Merimobiles.com

[vijaykhai]

I'm kind of tired of merimobiles.com' lack of communication with my purchase over 2 weeks ago - which apparently was just shipped today, for a second time. So I thought starting a thread with other people's experience with Merimobiles might help anyone considering buying through this site in the future. Any input will help.

I am rather surprised to read the above comments, especially as my experience in dealing with Merimobiles (particularly with Philip) has been very positive. I started talking to them in late July for updates on the STATUS of And. 2.2 and placed my order on 15th July, shipped from HKong 20th and DHL delivered it in Los Angeles on 23rd, which I thought was very reasonable. Since then I have been in touch with Philip regarding the defective battery and as he promised it was delivered in 10 days too.

I feel it is only fair that right NOW, given the shortage of the product, they be given time to supply. At least they respond to emails the same day which is more than what other suppliers do.

Vijay

 

[iamdestruktor]

So i finally get my e7002 device today (Sept 20), originally bought Sept 2. The packaging was ridiculous but i didn't expect anything better to be honest. Inside was a nice box and everything was decently packaged. I finally learned how to turn on the device after trying to read the confusing instruction manual.

What a FAIL. What a FREAKING FAIL. The screen was blank. Now i'm no computer expert but i know enough to know when a screen isn't working the way it's supposed to. I can tell the pixels are off, but that's not even the main problem. I had to fiddle with the ON button to actually turn on to a blank white screen. I had to fiddle with it more, push it in, to actually vaguely make out something of the Android OS. I mean i really had to fiddle, push it in real hard, shake the button, everything basically but obviously not to break it or something.

Finally after almost 20 minutes doing all this, i can make out the home screen, but not clearly. I try touching it my fingers, using the included stylus to move icons and open apps...NOTHING. It was simply frustrating enough to get the screen to show me something other than blank white. I'm packing it all up and probably demanding my money back because this whole fiasco for almost 3 weeks has been just unbelievable!
This was just ridiculous. I've waiting anxiously to get this device that most people have been saying was pretty good for the most part.

I have included pictures (click to make bigger):

 

[gurgle]

Hullo IAMDESTRUKTOR,

My sympathies, my packing was similar, but did have a functioning A81-E. Quite simply, you have an electronic brick. Merimobiles is responsive on replacement from other comments I have read, But I have not had to go down that path.

I would use their "live" online sales and product support on the home site. I would bet they will do the typical RMA number and trade out what you have. Make sure they pick up the shipping as well. One thing Merimobiles does like is their shipping costs. So you should not have to pay for the dead unit. Reference or send them your pictures. Like they say a picture is worth 1000 words.

Best of Luck

 

[xaueious]

You need to ask for an RMA immediately. Your device looks like it was dead on arrival. The stupid packaging didn't help. Those factory generic whiteboxes are not designed for shipment like this

 

[vwtazz]

Bummer. I had quite the opposite experience with merimobiles.com, a good one!
I got mine just 5 days after I ordered it not including the weekend so 7 then. My little E7002 has been humming along real nice. I have even flashed it a few times.
Okay now the "end" button was installed a bit crooked but it still works.
I even sent them a email about getting another charger for the other room and they got back to me that day ($15-shipped).
It is unfortunate that anyone should have a buying experience like the ones I read here but I must be the only one who like merimobiles.com.
K.C.

 

[Rustynail09]

My experience so far with Merimobiles has been a mixed bag of fun. I ordered 9/10/2010, Wits a81e with spare battery, gps, carmount, basically everything I could for it. Because it was a Friday, first business day was Monday. On Thursday ((9/16/2010) 4th business day), I emailed the support asking for a tracking # for the package and received and email back within 45 minutes saying there was a delay with not having the carmount in, they offer me an 8gb card as an apology for the delay. Today, now very frustrated that I have not heard anything, I emailed basically saying that if it was not shipped by Wednesday, I would be cancelling my order. You would think that I just smacked Philip's wife and stole his kids sucker. He was highly offended and basically stated we dont live in a perfect world, ect.. I mailed him back saying that I would wait until wed. to cancel my order, and if there was anything I could do to speed up getting this shipped (Including removing the carmount) to please let me know. I have yet to hear a reply for this, but, as you can tell I am highly frustrated ATM with merimobiles. but, at least they do reply within decent time to emails.

 

[merimobiles-philip]

bstenzhorn
Not very helpful with questions at all.
Purhased a Haipad MID 701, it is a nice tablet but they don't know anythimg about what they are selling.
I plan on using it while traveling and need a broadband modem stick, they had no idea, they said try this and that
Right, like I'm going to buy 2-3 modems until I find one that will work.
Don't expect any after purchase support of any value

Response bstenzhorn
Im kind of suprised that you say that we do not know anything about what we sale. As this is completely false. I did personally speak to you and i said i personally tried the USB 3GWCMDA and it did not work for me. In the product description its clear it does not support 3G.. So i told you i tried it with my 3G USB could not get it to work, I did mention perhaps there is an application needed to get it running, but from my knowledge and as reflected on the product description it does not support 3G.

