Refurbed.ie

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121146012#Comment_121146012

Which company?

gmacww

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121146012#Comment_121146012

I don't believe they are "acting" as a re-seller portal it's open and quite obvious. If you spec any device it says quite clearly on the product page who's selling it and where it's shipping from. You can click on that company name and it'll give you full details about who, where etc... I've bought a few bits off them over the years. Only had one that I had an issue with where the battery failed. A Mac Book Pro. Contacted them, returned it replaced with an even better quality and newer model for no additional money within the warranty period and no questions asked. All in all that took about 2 weeks. Absolute quality service.

As a question though on it not helping the Irish market what's stopping any of those struggling Irish businesses from getting setup on the site and selling their products to the wider EU market? Sites like this could be a massive helper to the irish business rather than a hindrance.

dave34

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121159596#Comment_121159596

recieved a reply from them..

quote:

Refurbed is an online marketplace where dealers selected by us from all over Europe (including suppliers in Ireland) are allowed to offer their refurbed products. We do not work with sales outlets, we work with verified, quality approved refurbishers.

Refurbed clearly states on our website that we are a European marketplace, which we are proud to be, as this offers the best product range to our Irish consumers.

end quote....

there mainly using wholesale resellers such Foxway (Latvia - example) amongst others .. Where they are saying that dealers are 'Selected'? Very much doubt that is the case and would be very much of the opinion that they allow wholesale resellers to sell directly through there portal. This means that they do not have to carry physical stock or it is a minimum if they do. It will also leave open issues where warranty is concerend and I know of a couple of instances where they have been somewhat reluctant in honouring warranty.

the other issue is that it is unlikely that the product is even in Ireland and is sourced in mainland Europe and so avoid VAT via VAT Margin sales.

(Whilst this is not exactly the main topic it is part of the issue also)... A major probelm that is happening at the moment in Ireland over the last few years with 'Pop Up' shops masquerading as repair shops and selling vat margin products (Mobile Phone/Tablets mainly) and therefore affect established Irish Business's who have to apply VAT. Thats apart from other dubious practices that these shops get up to .. the most common being the 'Charge Port' scam & Good luck trying to get any warranty in any way or form and also trading under multiple business names even continuing to trade under a name when the Company is delisted from the C.R.O .... same crowd have 3 shops under different names, in close proximity to each other meaning it makes no difference then which shop is used as they are (Behind the scenes) all the same owner/s ...

And thats not even beginning to look at the low quality cheap components being used, and an even more abysmal repair standard. its high time that Revenue/Customs & Trading Standards took a good look at these crowds.

z80CPU

^^^^^. And there in lies the endemic problem since the pandemic: quality of repair of home user tech in general has gone off a cliff. For me it means there is no solidly dependable agent to send my smartphone off to:

The Irish repair fella will now say:

It's too newI / it's too old./ yah it's new sure but you only paid X amount for it.

Buyer beware more than ever, and check on the box before opening that you get what you ordered especially in relation to iPhone models.

Flinty997

Have to say this has pushed me to cheaper phones which are almost cheap enough to be disposable if they break.

gmacww

Your last point Dave is spot on. I've bought a few bits as I said from refurbed. Only had 1 issue in warranty which was dealt with superbly. In the last year I bought an iphone off a very prominent store on adverts (also has 2 physical stores). Within a month the battery needed replacing. What they replaced it with was a cheap ass part that expanded and popped the screen off. Got that replaced at additional cost as it was outside of the replacement batterys 28days. The new battery is rattling around inside the phone.

Absolutely woeful service from them. I don't think I'd buy from any of those phone stores in Ireland again and instead I'd look to someone like refurbed or swappie etc... Never used that last one btw just using as an example.

dave34

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121184957#Comment_121184957

most iphone replacement parts will give a message screen or battery saying that they are non genuine. Even if you use a brand new oem battery or screen say from a new phone. This is due to Apple using serilization on there parts. The new iphone 15 ports have a chip on then now which we suspect will do the same.

The inly method currently is to remove the chip from the old component (screen) and transfer to replacement and with battery the process is slightly more difficult as the complete top part of the battery - what is called the B.M.S or Battery Monitoring System - needs to be removed from the original battery, swapped to the replacement battery then connected to a tool similar say to the JCV1s and reset the cycle count etc. then when placed in the phone it will show as the original genuine battery with correct serial.

