About super-cheap laptops and how not to do business - Part II

    Yeah, and here is the continuation of the story about laptops "for all." The first part can be read here .

    So, the purchase. How it was? It was mm ... pretty weird. I agreed with the Chinese brothers for two weeks, they know how to write letters, they write politely: "Dear Sir, ..." and all that. In general, two weeks of communication via e-mail did not go in vain, I learned enough about the devices and this only strengthened my desire to make a purchase. They said the cost of delivery: $ 224 if sent using EMS (Express Mail Service). Why EMS? Because they deliver parcels in some miraculous way and you do not need to pay customs duty for them, which we can make up to 30% of the parcel cost. It was because of customs duties that I had to refuse sending by DHL, although, of course, I somehow trust them more, how many times I worked with them, everything always worked out,

    Yes, in general, we agreed on EMS. I’ll calculate the total cost that we get $ 162 * 5 + 224 total $ 1034. This comes out at almost $ 207 per device. Figase !, I thought, what about "for everyone"? But what about “super-cheap and even on Linux”? This is 2/3 of the cost of an EEE PC! But there is nothing to do, “Twenty thousand have already been paid for” (c) Masyanya.

    They sent an invoice. The transfer was made by PrivatBank. Surprisingly, everything happened quite quickly, in 40 minutes they opened a personal account (in my opinion, it cost 30 hryvnias, about $ 6) and took $ 12 for an international transfer. I was even surprised that in PrivatBank everything is usually sooo slow, but here it turned out smartly. At least something nice. Total $ 1034 + 6 + 12 turns $ 1052. This is $ 210 per item. Hmm ... almost doubled the cost of the declared.

    So, the money went to China. On the same day, I sent the Chinese brothers a scan of the receipt of payment and received from them “thank you very much, the technological samples will be ready within 2 weeks.”

    Well, OK, two so two, and you can wait, it’s still a long way to the new year :)

    Two weeks have passed, I unsubscribe to them, saying “how are things with the glands”, what I get for, is something like “we’re trying to release a new one a version of the device with a built-in Wi-Fi module, let’s send you new samples, but a little later. ” The word "Figas!" For some reason, oyat visited my head, what does the built-in wifi have to do with it? Well I paid the external. Well, I say, look, I paid you for the external, give me what I want, just send it and that's it. In response, silence ...

    A week passed, I write to them again, they say, why is there something with iron? I've been waiting already! To which I get the answer "well, here we have also improved the screen, there are more colors and the resolution has improved, and there you still remember, the built-in wifi ... but this time, we are preparing it all ... but if anything, we can return the money to you." Ohhh, great, little screen ... but what about $ 60 for external wifi modules? In general, I decided to wait, they promised a resolution of 800x480 (it turns out there used to be less!).

    He waited until the beginning of October, again silence. Unsubscribe, they say, how is it? Have already done? Silence again. But I’m persistent, I wrote letters to them every three days :) Finally, three days ago I received an answer that we sent by DHL. Tracking namber blah blah blah.

    Ohhhh! Sent! But DHL! It turns out that for all this stuff I will have to pay a customs fee! Well, Yokarnaby, we agreed! With this arrangement, these devices will cost me as much as an EEE PC! I decided to calm down, but not that. On the DHL website, the indicated tracking number turned out to be invalid. For the sake of confidence, I went to check on the EMS website, maybe in the letter they made a mistake with the name of the courier company ... I tried, the same thing, an invalid number.

    Today I wrote to them about this, I'm waiting for an answer, I'm nervous ...

    I will write the continuation of this story as new information appears.

    PS: Does anyone else have experience buying equipment in China? How it was?

    - Source

    UPD: the continuation of the story can be read here .

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