For shipping
Gurgle
My Experience was mixed. I got my A81-E from them, The shipment arrived the same day as it showed up in DHL tracking. They have the 3-5 days delivery statement. But mine was closer to 9 business days. It was quicker than other China based deliveries, but still it would be better to either be honest or not have that as a shipping come-on for their products.
yes its 3-5business days added to the 2-3 days processing time
total 5-8 business days
I can say that for 99% the time the orders arrive on time and the shipping schedule displayed on our website is respected. From the day the payment is made via DHL it takes total 5-8 business days, and with EMS 8-10 business days, please note a WEEKEND is not a business day.

On the rare occasions that there is a delay in shipping: we offer our customers a compensation, for example the person that complained here about the Witstech was offered a 8GB memory card. We do our very best to ship all packages promptly unfortunately its not a perfect world and stuff do happen sometimes, and some of these things are out of our control and when its our fault we take full responsibility for it and compensate our customers.

CYLON: your haipad will arrive ahead of the shipping schedule

iamdestruktor
If the apad is defective we have a return policy and we will replace it with a new one,
please contact us via email or you can give us a call

http://www.androidtablets.net/forum/members/rustynail09.htmlIm proud to say we do our very best to give the best customer service possible and when there is an issue we are fast to resolve it. When we pack the goods we pack them securely. Almost all the time when there is a physical damage on a product is because its mishandled by the shipping companies.

We appreciate your comments good or bad as we will use it to improve our service. The downside to this is that lots of people will post a bad comment than the package arrives faster than they though but than they will not edit the comment and the damage is done but that is life. I can say so as i check every single tracking number to see if shipping times are respected.

We also provide better customers service than most companies out there dealing in the same field as us. We have alot of customers, 99% of the time things go smoothly, the other 1% of the time when things don't go smoothly we will do you our best to resolve the issues.

If there is anything please feel free to contact me or give us a call


thanks

Philip
Merimobiles

 

[cylon]

I am rather surprised to read the above comments, especially as my experience in dealing with Merimobiles (particularly with Philip) has been very positive. I started talking to them in late July for updates on the STATUS of And. 2.2 and placed my order on 15th July, shipped from HKong 20th and DHL delivered it in Los Angeles on 23rd, which I thought was very reasonable. Since then I have been in touch with Philip regarding the defective battery and as he promised it was delivered in 10 days too.

I feel it is only fair that right NOW, given the shortage of the product, they be given time to supply. At least they respond to emails the same day which is more than what other suppliers do.

Vijay

well ive recieved my apad 7002 this morning (ok slight issue with the delivery), seems that even though i had the delievery address to be my office it was sent to my billing address , which no one is at during the day anyway) but i'll give all credit to Philip he did chase it and confirm (the tarckling number i was given was actually incorrect), but it has arrived (and its the hdmi version as well so im pretty pleased with it).I do think its a bit strange merimobiles is canada based (well the website is) but all shipping is from HK. So timeline for me was..ordered on the 8 sep, confirmed shipping 14th sept, arrived 20 sept, so a little longer then the adverstised but its here..though it would be better to cleary state up front that its actually shipping from HK rather than from canada.and as for the tablet, well $174 from merimobles and so far, hdmi and 3000ma battery (hdmi i can see) the 3000 ma batter is what the manual says (i'lls ee what the battery is life througout the day), its pretty snappy and for a resistive screen...not bad at all..quiet usuable...so far.quite happy...

And i will say this...now that i understand the shipping times etc, i will be ordering from merimobles again, as i said early i guess i was just being impatient to play with a new toy, but its here, and i will be ordering again from merimobiles....

 

[gurgle]

bstenzhorn
For shipping
Gurgle
My Experience was mixed. I got my A81-E from them, The shipment arrived the same day as it showed up in DHL tracking. They have the 3-5 days delivery statement. But mine was closer to 9 business days. It was quicker than other China based deliveries, but still it would be better to either be honest or not have that as a shipping come-on for their products.
yes its 3-5business days added to the 2-3 days processing time
total 5-8 business days
I can say that for 99% the time the orders arrive on time and the shipping schedule displayed on our website is respected. From the day the payment is made via DHL it takes total 5-8 business days, and with EMS 8-10 business days, please note a WEEKEND is not a business day.