Most shops don't/won't do it as it is time consuming and as the phone has likely had a previous repair the original parts are not available to retrieve the serial chips . Some information can be retrieved from the handset but serials are far more difficult to program. The 'Pop Up' shops never move chips & all that can be recovered is degausing serial and truetone ...

The sooner our trade is Regulated & Licensed & monitored (As it should be!) the better for the trade and for the customer! You can guarantee that pretty much 50%+ of these 'Pop Ups' would disappear over night and that includes those selling online - they appear & disappear usually within 6-12mnths ..

Banzai600

I can vouch for refurbed, have bought a few phones from them, and usually pay for the higher grade. An iphone battery here in Dubln can be done for around 85 euro, well it was last year. And i wouldnt buy here , from anyone.

id be weary about buying any iphones that ppl say are "new" here, ive seen iphones for sale in blank white boxes at almost full price 🤣 not saying this is the case all of the time, but counterfeit for apple products seems to be rife. 🏃‍♂️

EssGee

Anyone who's bought laptops off them? Experiences/Opinions? Thanks

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121810719#Comment_121810719

I bought a  Lenovo ThinkPad X250 off them for €208 last year, it's running very slowly these days, little over a year after delivery so out of warranty but you win some you lose some

The Nal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121949060#Comment_121949060

Whats the spec?

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121949917#Comment_121949917

Probably about €400 worth brand new

z80CPU

As a benchmark, bought a Lenovo L480 for € 450 cra**y 4 gb ram in january 2020. This was soon upgraded to 8 gb. still runs quite slow. 7th gen i3 processor.

The Nal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121949978#Comment_121949978

No I mean the spec of the machine. i3, i5, how much RAM etc?

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121950064#Comment_121950064

Oh sorry, from the specs in the email

• Lenovo ThinkPad X250
• i5-5300U
• 12.5"
• 4 GB RAM 500 GB HDD
• Win 10 Pro

The Nal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121960765#Comment_121960765

Aha yeah theres the issue. 4GB RAM.

Have a look at upgrading to 8GB. Will make a huge difference.

https://www.mrmemory.co.uk/memory-ram-upgrades/lenovo/thinkpad/x250

corks finest

Though tbf if trading in an apple phone U get a decent voucher price

Traded in a 14 pro max and got a near new grade A pixel 8 pro

Cost me nothing,I'd e140 voucher left over which my son used to purchase a few games he was after

But one would need to travel to a few Cex shops as they vary in what they will give U,

Cex grand parade Cork classed my 14 pro max as B grade

Yet Cex Blackpool shopping centre gave it an A grade

Similarly my pixel 7 pro and watch a while back were graded B and C in town,

Yet in Blackpool SC were graded A and B

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121961414#Comment_121961414

Thanks for the tip, I might just do that... I'm not saying I regret the purchase by the way, you pay for what you get lol

DT2016

do refurb or back market iPad Pro’s come with new batteries? A refurb iPad Pro Gen 5 12.9 on Apple refurb is 1600 where on back market it’s 1200 for gen 5 pro and 1325 for gen 6 pro

Enter Username Here

Hi.

I purchased a phone from refurbed.ie last year and I paid for full insurance:

With this insurance, you cover the risks of Damage, Liquid Damage, Robbery and Burglary of your Insured Device in accordance
with the General Insurance Conditions (GIC).
Device category Manufacturer Date of purchase Purchase price IMEI /
Serial
number
Mobile Google 12.09.2023 174,99 EUR

About three weeks ago I damaged my phone and smashed the screen. I contacted refurbed who forwarded me to refurbed plus - refurbed.bolttech.eu

I have put in a claim and received an auto-response telling me that they will be in contact in 48 hours. It has since been over 2 weeks since I first contacted them and I have received nothing back. I contacted refurbed again last week, but I have also not received any reply from them to date.

Has anybody dealt with these before? Does anybody have any idea where I should go from here?

Thanks for reading.

corks finest

Id personally ask for a manager or a contact number/ email whatever who ever is in charge in Ireland,

If no satisfaction comes shortly,local radio may be interested,know ours in Cork would,

For without doubt that's shoddy customer service,

Tell whomever your plan ,that u don't want to go down this road etc etc,

Other option is small claims court ,

Obviously wouldn't rush into it tbh,give them reasonable time to respond as who knows your particular claim may have got misplaced,lost etc etc

Trust pilot is always there if u get no joy also,

Bad PR isn't good for any one

My twopence worth

Enter Username Here

I received another email from them (insurance) today, replying to my email from yesterday:

Thank you for your message, we are happy to confirm the receipt.

