you either PM me (and I'll reply), or enable PMs on your profile please?

      • AssociatedClear @ Geekbuying on 22/01/2015 - 13:22

        Thanks. Message sent.

  • h4n53n on 11/02/2015 - 14:59

    Don't buy from China and certainly not Geekbuying. They did the same to me, sent me a clearly use tablet with a busted up and opened box. When I realised the tablet was faulty and wouldn't charge I emailed GKB. After 2 weeks and multiple excuses I finally was allowed to return it. They then pointed out tiny imperfections in the tablet and even on the box and charged me $25 restocking and wouldn't cover return shipping.

    I paid for it via paypal but they sent it out 3 weeks after I paid and it took 2 weeks to arrive. I couldn't open a paypal dispute as it was too late.

    Do a quick google search for GKB scams and you'll find out all about em. Crooks.

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