On the rare occasions that there is a delay in shipping: we offer our customers a compensation, for example the person that complained here about the Witstech was offered a 8GB memory card. We do our very best to ship all packages promptly unfortunately its not a perfect world and stuff do happen sometimes, and some of these things are out of our control and when its our fault we take full responsibility for it and compensate our customers.
thanks

Philip
Merimobiles

Hello Phillip,

Thank you for your response and support statements. I have no issue with my product or quality. I appreciate your position and need to provide a response to this thread. Your response helps show your interest and stand up response to your store and product. I know you are delivering a moving target and may not have the ability to know the quality of all the units you may trans-ship.
It is good to see this type of response. This in my opinion shows a higher commitment than many of your store competitors. I will not mention names but another vendor that starts with M and offers the A81 has a consistent problem of delivery and service.

Once again thanks

 

[iamdestruktor]

bstenzhorn
Not very helpful with questions at all.
Purhased a Haipad MID 701, it is a nice tablet but they don't know anythimg about what they are selling.
I plan on using it while traveling and need a broadband modem stick, they had no idea, they said try this and that
Right, like I'm going to buy 2-3 modems until I find one that will work.
Don't expect any after purchase support of any value

Response bstenzhorn
Im kind of suprised that you say that we do not know anything about what we sale. As this is completely false. I did personally speak to you and i said i personally tried the USB 3GWCMDA and it did not work for me. In the product description its clear it does not support 3G.. So i told you i tried it with my 3G USB could not get it to work, I did mention perhaps there is an application needed to get it running, but from my knowledge and as reflected on the product description it does not support 3G.

For shipping
Gurgle
My Experience was mixed. I got my A81-E from them, The shipment arrived the same day as it showed up in DHL tracking. They have the 3-5 days delivery statement. But mine was closer to 9 business days. It was quicker than other China based deliveries, but still it would be better to either be honest or not have that as a shipping come-on for their products.
yes its 3-5business days added to the 2-3 days processing time
total 5-8 business days
I can say that for 99% the time the orders arrive on time and the shipping schedule displayed on our website is respected. From the day the payment is made via DHL it takes total 5-8 business days, and with EMS 8-10 business days, please note a WEEKEND is not a business day.

On the rare occasions that there is a delay in shipping: we offer our customers a compensation, for example the person that complained here about the Witstech was offered a 8GB memory card. We do our very best to ship all packages promptly unfortunately its not a perfect world and stuff do happen sometimes, and some of these things are out of our control and when its our fault we take full responsibility for it and compensate our customers.

CYLON: your haipad will arrive ahead of the shipping schedule

iamdestruktor
If the apad is defective we have a return policy and we will replace it with a new one,
please contact us via email or you can give us a call

Im proud to say we do our very best to give the best customer service possible and when there is an issue we are fast to resolve it. When we pack the goods we pack them securely. Almost all the time when there is a physical damage on a product is because its mishandled by the shipping companies.

We appreciate your comments good or bad as we will use it to improve our service. The downside to this is that lots of people will post a bad comment than the package arrives faster than they though but than they will not edit the comment and the damage is done but that is life. I can say so as i check every single tracking number to see if shipping times are respected.

We also provide better customers service than most companies out there dealing in the same field as us. We have alot of customers, 99% of the time things go smoothly, the other 1% of the time when things don't go smoothly we will do you our best to resolve the issues.

If there is anything please feel free to contact me or give us a call


thanks

Philip
Merimobiles

Darn i forgot to ask Phillip via email if i'd be compensated for any of this. Till now, i've only been compensated a total of $4 US dollars! After purchasing an original product with the wrong description, then attempting to purchase an alternative, later to find out i have to wait a week for stock, then given the wrong tracking #, finally ending with a defective product. Now i think that's worth a little more than $4.

Also, Phillip is right - to some extent. It might seem like there's a lot of negative comments. It is easy to bash and complain about a company when the product isn't what it's supposed to live up to. We can all get pretty frustrated when that happens - as i am now! But on the other hand, i did do my research before actually purchasing and found Merimobiles to be the best out of all the tablet-selling sites. In fact i actually found quite a lot of positive responses to previous purchases from others, many even stating that they'd purchase from Merimobiles again. So in the end, i think it's safe to say, you win some, you lose some. With any small business you don't know, you have to take a chance.

 

[iamdestruktor]

Hullo IAMDESTRUKTOR,

My sympathies, my packing was similar, but did have a functioning A81-E. Quite simply, you have an electronic brick. Merimobiles is responsive on replacement from other comments I have read, But I have not had to go down that path.

I would use their "live" online sales and product support on the home site. I would bet they will do the typical RMA number and trade out what you have. Make sure they pick up the shipping as well. One thing Merimobiles does like is their shipping costs. So you should not have to pay for the dead unit. Reference or send them your pictures. Like they say a picture is worth 1000 words.

