SimplyElectronics
Reviews and Complaints

I live in Ireland and returned a Blackberry playbook a couple of weeks ago -I only purchased it in November so far I also have been ignored and I was given this returns address:
Simply Electronics Ltd
C/O International Logistics Group Ltd
Logistics House, Charles Avenue,
Burgess Hill, West Sussex
RH15 9TQ
Just wanted to ask angie if she got any further with this company?

my attitude towards this company is disgusted really. I placed an order on the 31 dec 2010, fine the payment was cleared on the the 4th jan.
it stated o your web site 2-7 days delivery, as am writing at this present time/secs, am yet to receive my order. the customer service is no good service because you can not really get update about your order. A company in UK and call centre in Hong Kong...very funny...all i want is my order because am really not happy with the service at all ot even for 1sec...i requested for a refund, i was told 3-5 working days which really upset me the most...
No a good rated company at all...and very very bad service...naaaah, , , , will not recommend it all alll slow service
i hope i get my product in good hand though...

I have been very insulted and inconvenienced by their customer support staff, please avoid this company.

I have reported this company to the OFT who are going to investigate them. Tell Barclays that you wish to get your money back through their charge-back scheme. ring [protected] and option 3 for Barclays.

Following all the complaints about this company I withdrew my order from them 2 days later for a sigma lens (£599.95). They could not give me a delivery date even though they claimed 2 were in stock. However, they debited my bank account and took the money. Its clear this company is acting fraudulently and the police fraud need to be informed of their operations. From the amount of complaints I have read they must be ripping off hundreds of people to the tune of 100.000's of pounds each year. I will now proceed to try to get a refund and spoke to Barclays and they will investigate them. I shall be very cautious in future. I think Google and UK Pricerunner have a lot to answer for as i suspect many of the positive answers given (80%) are fraudulent.

Hi Andrew,

I am having a similar nightmare with Simply Electronics. I see your post dates back to June. What was the outcome? Did you ever get your money back and if so how? I have been told by Barclays that I have to wait 30 days before submitting a claim and they don't guarantee a refund.
I hope to hear from you,

Kind regards, Guy

Simply Electronics use smoke and mirrors to make you think they are cheap! They do not clearly state that they are a Hong Kong based company.

Fact 1: VAT - This company does NOT include VAT on it's purchases. This makes Jessops cheaper!

Fact 2: They are competing against genuine tax paying - VAT paying - long extablished UK companies who contribute to the UK economy.

Fact 3: You are liable for any duty on your purchase - You might get away with it - you might not!

Fact 4: Will the item have a European warranty? they might give 12 months warranty - but I think I would prefer the backing of the manufacturer.

Why any company would not want to clearly state that no VAT is included is very mis-leading!

My experiences are very different to yours. I ordered a Canon 50mm f1.4 lens from this company at 8pm on Sunday 27th June 2010. I received an immediate acknowledgement of my order.

My credit card was charged for the full amount on Monday 28th June at around 10am. Later that day I received an email to say that my order was being shipped and I was given a DHL tracking number.

On Tuesday 29th June I tracked the package and saw that it had arrived from England by ferry and road in DHL's Dublin depot. It was delivered to me this morning at around 11am.

In the last year I have ordered two other lenses from Simply Electronics - a Canon 100mm 2.8 Macro and a Canon 70-300mm zoom. In both cases the service was the same except that the second order was received a day late. I put this down to bad weather on the Irish sea affecting DHL's schedule.

Simply Electronics' prices are so low they have to be operating on very tight margins and this is likely to affect stock levels from time to time. Instead of complaining when goods are not delivered in record time, I think that customers ought to give them some leeway. Buying from this company saved me Euro 60 (about £40) against what the lens would cost in Dublin. I would not have made as great a saving buying from Amazon.

I would not hesitate to buy more equipment from Simply Electronics.

I wish I had seen this before I ordered. Hope you have managed to get a solution. I cannot believe how google lets them advertise with them or use their checkout service.

How do I go about reporting these guys to Austrailian trading Authorities and when I do can I give them your website as a reference please as they have just ripped me off and i stupidly used my debit card and feel i may have just lost all my savings, was only trying to buy an annerversary prewsent for my parntner now i have no gift and no savings to get one

MANY MANY THANKS... I was ordering a Leica LX1 for their great price... (£1300+) and got to the checkout. I noticed a promotional code box and went in search of voucher... only to find this thread... WHAT A LUCKY ESCAPE !

