Merimobiles.com
- Thread starter joshua.lyon
- Start date
The website is just slow to load sometimes. I have been on and off their website most of the past three wekkes and it is there. Just a slow ititial load sometimes
Merimobiles has an unfair bad reputation in this forum.
First let me state that I am in no way associated with Merimobiles nor did I receive anything for writing this review. I live in Washington State USA, just south of Microsoft-land, in a little city with an Indian name – Issaquah.
I am a first-time Chinese tablet purchaser. My biggest fear was my money going off across the Pacific and 1) not being able to contact the merchant with questions or 2) problems with the product and an unresponsive merchant.
I decided to try Merimobiles for two reasons; they have a North American 800 number and they have a good reputation with ResellerRatings.com.
I decided that before I placed an order with Merimobiles that I would place a test call to the 800-204-0883 number. I called and got a recording. My mind goes to tales of online merchants that never answer their phone and never return calls. I left a message literally saying I was considering a purchase with Merimobiles and the purpose of my call was to see if they answered the telephone. I left my phone number and said I would test call again in 2 hours. Much to my surprise I received a call back in about ½ hour. We discussed three tablets I was considering. He suggested I would be happiest with the newest of the three I listed but warned me that because it was so new that there would be a delay in shipping because they were had sent their stock back to the manufacturer for software updates.
I was so pleasantly surprised and satisfied with our telephone chat that it was at this point I started thinking that these folks are being unfairly maligned. I envisioned writing this review to tell of Merimobiles current level of customer service.
If you read through the various reviews you will see that they have improve as you read the more recent reviews. The very angry posts are the older ones.
Here are the bullet points of my experience (today’s –midyear 2013 – service)
Responsiveness:
· Called 800 #, the call was returned within 30 minutes
· Emailed [email protected] a half-dozen times, each and every email was replied to within the promised 48 hours, usually within 24 hours and sometimes within just a handful of hours
· I used LiveChat three times, I always had to wait a while for my turn but that was always within an hour or so and usually just minutes.
· I also used LiveChat’s Offline leave a message capability once and this was responded to the next morning
Product:
· I ordered one of the latest and greatest dual-core Android tablets that had only been released the month before (Window N90 II) and received exactly what I ordered.
· It came with the latest firmware which was only released but the manufacturer on the day that I ordered the tablet!
· It was double boxed with bubble-wrap between the two boxes to protect the inner box which was the manufacture’s shipping box.
· The entire outside was wrapped with shipping tape to prevent the packaging from coming apart. I had to use shears and a knife to get into it
· The tablet and all the parts arrived undamaged
· So far I really like this tablet (which, but the way, is the one that was recommended on my 800 # call.)
· I have one small issue concerning the Power Adapter-Charger that I have emailed them about (it works fine.)
Shipping:
· I opted to pay more and use DHL. I can’t say enough about DHL. Total time from their pickup in Hong Kong to my front door was 33 hours
· There are couple days that I don’t truly understand from the time it leaves Merimobiles’ facility in Shenzhen China to when DHL logs it onto their system in Hong Kong. Both Merimobiles and DHL are a bit vague on this but just plan on 24 to 48 hours to get across the border into Hong Kong.
· There was the issue of the tablet having been returned to the manufacturer for some software update. This ended up adding insignificantly (1 day) to Merimobiles advertised delivery interval. And I need to note, that as of this writing (a few days after receiving) many online merchants still have the tablet in question as a pre-order. That is, they have yet to start shipping at all.
Overall Experience:
· Excellent!
· Tremendous responsiveness on all three channels of communication that I tried.
· Latest Firmware – only days old
· Exactly as ordered
· Undamaged
· Great little tablet
· They even threw in a carrying sleeve that I hadn’t expected
· Overall shipping time was one day longer that their posted schedule but I had been forewarned of more than one days delay so they exceeded my expectation!
· I will wait the response to my email concerning the Charger (but the nice thing is I am 100% positive they will respond.)
First let me state that I am in no way associated with Merimobiles nor did I receive anything for writing this review. I live in Washington State USA, just south of Microsoft-land, in a little city with an Indian name – Issaquah.
I am a first-time Chinese tablet purchaser. My biggest fear was my money going off across the Pacific and 1) not being able to contact the merchant with questions or 2) problems with the product and an unresponsive merchant.
I decided to try Merimobiles for two reasons; they have a North American 800 number and they have a good reputation with ResellerRatings.com.