Best of Luck

Double darn. I also forgot to mention that whole shipping thing. I really don't want to end up paying anymore than i should.

As for the packaging, it wasn't all that bad. At first i was like uhhh, what cheap box did they put it in. But opening it up and seeing the Android box, it was pretty clean. No dents or anything. But in the manual it does say avoid sudden shaking/banging/etc. So probably somewhere between here (NYC) and Hong Kong, it was dropped a few times. Plus those UPS, USPS, FEDEX people THROW the packages into the back of the truck. Thank god for insurance.

 

[MacArrow]

I have rather negative experience with them.
On September 8 I bought Wis A81E tablet from this store, no fancy accessories, just GPS option. Today is September 21 and I still do not have any idea when I can get my order. Yes, every time I send e-mail to their support I get reply from Philip after a couple of hours. But those answers a kind of useless: I had to ask about the status three times and three times I got response like "sorry for delay will ship it tomorrow". Needless to say that nothing happened since.
In the beginning of September they had a good price for A81Es. At the same time I spoke to some other sellers and they noticed that there is a shortage of Wis devices and it can take some time to ship it. Right now merimobiles price is more on the average level and until Philip defines the shipment time more accurately and commits to it I would not recommend to deal with them.
[Update_1] Today, on September 22 after 10 business days from the date of payment, 4 status request e-mails and 3 replies like "will ship tomorrow" my order has changed the status to "shipped". There is no information for the tracking number provided although.
[Update_2] Today, on September 27 DHL website still does not have any information for provided tracking number.

 

[singsong]

I have rather negative experience with them.
On September 10 I bought Wis A81E tablet from this store, no fancy accessories, just GPS option. Today is September 21 and I still do not have any idea when I can get my order. Yes, every time I send e-mail to their support I get reply from Philip after a couple of hours. But those answers a kind of useless: I had to ask about the status three times and three times I got response like "sorry for delay will ship it tomorrow". Needless to say that nothing happened since.
In the beginning of September they had a good price for A81Es. At the same time I spoke to some other sellers and they noticed that there is a shortage of Wis devices and it can take some time to ship it. Right now merimobiles price is more on the average level and until Philip defines the shipment time more accurately and commits to it I would not recommend to deal with them.

Unfortunately my experience is the same. On 6 (!!) september I bought Wis A81E but, after so much mail solicitation and responses from Philip, my shipment still is no match and in recent days have ended also notifications from merimobiles. It is now 18 days (!!) and I think are too many.
I believe that in the end I will use paypal tools for refound the money I already paid. For years, purchasing on the Web and never I had come a similar delay, without any explanation......I am beginning to lose hope!! I will wait a day or two, then I will open the paypal refound procedure.

 

[iamdestruktor]

Ok so i finally receive to my email about the defective APAD - 17 hours later at 1208AM. I'm thinking most of Merimobiles operations are handled in China now. I'm supposed to send back the device at a cost to me, but in return i will receive a credit for the amount of shipping (around $20 they say)? I don't think there really is anything on their website for that amount, let alone international shipping will be more.

Now they say

Make sure you declare a maximum value of 40$ and declare DEFECTIVE Mp4, failure to respect these information will result in us refusing the package and it will be returned back to the sender

Does that mean i have to purchase insurance for the product also?? I'll be honest and say that i don't have much experience in shipping, rather than receiving. I'll probably end up asking the postal worker.

Another thing in the email is that there are contradicting statements. The beginning says

send us back the product once it shipped inform us and we will ship another one right away

Later on it says

Once the package is receive we will repair or replace the product and send it back to you, repairing takes approximately 1-2weeks. We will than send it back to you at our cost and inform you of the shipment tracking number

I think what i will end up doing is i will have to demand for a new product and not a repair of the defective one. Second, i will demand the new APAD they have on their website. It includes an HDMI output, as mine did not, as well as a fancy leather case. It sucks the price is also $5 cheaper. As for an RMA number, nothing. What is RMA?

Any other suggestions or comments on this case will be helpful fellow Android tablet-forumers!

 

[iamdestruktor]

Unfortunately my experience is the same. On 6 (!!) september I bought Wis A81E but, after so much mail solicitation and responses from Philip, my shipment still is no match and in recent days have ended also notifications from merimobiles. It is now 18 days (!!) and I think are too many.
I believe that in the end I will use paypal tools for refound the money I already paid. For years, purchasing on the Web and never I had come a similar delay, without any explanation......I am beginning to lose hope!! I will wait a day or two, then I will open the paypal refound procedure.

Which product did you buy? I feel the people who say their experience with Merimobiles was a good one, were really really lucky. I think you should email them back at least one last time before deciding whether to apply for a refund.