Thank you Rod. I suspect that because of a loop hole in the consumer banking law people who spend less than 100 pounds in UK are unable to get protection on their purchase so Simply electronics will ignore such customers point blank accruing no doubt millions of pounds world-wide. Occassionally they may send out reliable goods just to get some positive feedback and/or refund some customers to put them in good light. Its devious and yet they are still getting away with it.

I also recently had a bad experience with this company and cancelled my order just after i placed it this week but they still took the money from my account. Following the 1000's of complaints about this rogue operation I decided to report them anyway to the consumer advice centre and they have now passed on my formal complaint to the OFT who will investigate them-I was assured. Anyone else in this category needs to do the same. I will next week follow the charge back scheme with my bank as I used my debit visa card (stupidly!) I have no doubt on Monday the famous Vanessa Carroll will contact me to try to persuade me to continue with the order only to end up the way of several hundred conned customers with no delivery, false tracking numbers, or goods which have no packaging or grey imports. I feel like kicking myself.

I ordered Apple TV with no indication it wasn;t in stock. When I eventually got thru to customer services 2 weeks they had "had significant orders and had run out ..."! I was promised an email back with 2 hours and they said I would be "treated as a priority". I'd hate to not have this priority as the 2 hour email must take longer than the 10 days I have waited so far. This company is an absolute disgrace do not buy from them

This Company advertised 25 units of Samsung Galaxy Tablets 7.7 for sale, I purchased on the 30th November 2017 for £419.95 (order number [protected]).

I know now that they never had the stock in the first place, as i queried delivery on the 6th December only to be told- The stock arrived in damaged and had to be returned to Manufacturer (where have i heard this before!)

This Company is a disgrace! I have sent several e-mails requesting a refund, they are masterful in the art of several so called Customer Support/Executive officers using delaying tactics in sending back your money.

I require an immediate refund from Simply Electronics prefferably before the January Sales!

We Purchased 2 Viliv X70 computers from them plus some accessories on the 30th Nov 2017, on the 1st Dec 2017 they took the money off the credit card, eventually they arrived but one developed a fault so having being asked to return it for a refund once the engineers had looked at it and confirmed it was defective and us paying £22.50 including £700 insurance for the privilige of getting it back to the Isle of Wight we sat back and waited, that was on the 17th Dec 2017.
Since then we have being told that a refund is in progress but as of todays date 9th Feb 2017 we are still waiting, so on the 8th Feb 2017, yesterday, I informed the credit card company of the situation and they have offered to investigate on our behalf.

As for anyone who has nothing but praise for these communists, BE WARNED, you know nothing of just how bad customer services are with these people untill you have to return something to them, you should also be warned that they will only refund you a maximum of £8 for returning items to them, although I managed to get an offer of £15 out of them because I bought a premium service (that must be the insurance bit I mentioned earlier) but still short of the full £22.50 I forked out, they told me that Royal Mail only charge £8 but when I asked at the post office, they told confirmed this was a lie, even without insurance.

So it appears that it is a case of "buyer beware" god knows if we will ever get our money back but one thing is for sure, we will NEVER deal with them again or recommend them to anyone, no matter how cheap they are, as for trading standards uk, they are just as bad, they seem to put a lot of effort into making excuses not to do something rather than to get off there butt's and do what they are paid for.

I bought a lens and a sound recorder from Simply electronics in June, by late july I had been in contact with them a great deal and they always claimed my items would be shipped soon. When I decided to cancel my order they told me it would be refunded within 10days max and since then I have not heard from them. I am following this up with Visa Disputes Department and so will hopefully get my money back.
The company have a terrible email customer service and an even worse telephone line to help.
Please avoid and please spread the word.

Ordered a camera (Nikon d3100 kit) 23/96/2017 with a promise of 2 to 5 working days delivery.After numerous e-mails in which my questions were never answered I have decided to cancel my order, This company took over £400 from my credit card and as of 18/07/2017 are unable to give a delivery date. Unless I get a refund quickly I intend to contact trading standards and my card company. The company seems to be a scam not keeping to the cntract they agreed with me, I would advise nobody to use them as they say that non delivery is due them be inundated with orders-if this is the case nobody who ordered since 23 June will have received their goods.