We are reviewing your request and will contact you within the next 48 hours. Please be patient.

Many Thanks

Your bolttech service team

and yesterday from refurbed:

Dear Customer,

We are happy to confirm that we’ve received your message.

We are reviewing your request and will contact you within the next 48 hours.

Thank you for your patience.

ATTENTION: The email and any attachments transmitted with it are private
and confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or
entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in
error, please notify the sender immediately
and delete this email and any attachments from your system. You should
not use, disclose, copy or store this email and any attachments.
Messages and attachments are scanned for all viruses known. However, you
are advised that you open any attachments at your
own risk. If this message contains password-protected attachments, the
files have NOT been scanned for viruses by our mail domain. Please
always scan for viruses before opening any attachments.

Still nothing else. I will ring the 1800 number tomorrow, but I really dislike ringing those time wasting centres.

Ezeoul

I purchased a small laptop/netbook from them two weeks ago, not entirely happy with how it went. It came from Poland.

It took a week longer to deliver then stated, and also when it arrived, all the settings had been installed as Gaeilge! Which took me quite a while to figure out and reset (seeing as I don't speak Irish).

In fairness though, once I got the language sorted, it seems to be running well.

I emailed them about the Irish settings, and they replied quite sarkily that they install in the language based on the country the item is going to, which for Ireland, meant Irish. I pointed out that Ireland's first language is English, and they said they'd "consider that in future".

They also sent an EU charger with a UK adapter, which is bulky and not very portable. That annoyed me, as there was no mention of it on the site, or option to select a UK charger which I felt there should have been, and would have been willing to pay extra for.

corks finest

That's shoddy treatment

Enter Username Here

I have eventually been able to contact somebody in there. Yesterday I received an email from them confirming to me that my phone call had seemed to have started things moving.

The email told me that I need to contact the seller to get my IMEI code which is needed for insurance. I was unable to get it from the broken phone, they told me that it should be etched on the back of the phone. It isn't. I emailed the seller immediately and was told I would receive a reply within one business day. Received an email from the seller today:

Hello Customer,
I hope you are doing well.


Apologies for the inconvenience.  I confirm i have asked our warehouse
team for further information regarding this issue, . We appreciate your
patience and will provide updates as soon as we have more information.


Thanks, and have a lovely day!
********** Customer Service

And today I also received another reply from refurbed, telling me again, that I can contact the seller to request the IMEI.

I am beginning to think that I should have just said it was stolen. Although I would have had the same experience up to this point, I have a feeling going forward that this is going to continue taking a long time at each step.

Enter Username Here

I eventually received an IMEI number from the seller, but no documents - I had to remind them for any sort of reply as they had not responded. I sent an email pointing out that I needed the IMEI for the insurance claim.

Once I received it, I forwarded it to refurbed insurance, to which they replied that I needed a document or a screenshot of the email, which I sent.

It said nothing other than that was my IMEI.

After I sent off the IMEI code with screenshot, I have received this email.

contact-refurbed@bolttech.eu

Dear ,

We acknowledge the receipt of your claim CLXXXXXXXXX. Our team has
already accepted this subject to payment of the excess fee. To proceed
to the next step, we kindly ask you to pay your customer excess fee of
50.00EUR. We've made it easy for you: just click here  and follow the instructions.

Once we receive confirmation the deductible was paid, we will send you:

either the repair instructions for your device along with the repair order, if you opened a claim for a damage,

or a replacement device, if you opened a claim for a theft.

We are pleased to count you among our customers!Kind regards,Your bolttech & Refurbed Plus GmbH customer service Customer portal: E-mail: refurbed-IE@bolttech.eu

I will not be paying another €50 on top of the year insurance. It seems that they will send me instructions which I assume are going to be how to pack it and send it, even though it worryingly reads like they are going to send me instructions on how to repair it myself I truly doubt that is the case.

I can get this phone repaired for €75 and have it back the same day, having got a quote when I started to realise that this process was taking more time than I thought.

They are effectively planning on charging me €80. It looks like the €30 'insurance' was just an advance payment on the repair.

Disgusting company if this is the case. I have queried it.

Ezeoul

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122283130#Comment_122283130

I'd get back on to them and tell them to refund you the insurance premium you paid, as its clearly worthless.

corks finest

Robbing bastards,I'd be straight onto trust pilot and lay out your stall ref this gang of Ali babas

godtabh

Is paying an excess not normal?