Dx.com Deal Extreme Scam Cheats

So if it smells to good to be true it probably is.

I have now found out the catch with our Cheapo Chinese online store.

So all items I have bought, (adaptors, phone chargers, cables) are very shoddy dollarama level goods and all have stopped working after a while.

If something is Dead on Arrival  they reimburse 60% of value of item and replace item.  Great so what's the catch?

Well what if they replaced it with another defective item?  What they do then is say well it's more than bla bla days since you received the FIRST item so therefore only 35% rebate for you.

Lets look at that in detail:

Item arrives after 2 weeks, go to post office, cost Time 20 mins Item $25.40
2 days later: item breaks, request a return voucher, post it back, Time 1 hr. Postage $17.50 postage -(0.65*$25.40)=$2.50, they also diddle you on $0.25 currency exchange from USD to CAD
2 weeks later new item arrives. Go to post office, Time 20 mins
Same day, they sent you a dud. spend 20 mins twice a week for 5 weeks arguing online via login reply service  that you are entitled to full refund and 60% postage.  They are in China so answer next day or day after. Time 3h 20 mins
Are offered either 35% refund on postage and replacement  Cost: 8.60 (postage - 35% rebate)-which I refused
Or $16 store credit, Cost $25.40-16=9.50

So far then it has cost me $37.40 and 4 hours and all I have to show for it is a chunk of plastic paperweight useless item.

So for DX.com just imagine it as an online Dollar store who will try to cheat you if the item is defective.  I guess streetmarket trader mentality on a huge scale.  This is really a shame because no one cares if the item costs $25 or $28 and they could offer decent after sales instead of resorting to offloading all the defective stuff to people where postage is expensive for them.  I had hoped they would be an acceptable face of chinese trading but no...they rather lose customer and grab a dirty dollar today than do it properly.

I guess had I cared to look I would have seen the warning signs

http://club.dx.com/forums/forums.dx/threadid.899688
http://www.mpoweruk.com/china_batteries.pdf
http://www.ebay.com/gds/BE-CAREFUL-When-Buying-A-Cell-Phone-Battery/10000000007645536/g.html
http://neptronix.org/posts/dont_buy_unknown_chinese_batteries.html

How to kill fruit flies

Are you being plagued by those tiny buggers that settle on everything and seem to swarm around the kitchen and want just to wipe them all out?
Look no further.  Here are 2 satisfying ways to wipe them out.
First make sure they can't come in to your house anymore.  Make sure your bin has a lid and all the usual stuff.

1) Microwave

Leave some fruit bits on a plate in the microwave with the door open.  When it is speckled with flies slam the door shut and give them a good 3-4 minutes on high power.  It's not the most efficient but is somehow satisfying.

2) Drowning.

Flies like cider or apple juice.  So get a shallow bowl and put some in with a few drops of washing up liquid. then top up to the brim with water.  And just wait.  Because of the washing up liquid they can't get out of the water and drown.

See here the decimation caused in 2 hours.....Mwa ha ha haa....
all the black dots at the bottom are dead flies

Leave a few of these traps near your bin, fruit bowl etc...

Calling StenaLine rail ferry train UK from abroad 0844 number book tickets

If you need to speak to stena and book a ticket or whatever and you call from abroad you may find them on til 10pm UK time.
Call this number: they are in N Ireland and can book anywhere in Europe.

+ 44-28 9074 7747

Cheap stuff online

Cheap stuff

2 online electronic shops
1) www.factorydirect.ca
occasionally has good reconditioned stuff.  The problem is it is a pain if you have to return stuff.  I had to do this for one cable in a box of stuff and they want the whole lot back.  They told me shipping was normally at my expense  but that they would make an exception.  This really turned me off.  The reason you shop online is not to bugger about going to shops/post offices.  The last stuff I got was scratched and a bit shabby reconditioned.

2) deal extreme  http://dx.com
In a nutshell cheap crap from China, but why not?  Same as Canadian?  Tire but MUCH cheaper.  The free shipping to Canada intrigued me, but I was in a big hurry for something so paid $25 for expedited delivery.
I realized after purchase that this is shipping from Shenzen (China) via Vancouver to Montreal.
I ordered it on the 28th and it just arrived on the 9th.  OK there was Easter but  the Chinese aren't into Easter.  On a plus the live support is good and I could track the snail paced movement of the parcel across the globe.

Because I needed it super fast I ordered same thing from http://stores.ebay.com/cenyglobal on the 30th. Shipping by regular post $10, it came from NY.

Reason I paid $25 shipping was because ebay expedited was something like $60 and I needed it super fast.

Both arrived today so 12 and 10 days each.


verdict: deal extreme OK if you take advantage of free shipping and buy a few things and are not in a hurry.

factory direct OK if you want it very quick but beware if you need to return stuff. They have good weekly fliers to take the clickwork out of finding bargains.  No import duty since canadian

ebay probably the best middle ground once you find a shop you like and trust.

I have never had to pay import duty for anything but then again I only buy little things like adaptors and cables that aren't worth much, I've never bought anything more than $20 or so from US.  I heard if it comes by post there is no or very little duty and brokerage is included but I've not run into this problem.

CommunAuto

I tried this scheme last year as a second car alternative.

I cannot recommend it. Why?  because there are no one-way journeys allowed so 99% of intended journeys are useless for this scheme.

If you don't have a car and need it to pick stuff up then great or do little day trips, knock yourself out.  Otherwise it is a waste of time.  Great idea but it needs more work.  Until then take a taxi.  It is NOT the car equivalent of a bixi which is what they misled me  to believe (OK misled is strong, but they are not overly explicit that the car has to return to start point).

I have other gripes but that is the main one.  other similar schemes in other countries can manage to redistribute the car fleet throughout the day I don't know why these lot can't.

Easy Netflix

With an Unblock US, aka usvideo.ca account you can now watch UK, US, Canadia, Scandanavian, Irish and mexican netflix with a click of a button. No foreign credit cards and messing about.

This not only gets you a wider range of content but also gives you the option to watch films in portuguese, spanish or french (via Canadian site) if you prefer this. So not only can you lazily babysit the kids but educate them too.  Plus you get UK TV...

N. American TV is so bad why would you want to watch it?  And even if the show is OK they'll only ruin it with vulgar, crass  and just embarrassing adverts so do yourself a favour and switch to something you can control the content of

It's $5 a month....

free calls & Google voice in canada

Probably worth pointing out that the technology has moved on. No need for messing about. Just get a working google voice number, see below or google how, then use acrobits softphone app (android or Apple) and set it up in there. There are quite a few others that'll do it too, talkatone, talkonaut, these two have the advantage you can text to Canada and the states for free. You can get incoming calls and dial out but be warned, quality is crap. It's good for shouting a quick message but not for long calls unless you're on very good wifi connection or 3G.