Wiztab Faults

janandian

Member
Jan 12, 2013
2
0
I am new to the group and have searched the previous threads and not seen any relating to faults with Wiztabs, however I also noticed that Wiztabs doesn't appear anywhere on the lists of various tablets referred to on this site - which tells me alot!

A friend and I bought 3 7" Wiztabs for our respective kids for Christmas, from one of those group buying schemes. We thought we were very clever getting in early to buy Xmas presents at fantastic rates compared to (am I allowed to say it?) an ipad. Being an experieinced parent I didn't want the kids to open the presents on Xmas day then have to wait several hours for the batteries to charge. So a few days before Xmas we charged the 3 units up and preloaded some games and books (otherwise they borrow my kindle when I want it). One of the units failed to charge at all, so as my friend's child is much younger she gave me his as he was none the wiser and only giving one of my boys a unit was never going to be an option, and I was to replace it after the mad Xmas rush. Phew! Situation rescued I thought. So my 9yo and 11yo opened their presents and were v excited, for a while. The batt was down to about 25% without having been used, the games I had loaded on the 11yo's tab failed to operate fully unless the batt was fully charged, ie as soon as batt level reduced so did the efficiency. I am talking shoot em up deer hunter type games. Last night, he went to get the tab off the charger and the battery had morphed into twice its size and popped the back off the tab. It is impossible to either charge it or put the back on it. Why did this happen? There is zero chance of him having used the incorrect charger for the device.

So... we have 2 out of 3 brand new units that have failed - one dead on arrival from the factory it would seem. I am anticipating all kinds of warranty problems because of the way I made the puchase, some months before Xmas, and also because last Xmas (you would think I would have learned?!) I tried to return a factory fail and the manufacturer and the group buying place each put the responsibility on the other. End result? The 8yo's dead r/c tarantula is still in my wardrobbe. Anyone want it?

Thanks for reading thus far! My question is, should I cut my losses, having paid $175 for each unit, and go for the real deal ipad? Or cut my losses and buy some other android (which one)? or go through the nause of trying to get the group buying place to provide a replacement that given the track record of a 66% failure rate, is going to set my kids up for further disappointment?

I do not want them to have email, internet or buying access, but I do want them to have a variety of game apps, ebooks, camera and photo editing etc. All advice welcome please.
 

J515OP

Super Moderator
Staff member
Jan 6, 2011
5,172
899
Wow sorry to hear. That is a common result of s bad battery (swelling) and can be very dangerous. If the manufacture didn't immediately offer to replace it that says a lot too. Unfortunately too good to be true prices usually are. Time to cut your losses and dispose of the tablets before they potentially catch fire.

iPads are one way to go but not the only choice. Just make sure you go with a tablet from a major manufacturer or at least one with a large and active user base. Read a couple of the threads here asking about tablets since they have a lot of good info and will guide you in the right direction. All other things considered you should be using the Nexus 7 as the bench mark including price. If a tablet is offering better specs a lower price be skeptical.

JP
 

janandian

Member
Jan 12, 2013
2
0
Thanks for the warning - I didn't know they could catch fire, and as the boys have them ion their bedrooms this is concerning.
J
 

Spider

Administrator
Staff member
Mar 24, 2011
15,785
1,813
Hi janandian, welcome to the forum. Glad you decided to join us here at Android Tablets. Sorry to hear of your problems with those tablets. As my friend JP suggested, I'd recommend disposing of those tablets. The Nexus 7 mentioned would be an excellent replacement and not much more expensive than those tablets were.
 

cali

Super Moderator
Staff member
Sep 25, 2011
691
95
Welcome to the site. Hope you have some new replacement tabs by now.
 
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