Saturday, December 1, 2012

THE INS AND OUTS OF BUYING A CHINA PHONE FROM FASTCARDTECH

I can't really remember when was it when I bought my first knockoff clone phone from Fastcardtech. It was the iPhone first version that had a slightly warped screen called the Sciphone. The shipping was reasonably quick and everything was in order. After that, I did not buy any other clone phones because the specs and quality was not up to par with the branded phones at that point in time.

After having used the Motorola Milestone, the iPhone 3GS, Samsung Galaxy S, Sony Xperia S, I knew what I wanted in an Android Phone. In 2012 when Mediatek released the dual core MTK6577 and the single core MTK6575 ARM SoC, these cheap Chinese phones became an attractive option. Until now these phones only came with 512mb of ram with WVGA screens which is actually enough for everyday usage. The big breakthrough Samsung made was with the Galaxy S with 512mb ram and WVGA screen which is very much like the Chinese phones of today. So in 2012, I started to buy some of these phones. These phones no longer have warped screen, cheap plastic, irritatingly loud low quality speakers. They now rival the build quality of the branded phones. Only one thing is still lagging behind and that is the implementation of the Android firmware which can be buggy on certain devices.

Being a huge country with over a billion in population, China is seeing a huge growth in population of phone users as more and more chinese move into the cities and becoming part of the middle income group. New phones are being churned out every week to fuel this demand and one of these online distributors / retailer is Fastcardtech.

Overall, Fastcardtech is a decent online store but they have some bad practices which keep them from being a totally trusted company. After buying several phones ( 5 phones now) I can now list down my observations.

On the whole I like Fastcardtech because they have many payment options including PayPal. Any company that does not have PayPal as a payment option is dubious and could be a scam company because you will not be able to get your money back if you receive a lemon ( i.e. Chinaecarts )

Another good thing is the shipping option. They have FEDEX, TNT, DHL, EMS, and regular airmail which is often Free Shipping. Now the bad thing is (not necessarily that bad ) they try to keep the shipping cost down so even using EMS or Fedex or DHL will still take a longer time between 7-14 days. Fastcardtech is located in a place that is far from a major city like Beijing so they use a shipping agent to pick up their packages and I am quite sure that the shipping agent do NOT come round everyday to pick up the packages. So when you place your order and you receive your tracking number by email, do not get the idea that your package has shipped. It is packed and assigned the airwaybill number and sitting in the store waiting for the agent to pick it up and that can take up to several days.

Another bad practice is they claim to ship out your order in 3 business days but that is just bullshit. They usually take about a full week to prepare your order ( they actually do check the phone which is a good thing ) after which you get your tracking number.
So, from making payment to actually receiving your package will take about 2-3 weeks using FEDEX or EMS or DHL. Free shipping will take 3-4 weeks using registered airmail.

Since I monitor the Fastcardtech site often I know what are the new arrivals. When I spot a brand new phone and it says "IN STOCK" I suggest you wait for 2 weeks before ordering because what they have is a sample phone and they have placed the order with the factory and still waiting for the stocks to arrive. The good thing is, if they have the physical stock, the shipping will go smoothly and quickly. Also, after a week or 2, the price will usually be adjusted downward.

 I recently ordered the NEWSMY Newman N1 and it is listed as "IN STOCK" but guess what? After waiting for almost 2 weeks and I checked my account. It was still not shipped and they told me that I have to wait because it is difficult to get that model, so this means it is not in stock. I changed it to a Neo NO2-m and it came within 2 weeks even though I selected free shipping.

I get emails saying that Fastcardtech does not answer emails but actually, they do. You log in to your account and send them an email and then log out, expecting an email back from them but you receive an auto respond email with no details. They need to fix this system. They actually do respond but you need to log in to the fastcardtech site and check the response.

The last thing I would like to point out is when you make your order and order additional accessories and select your phone color, make sure you get it right the first time because when they pack your phone and whatever else you've ordered, they check your original order and may miss out any other email you sent to them later about color change or accessories. They will miss out your additional email 50% of the time.

I would advise anyone buying from fastcardtech to read all their info right on top of the page.

Keeping all the points I wrote about in mind, you can go ahead and enjoy shopping at Fastcardtech as I would still recommend them.

One last last thing: Their English sucks!


16 comments:

  1. Thanks for this very good review.
    I just take an order to fastcardtech and i encouter the try to make me take the EMS shipping.
    I'm a little afraid by this practise and i asked me if i should cancel.
    How we answer them to go on with regular airmail shipping ?
    We have same chances to pay taxes with airmail than EMS. and with 32$ more for an item of 100% the shipping cost additional will cost more than the taxes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They always declare the package as a $45 eBook reader so you pay minimal tax if needed. You can stick to EMS as it will be much faster than regular shipping.

      Delete

  2. You can post this on your blog if your prefer. I couldn't comment because I didn't have any profiles setup
    to post on the blog.

    In regards to your statements on Fast Card Tech:

    Great writeup, your statements are very true about this company. Fast Card Tech, (FCT for short) provides an honest purchase environment which at times falls short in the communication field.

    It's quite true in fact, that they do answer their emails. (mine at least) However, since they are usually across the globe from most of their customers, it can take up to 24 hours before you receive a response. Your right in suggesting people make sure their order is right the first time out, because if you start making changes to your order after it's been placed, they may not catch your email. You may also be misunderstand trying to explain a particular change you wish to make as well, and the order may ship out before the change can be made.