I decided that before I placed an order with Merimobiles that I would place a test call to the 800-204-0883 number. I called and got a recording. My mind goes to tales of online merchants that never answer their phone and never return calls. I left a message literally saying I was considering a purchase with Merimobiles and the purpose of my call was to see if they answered the telephone. I left my phone number and said I would test call again in 2 hours. Much to my surprise I received a call back in about ½ hour. We discussed three tablets I was considering. He suggested I would be happiest with the newest of the three I listed but warned me that because it was so new that there would be a delay in shipping because they were had sent their stock back to the manufacturer for software updates.
I was so pleasantly surprised and satisfied with our telephone chat that it was at this point I started thinking that these folks are being unfairly maligned. I envisioned writing this review to tell of Merimobiles current level of customer service.
If you read through the various reviews you will see that they have improve as you read the more recent reviews. The very angry posts are the older ones.
Here are the bullet points of my experience (today’s –midyear 2013 – service)
Responsiveness:
· Called 800 #, the call was returned within 30 minutes
· Emailed [email protected] a half-dozen times, each and every email was replied to within the promised 48 hours, usually within 24 hours and sometimes within just a handful of hours
· I used LiveChat three times, I always had to wait a while for my turn but that was always within an hour or so and usually just minutes.
· I also used LiveChat’s Offline leave a message capability once and this was responded to the next morning
Product:
· I ordered one of the latest and greatest dual-core Android tablets that had only been released the month before (Window N90 II) and received exactly what I ordered.
· It came with the latest firmware which was only released but the manufacturer on the day that I ordered the tablet!
· It was double boxed with bubble-wrap between the two boxes to protect the inner box which was the manufacture’s shipping box.
· The entire outside was wrapped with shipping tape to prevent the packaging from coming apart. I had to use shears and a knife to get into it
· The tablet and all the parts arrived undamaged
· So far I really like this tablet (which, but the way, is the one that was recommended on my 800 # call.)
· I have one small issue concerning the Power Adapter-Charger that I have emailed them about (it works fine.)
Shipping:
· I opted to pay more and use DHL. I can’t say enough about DHL. Total time from their pickup in Hong Kong to my front door was 33 hours
· There are couple days that I don’t truly understand from the time it leaves Merimobiles’ facility in Shenzhen China to when DHL logs it onto their system in Hong Kong. Both Merimobiles and DHL are a bit vague on this but just plan on 24 to 48 hours to get across the border into Hong Kong.
· There was the issue of the tablet having been returned to the manufacturer for some software update. This ended up adding insignificantly (1 day) to Merimobiles advertised delivery interval. And I need to note, that as of this writing (a few days after receiving) many online merchants still have the tablet in question as a pre-order. That is, they have yet to start shipping at all.
Overall Experience:
· Excellent!
· Tremendous responsiveness on all three channels of communication that I tried.
· Latest Firmware – only days old
· Exactly as ordered
· Undamaged
· Great little tablet
· They even threw in a carrying sleeve that I hadn’t expected
· Overall shipping time was one day longer that their posted schedule but I had been forewarned of more than one days delay so they exceeded my expectation!
· I will wait the response to my email concerning the Charger (but the nice thing is I am 100% positive they will respond.)
Last edited:
Hoverbored
Member
- Jan 9, 2012
- 11
- 0
ttoomm - I am truely glad your experience was good. I, Kristie_L, and others have relayed our experiences, much as you have.
And honestly, I would not categorize my experience as horrendous... just not good. 5months after the fact, I can say:
* Did I get a functional tablet? - Yes.
* Did I get it in a reasonable time? - nervous towards the end, but - Yes.
* Is it responsive? - mmm... responsive "enough", most of the time.
* Have the included apps been helpful? - Mostly not, but at least all but one can be removed and replaced, so not big a problem.
* Did I get a tablet that would run all the software I had in mind when I bought a tablet? - No, the processor in the Paladin is not compatible with probably 25-40% of the software in the Google Play Store, many of them major apps you'd REALLY want to run, some of them Google-developed Android apps. That was not at ALL made clear.
* Updates to ICS have been difficult to come by for the Paladin. Tough to find (sorting through the 'weeds' for the "real deal"), tough to get downloaded.
* Problems with the Paladin's screen (registering random 'touches' when not touched) have been annoying, and software fixes have not been forthcoming.
* Problems with my keyboard case would have required sending the keyboard case back to China. Not really surprising, but honestly not realistic either. Bought a new one on Amazon for what it would have cost me to ship the original back.