I placed an order for an HTC One V phone on 10/04/2017. The website stated that the item was in stock, and they usually ship within 1-2 business days. I received an order confirmation email and they charged my credit card at once. I waited until the 18th of April and tried to contact them. Customer Service gave me the runaround with typical excuses. I sent them 3 emails requesting to cancel the order, and still 3 days later there is no reply from them. They pretend to operate from UK, but it is a huge lie. They are scammers, and someone in authority should close them down. Avoid them at all costs.

Andreas

John, Liverpool United Kingdom

I ordered a Canon EOS7D (Body Only) from Simply Electronics by telephone on Saturday 24 May 2017 after being assured it was in stock and woud be shiped in 2 - 5 days. Seven days later no delivery or update on the status of the order on the web site. I emailed for an update and received an automated reply. I telephoned to request an update and was told they could not give me an update until the end of next week 4 June 2017. I requested a full refund and was told it may take 1o days as it is passed to the accounting department.

Today 29 May 2017 at 08.20 they are still listing the Canon EOS7D (Body Only) as having 5 in stock.

Be warned think very carefully if you intend purchasing from this company. I will keep you all informed on the refund status.

This Company advertised 25 units of Samsung Galaxy Tablets 7.7 for sale, I purchased on the 30th November 2017 for £419.95 (order number [protected]). I know now that they never had the stock in the first place, as i queried delivery on the 6th December only to be told- The stock arrived in damaged and had to be returned to Manufacturer (where have i heard this before!) This Company is a disgrace! I have sent several e-mails requesting a refund, they are masterful in the art of several so called Customer Support/Executive officers using delaying tactics in sending back your money.
I require an immediate refund from Simply Electronics prefferably before the January Sales!

I ordered a SB910 flash gun and was told it would be delivered in 5 days when i tried to call was on hold for 2 hours and then canceled the order as they were in breach of contract. They have taken weeks to return my money and the only have because i deicovered chris emin at kwickchex he got my money back for me within 5 days they are an online company and do most thing by email and they dont charge for their services. They are a online regulator. If i hadnt discovered him i would still be waiting...

If you deal with Simply Electronics then you must expect:
1. The money for your order will be taken off your account immediately irrespective of whether they have the item in stock or not
2. Automated emails telling me that your order is being actioned – even when it is not
3. You will wait a long time to get through to Customer Service by phone – 30mins–1 hr+ (oddly you can get through to the sales side very quickly but they won’t help you resolve anything)
4. You cannot speak to a supervisor / manager
5. If you want a refund you will have to wait a long time for it e.g.
• 9 weeks from placing the order
• 7 weeks from requesting the refund
6. You cannot use the law of your own country with them (unless you live in Hong Kong)

Anyone who does not want to deal with any point in the list should not use Simply Electronics.

9 weeks since ordering and 7 weeks since cancelling my order they’ve borrowed £270 of my money and taken the interest on it.

I odered a GoPro action camera for my holidays from them on 22nd Feb which despite chasing it up did not arrive within the 14 working days they state on their website. I waited a further week (one whole month in total) and still no camera. I then phoned to cancel the order as it was too late to get it for my trip and I was offered a full refund and an apology for my inconvenience. However, as of the 22 April I still haven't got my refund. Everytime I call them I am informed I can't speak to a manager as they are in meeting all day (what a surprise) and that the "relevant department" is processing it and I should have the money within the next 3-6 working days. This company is complete ### and after nearly 6 weeks still haven't given me my money back. My next move will be to go to their offices and camp out in the reception area until they give me what I am owed.

Howard. Wigan.

I recently ordered a camera from them and was afterwards made aware of the bad business nature of the company. However, after 2weeks of chasing them and following up every email I received, I did get my camera, along with several emails, apologising for the slowness in processing my order. I do agree that they need to change their 2-5days delivery time frame and the other rubbish conditions they have on their website.
Will I order from them again? I'm off two minds about this, I may take a chance and order something very cheap and see what happens but its unlikely that I will.
Pauric, Ireland

Hi, I`d like to know why here not exists a possibility to pay a goods when is delivered like in my country ( Czech Rep.), or exists ? It could be the end for many scam companies like f.e. Besttechnologies4you and others.
William

I have complained about them aswell to the OFT but surely you can get your money back through the bank by charge back? or protection via the credit card company.

My order was not shiped for 20 days and it took another week for it to come to my house VHL never rang me only to say there was no-one at home. I had already cancelled the order. I am waiting 3 weeks now for my €820 and am very annoyed. Never had I such a bad experience. NEVER AGAIN.