    I would recommend this company to people who are interested in saving money with their products. However, it's important first off to realize there is in fact a communication problem and you need to accept this before you deal with them. 
    This was sent in by email by one reader.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Do you know if they sell real chinese brand cellphone? Like xiaomi and meizu?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Of course they do
      They also carry Huawei, Lenovo,ZTE, UMI, NEO, Zopo, JiaYu.

      Delete
    2. I just want to make sure they are legit/real Xiaomi and meizu you know. They maybe clone of Xiaomi and Meizu.

      Thanks

      Delete
    3. Should be the real thing but you can ask them. I havent bought any so i wouldnt know. I bought a Neo and umi x1 only.

      Delete
    4. How's Neo and Umi X1? by the way I saw your other comment about MTK 6577 runs better with Qhd than 720P? the HDC galaxy s3 i9300 ex vs the HDC galaxy note 2 EX.

      Delete
    5. Neo is really good and very fast with over 6000 antutu benchmarks and very bright qhd screen and super battery life. I just got the umi x1 with has a beautiful with a go ex launcher. For sure the umi x1 has optimised drivers for the 720 screen (still darker than neo) as got smooth hd graphics operation. Haven't had enough time with the umi. As for neo, you need to root and flash gapps because it only has Chinese apps and no play store. I am making a video for rooting and play store installation on neo. I like it a lot. Reviews and comparison coming up soon... gonna sell off the star b92m Or hdc galaxy s3 ex soon. Neo n02 / O2 is very very good if you can add gapps with a PC.

      Delete
    6. looking forward to your rooting review.

      Delete
  4. Hi,

    very objective and useful review. I have similar observations with this reseller.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I have a horrific experience myself. Telephone delivered with huge delay, broken after 8 weeks of use (within warranty). They require that you send $30 cash, strictly no PayPal (I wonder why...:-)) so they send you the repaired phone back.

    So far, I have been waiting for almost 3 MONTHS to get the repaired phone back from them and all I can say is "nothing yet" while having about a zillion conversations with them....!

    So, if you want to waste your money, Fastcardtech should be your No.1 choice...

    ReplyDelete
  6. fastcardtech = scam

    This company is not trustworthy. Not an honest pal at all.
    Like Drahy I am waiting 2+ years for a phone that needed repairs.

    Latest update from this scam company is that the phone was not sent back for repairs.. OMG..
    I got a email stating the repairs would take another month..

    Can imagine the phone gets lost if repairs take more than 2 years.


    fastcardtech fails.
    fastcardtech are liars.
    fastcardtech are scammers.

    Avoid!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi guys! I am buying a Samsung Galaxy S5 from fastcardtech. Please suggest me should I buy this phone from fastcardtech or not?

    ReplyDelete
  8. I made 2 orders. First was a meizu mx4 . Best price in internet and it arrived fast. BUT the box was missing the genuine-security sticker. The touch screen was not working and so the phone was unusable. After long contacts i send back the phone and i lost the shipment cost and some accessories cost that i bought elsewhere. I was refunded and so i made a second order as i thought that it was a random bad moment. Second order were 2 brand new meizu mx4 pro 16gb phones. They arrived in perfect condition this time and i was very happy. BUT again serious problems started. One of the 2 phones was android 4.4 and the second was 5.1. I upgrade the older android version with the meizu update system and now i had 2 working android phones BUT with Chinese version android without Greek language. Both of them were installed the Chinese and not the international android version. You can say that i had to be more careful so i start to look more on the phones. So i checked their imei and serial numbers AND i found that one of the phones had fake imei number. It was using the imei number of Samsung SM-G3812 phone And this imei number exist not only inside android info but also inside phone battery with sticker - which means that there is a designed fraud for this situation. So the phone is refurbished or stollen. I dont believe that they sell stollen phones. If i was informed that they sell refurbished phones i might have not buy them. I bought BRAND NEW phones and i had the demand to be like this. SO IN CONCLUSION when you buy from fastcardtech BE PREPARED to receive what you pay. NOT a good item in the best price in market but a suspicious item in a price that seems good BUT ....FINALLY the phones where not accepted by Meizu system and paypal made the final conclusion to send it back for refund. But in this way i loose extra shipping money.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I made 2 orders. First was a meizu mx4 . Best price in internet and it arrived fast. BUT the box was missing the genuine-security sticker. The touch screen was not working and so the phone was unusable. After long contacts i send back the phone and i lost the shipment cost and some accessories cost that i bought elsewhere. I was refunded and so i made a second order as i thought that it was a random bad moment. Second order were 2 brand new meizu mx4 pro 16gb phones. They arrived in perfect condition this time and i was very happy. BUT again serious problems started. One of the 2 phones was android 4.4 and the second was 5.1. I upgrade the older android version with the meizu update system and now i had 2 working android phones BUT with Chinese version android without Greek language. Both of them were installed the Chinese and not the international android version. You can say that i had to be more careful so i start to look more on the phones. So i checked their imei and serial numbers AND i found that one of the phones had fake imei number. It was using the imei number of Samsung SM-G3812 phone And this imei number exist not only inside android info but also inside phone battery with sticker - which means that there is a designed fraud for this situation. So the phone is refurbished or stollen. I dont believe that they sell stollen phones. If i was informed that they sell refurbished phones i might have not buy them. I bought BRAND NEW phones and i had the demand to be like this. SO IN CONCLUSION when you buy from fastcardtech BE PREPARED to receive what you pay. NOT a good item in the best price in market but a suspicious item in a price that seems good BUT ....FINALLY the phones where not accepted by Meizu system and paypal made the final conclusion to send it back for refund. But in this way i loose extra shipping money.

    ReplyDelete