Moral of the story: Paladin was rushed to market with not quite enough forethought, and veiled inadequacies. They wanted to get an ICS tablet out the door by Christmas 2011. The processor's inabilities to run everyday software is a big stumbling block that, while not mentioned as a possible problem at purchase , and neither Ainol or Merimobiles have done much about. Merimobiles hasn't worked to keep Paladin owners in the loop as to any fixes that could improve the marginal abilities of the unit. Honestly, I think a good developer, with Linux/Android experience and skills, MIGHT be able to overcome the oddball issues caused by the processor and screen issues, but Ainol seems to have dropped this on us, and continued on to bigger and better things - and if that isn't true, Merimobiles hasn't informed us otherwise. We have to keep coming back to check forums, rather than getting a courtesy email saying that they are aware of deficiencies, and perhaps, a fix or other improvement might be available for our unit.
I'm not at all looking for my money back, just help bringing my experience with the Paladin up to at least close to what I had hoped. What it lacks physically is not an issue, I knew what it didn't have [cameras, etc] and I'm fine with that. If what it HAS all worked well, I would have very little negative to say.
I think that is a VERY fair assessment of my experience, both with Ainol and Merimobiles.
And honestly, I would not categorize my experience as horrendous... just not good. 5months after the fact, I can say:
* Did I get a functional tablet? - Yes.
* Did I get it in a reasonable time? - nervous towards the end, but - Yes.
* Is it responsive? - mmm... responsive "enough", most of the time.
* Have the included apps been helpful? - Mostly not, but at least all but one can be removed and replaced, so not big a problem.
* Did I get a tablet that would run all the software I had in mind when I bought a tablet? - No, the processor in the Paladin is not compatible with probably 25-40% of the software in the Google Play Store, many of them major apps you'd REALLY want to run, some of them Google-developed Android apps. That was not at ALL made clear.
* Updates to ICS have been difficult to come by for the Paladin. Tough to find (sorting through the 'weeds' for the "real deal"), tough to get downloaded.
* Problems with the Paladin's screen (registering random 'touches' when not touched) have been annoying, and software fixes have not been forthcoming.
* Problems with my keyboard case would have required sending the keyboard case back to China. Not really surprising, but honestly not realistic either. Bought a new one on Amazon for what it would have cost me to ship the original back.
Moral of the story: Paladin was rushed to market with not quite enough forethought, and veiled inadequacies. They wanted to get an ICS tablet out the door by Christmas 2011. The processor's inabilities to run everyday software is a big stumbling block that, while not mentioned as a possible problem at purchase , and neither Ainol or Merimobiles have done much about. Merimobiles hasn't worked to keep Paladin owners in the loop as to any fixes that could improve the marginal abilities of the unit. Honestly, I think a good developer, with Linux/Android experience and skills, MIGHT be able to overcome the oddball issues caused by the processor and screen issues, but Ainol seems to have dropped this on us, and continued on to bigger and better things - and if that isn't true, Merimobiles hasn't informed us otherwise. We have to keep coming back to check forums, rather than getting a courtesy email saying that they are aware of deficiencies, and perhaps, a fix or other improvement might be available for our unit.
I'm not at all looking for my money back, just help bringing my experience with the Paladin up to at least close to what I had hoped. What it lacks physically is not an issue, I knew what it didn't have [cameras, etc] and I'm fine with that. If what it HAS all worked well, I would have very little negative to say.
I think that is a VERY fair assessment of my experience, both with Ainol and Merimobiles.
I odered an Ainol Aurora 2, plus a case for it, and paid the $10 premium for faster delivery, to avoid having it arrive while I'm away on holiday. $10 was supposed to produce 6-8 business day delivery. I ordered on 21st July, and arrange to have someone present 24 hours a day on business days 6, 7, and 8. When it STILL hadn't arrived, I sat around and waited for all of day 9 as well.... then contacted Merimobiles via their "Live Chat" facility (which is somewhat like watching paint dry... a conversation consisting mostly of long gaps. Merimobiles admitted that they'd shipped the item late. (and theefore KNEW that it wasn't going to get there on time, but didn't bother to inform me) and then ofered a "solution" in the form of "if it doesn't arrive before you go on holiday, then it'll be returned to us and we'll give you a full refund" Sweetened by the offer of a 5% discount on my next purchase. Sorry Philip... failing to share important information like "you're totally wasting your time waiting, because it ain't gonna arrive" means that HELL IS GOING TO FREEZE OVER before I make another purchase from Merimobiles. Shipping a purchase late is bad enough. but not having the courtesy to issue a warning that it's going to arrive late... that as we say in England, really is "taking the piss". It stinks not just of a poor attitude to customer relations, but of actually treating customers with utter contempt. My next purchase will be direct from Ainol. Just to add insult to injury, Merimobiles (via their facebook page) just started offering EVERYONE a 5% discount via vouchers. Makes the offer of compensation look rather trivial.
had an issue with them for the first time after many orders, it took forever but it was resolved very well
Hi Jasper,
I have read the whole conversation you had with Crystal and I have spoken to her she did not understand what you meant. You have dealt with us before and you know how we value our customers and like to provide service, be fair and give us the chance to gain back your confidence. Let me know if you still want the watch and ill arrange to get this out on top of refunding the money for the watch and 23$
please advise
Please accept our sincere apologies
Jay
Merimobiles Service Team Manager
Hi this is to inform you that I have refunded you the 23$here is the confirmation code.