Simply Electronics are a shocking company. three times I was assured my order was being shipped the next day by express delivery and three time it never shipped. In short they are liars

Do not buy from this company even if you think the prices are great. Its a case of "Welcome into my parlour said the spider to the fly". Vanessa Carol is useless too. Despite repeated assurances that my order is being sent I have received nothing. Today is the fourth time I have been advised my order is being shipped. Lets see what happens...

I am going through an exact replica of this situation! A refusal to deliver without further details being sent and they are still holding nearly £1800 of my money. Did you ever get your refund? Now I'm very worried!

waiting for refund for more than two weeks
dont know how long more will they take
stay away from them

They are not refunding my payment. And also not sending item I bought.

I was in a quite same situation, but I have received the refund after three weeks. But they are really week in the customer communications. At the end it was OK.

I am correcting. The refund was completed on 1st of February. That means, they are reliable anyway. But they are really week in the customer communication.

I have had same situation. No refund, Do not order anything, You will lose your money

Congratulations for trying something out to investigate these very dubious people. I tried to purchase a Canon EOS 1D mk lll in January 2010, the goods were never sent, I eventually got my money back after Trading standards intervention a month later. I started a youtube site which you can access at www.youtube.co.uk/simplyelectronicsNOT and also a web site http://simplyelectronicsnot.webs.com to help people who get caught up with this secretive Hong Kong company who proclaim to be Limited but actually were dissolved in Jan of 2010. Any further information regarding this company can be posted to me so as much information as possible can be collected to put to watchdog or similar customer complaint program. Its time we the consumer got together to stop companies like this by-passing the law and operating above and beyond it. By using Moneybookers for the monetary transaction, Fulfilment companies for their delivery service, virtual offices on IOW for returns addresses, Mailboxes etc for postal and delivery network this company in fact has no direct communication with its customers. The customer service exectutives are too numerous to mention, do they all leave? or is someone sitting on a PC in Nottingham doing all this? as thats where the phone number leads

fully agree, they don't give you any trusty information Have ordered 7 weeks ago, complaining every week and no information

Having found this website, i thought i would do some digging of my own to find out if this company was a bad as some of you say... well i've found much worse, if you see link below there are customer details!

http://test.simplyelectronics.net/admincentre/orders/onhold_release.php

If i can get this far by doing a simple search engine search, just imagine a hacker or someone who knows what they're doing, they would get address, phone numbers, emails and credit card details! It may say test but i believe these are real customers on a new test system... talk about lack of security!

Needless to say i've emailed SE and cancelled my order and phoned my credit card company and cancelled the card... Not only do they not care about service, which is quite evident from the comments they make on these orders and the fact that most people cancel as they don't ship it out in the required time... they don't care about our details either... !

Cancelled my order with SimplyEletronics as I had decided it would be better to buy a UK warrented lens than and import from Hong Kong. The cancellation was confirmed and I was told that refund would be issued shortly. However that was back in October of last year and its now Febuary and still no refund despite numerous assuranced from them it would happen in the next few working days.

I ordered a camera they claimed to have in stock. They were charging $300 over list price for this hard to get item. After 3 days I called to see why they had not shipped the product. I got a bunch of double talk. They had to contact the dispatch and get a report that it was in the queue. The next day I called and got more double talk. I requested to cancel. They said only the accounting department can do that and gave me an email address. I sent the cancel request and got back a ticket number - more double talk and delay. Of course they charged my credit card $1499 immediately when the order was placed. I discovered that there is a British website detailing many complaints for a "Simply Electronics". The basic approach is to string people along with bureaucratic delays and never give a refund.

I BOUGHT AINO PHONE ON JULY, 2010. I RETURNED BACK BECAUSE THE FEATURES, THEY TOLD ME MY REFUND BACK AS SOON AS THEY REVIEW MY FORM RETURN, THEN THEY APROVED MY RETURN AND SAID MY MONEY IS GOING BACK TO MY CREDIT CARD AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. iT HAS BEEN OVER PAST THREE MONTHS AND THEY STILL SAYING MY REQUEST IS HAS BEEN PROCESSING, AND FOR HOW LONG IM GONNA WAIT FOR THIS GUYS!