2012-12-07 05:18:49 CREDIT 23.00 ############## Y:RETURN:1a6eb76:::NNN
Let me know if you have received my last email regarding the order issue and the conversatoin you had with Crystal
thank you
Jay
yes that would be very kind of you, i see that you have already refunded me while as i was typing this email, thank you for sending the watch on top of it. to be honest i was shocked when this happen i stated buying from you a few websites updates ago before you had a legit looking site, so i did alot of research into merimobiles and found that your customer care seemed top-notch and that most complaints where unfounded, i will make sure right now to go and post these latest emails, which will present merimobiles in a very good way. thank you and good day
Hi Jasper,
I have read the whole conversation you had with Crystal and I have spoken to her she did not understand what you meant. You have dealt with us before and you know how we value our customers and like to provide service, be fair and give us the chance to gain back your confidence. Let me know if you still want the watch and ill arrange to get this out on top of refunding the money for the watch and 23$
please advise
Please accept our sincere apologies
Jay
Merimobiles Service Team Manager
| 4:27 AM (39 minutes ago)
|
| ||
|
Hi this is to inform you that I have refunded you the 23$here is the confirmation code.
2012-12-07 05:18:49 CREDIT 23.00 ############## Y:RETURN:1a6eb76:::NNN
Let me know if you have received my last email regarding the order issue and the conversatoin you had with Crystal
thank you
Jay
| 4:44 AM (22 minutes ago)
|
| ||
|
yes that would be very kind of you, i see that you have already refunded me while as i was typing this email, thank you for sending the watch on top of it. to be honest i was shocked when this happen i stated buying from you a few websites updates ago before you had a legit looking site, so i did alot of research into merimobiles and found that your customer care seemed top-notch and that most complaints where unfounded, i will make sure right now to go and post these latest emails, which will present merimobiles in a very good way. thank you and good day
Last edited:
merimobiles-philip
Member
- Sep 20, 2010
- 7
- 0
Hi I am Jay I am the service Team Manager at Merimobiles.com
First I want to say thank you to everyone for taking the time to share your experience, we take it seriously.
Most of the comments date as far back as 2-3 years ago, we take your opinions and reviews seriously and we have since than improve many aspects of our service
-We now offer 24/7 live chat and have a good team of Reps answering all queries in a timely manner
-If an items becomes "Sold Out" While the order is placed we ensure that you get notified fast
-We double check all items prior to shipping to ensure that you get your items in perfect condition
-We offer one of the best return policy in our industry in the event that an issue is to arise
-We have a good return policy in place in the event that an issue is to arise
Our Team works hard around the clock with your one thing in mind, improving the customer experience at all times, if you have any concerns please feel free to contact us at any time, your input is well appreciated
thank you
Jay
Merimobiles Service Team Manager
First I want to say thank you to everyone for taking the time to share your experience, we take it seriously.
Most of the comments date as far back as 2-3 years ago, we take your opinions and reviews seriously and we have since than improve many aspects of our service
-We now offer 24/7 live chat and have a good team of Reps answering all queries in a timely manner
-If an items becomes "Sold Out" While the order is placed we ensure that you get notified fast
-We double check all items prior to shipping to ensure that you get your items in perfect condition
-We offer one of the best return policy in our industry in the event that an issue is to arise
-We have a good return policy in place in the event that an issue is to arise
Our Team works hard around the clock with your one thing in mind, improving the customer experience at all times, if you have any concerns please feel free to contact us at any time, your input is well appreciated
thank you
Jay
Merimobiles Service Team Manager
Hi everybody,
you are lucky guy.
I was never refund by merimobiles.
The 15 of July, I order a Samsung Galaxy S4 duos. Support said by mail the last one got a battery problem and decided to refund me ...
and nothing on my bank since this date despite mails and chat ...
I am not recommand this site.
Rémi
you are lucky guy.
I was never refund by merimobiles.
The 15 of July, I order a Samsung Galaxy S4 duos. Support said by mail the last one got a battery problem and decided to refund me ...
and nothing on my bank since this date despite mails and chat ...
I am not recommand this site.
Rémi
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