On 5th August 2013 I ordered and paid for a Canon SX50 camera from the above company. This amounted to £253.95 which was paid for by my Visa Debit Card. I received an e-mail stating that I would receive the camera within 10 - 14 days. The order number for this item is: [protected]. After a couple of weeks, still no sign of the camera. Following numerous e-mails and telephone calls, I was told that it had been a very popular item and they had a delay in sending the camera. Again, after numerous e-mails and telephone calls, I was told that the item had been ready to ship, but unfortunately they thought it had been damaged, and were awaiting more stock. By the 3rd September, I decided to cancel the order, and requested a full refund of the money I had paid. I was assured that this would be done A.S.A.P. It is now the 20th September, and after logging into my account there is a note stating that my refund is a priority, but absolutely no idea as to when (and if) I am going to receive my refund.
I feel that the whole transaction has been a scam, and after being given your details from a friend (whom you helped) I am hoping that you will be able to help me get my money back. My e-mail address is: susancarrington1@btinternet.com and my telephone number is: [protected].
With many thanks for your assistance in this matter, and I look forward to hearing from you.
Kind regards,
Susan Carrington.

I ordered a Canon Legria Camcorder from this company and paid on my debit card. A day later I received an e mail to say the camcorder had been 'Damaged in transit' and was no longer available. I requested a refund via their telephone support site - after a 25 minute wait, and was told the refund would take place within a few days.
After 4 weeks and many e mails I'm still waiting for my money and I have a deep suspicion that I've been scammed, along with many others judging from complaint forums, and that this organisation is established to defraud customers.

I ordered an Ipad from SE and due to delay in dispatch then cancelled the order, whereupon I was assured that a refund would be issued 'shortly' I am still waiting and emails to customer service result in similar replies each time; i am thanked for my understanding (?} and assured that the refund will be issued shortly. Why is this firm still advertising and attracting customers?

I cancelled my order after they postponed the delivery again after 12 month of waiting. They promised to refund, after 4 months they claimed they have made the refund. After 1 month from that claim I am still waiting for my 700 eur. Looks like I will never see it.

Reply to Kwikchex:

Kwikchex needs to reassess the credibility of Simply Electronics
Putting measures such as (automated email acknowledgement which gets attended in 5days time, no availability to print a receipt of the order, long waiting hours of calls on a premium number 0844, ridiculous and very rude customer service rep) isn't right.

If KwikChex claim to be dedicated to verifying critical information about businesses, including their standards i think they have to look at their mission statements and aims properly. Simply Electronics is taking advantage of the loophole in the UK market where any company can take on a UK premium number for its dealings, design their own terms and conditions regardless of consumer right and protection act and operate in the UK when they are clearly based in Hong Kong. What pisses me off is the lies and the scamming nature of this company.

"This has resulted in the swift resolution of cases that have to date utilised the new resources.. " This cant be true when it takes several months (3-12 months) for a case to be resolved.

"The cases reported are small percentage of the overall customer complain'ts". KwikChex should google and find out what customers think of simply electronics. Over 5000 customers with complaints cant be wrong. A good way of assessing them will be to conduct a survey and find out why customers ain't happy with this outfit and how they operate.

Reassess Simply Electronics before giving them a Proof of Quality seal.

Same story here. Waited for 1+ months for my items, then cancelled. Now 1 month past since cancelling and no refund.

My experience 6th until januari the 27th.
*1) placed an order for a Galaxy-tab 10.1 on jan 6th, 2012.
*2) fully payed the order by jan 6th, 2012.
*3) received order confirmation from SE, jan 6 2012 and transaction confirmation from moneybookers.com, jan.6 2012.
*4) wrote several emails questioning when i can receive my order: SE can't give any indication about that, caused by the great december demand; they are very busy.
*5) had telephone contact twice with the customer serv.dept.: yes!, i came through :-)! their automated system of ours of waiting.
*6) last telephone contact: 26th jan.2012. Result: they will dispatch my order today (the 26th) so i can expect my delivery on monday, jan. 30th at home! I sent an email confirming this telephone-commitment.
*7) today, jan.27th 2012, again i receive a SimplyElectronics (rection)email :
SE stated "In regards to your order, we are still suffering from backlogs and we are doing our best to dispatch all orders as soon as possible. Unfortunately, we are still unable to give an estimated dispatch date at the moment. We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused.". Signed by Robin.
In fact, the same email as the past say 21 days. While yesterday i had a delivery-commitment by phone.

I'll wait until tuesday, the 31th of januari 2012 for my order to be delivered.
If you all don't hear from me after the 1 of march than i would say: ok, this company is ok they only have to organize their logistics, maybe. Anyhow, they delivered.
Otherwise, i'll start for a refund at SimplyElectronics and inform here the status, day by day.
Regards. Sweet from the Netherlands.