(12-08-2020, 02:41 AM)Janik020301 Wrote: I don't really have a doubt in Luke. Working with him was a good experience. Besides that I've got an answer from him this night.Jaik020301, I don't think you are alone in not getting responses from Pine64. Shortly after making a purchase (only about 3 weeks ago), I realized I had made a mistake with my purchase. I made my purchase using my android phone since I was without my computer at the time. I find it extremely difficult to navigate the screen on my phone. As a result, I made a purchase for the $150 model thinking it was the same as the $200 model aside from the $200 model coming with the docking thing.
What still concerns me though is, that after all this time, there was as little effort as possible spent to solve my issue.
The refund policy also seems a bit scammy, especially in my situation, where i pretty much am stuck. Of the 257USD i paid, i would loose 58USD first, because that's shipping and vat. Then they would add 60 additional dollars.
So i would loose aproximately 117 USD, because pine didnt manage to provide me with a working device nor help me in any other way.
117 USD for nothing...
Anyway, the next morning I had access to my laptop and was able to look at the Pine64 website and my confirmation of payment email, and I realized the different specs of the two phones. I also found their single board computers and wanted to add one or two. I sent them an email within 12 hours of the initial purchase asking if I could add items to the order and get the better phone by either paying the difference or canceling the order and placing a new order. That was Nov 21st and I've yet to receive a response back from them. It was only one email, so it's not like I'm spamming them with a ton of emails or anything.
What the other person that commented said came to mind, and that is the turmoil taking place right now. I know you said you spoke with the guy Luke that you mentioned and said he's in the UK, but my concern was more so to do with the fact that that the confirmation email and other documentation I received later said the product is coming from Hong Kong, which is dealing with quite a bit of turmoil at the moment.
Having said all this, between the turmoil with Hong Kong getting taken back in by China from the UK, with Covid19, and with my assumption that they might be getting more orders than they can keep up with, I gave them a little bit of latitude in having not responded or anything. Of course it's only been 3 weeks for me, not six months like you mentioned. I can say that giving them the benefit of the doubt in terms of things that have been taking place in the world only goes so far, and now after reading your experience I'm considering just filing a dispute with Paypal and canceling the order.
In regard to your issue, I'd look a little more into your options with Paypal. Paypal has good resources in terms of helping a buyer in your situation. I'm not a lawyer or an expert but do have some experience with contract law. Assuming you are in the US since you quoted payment in US dollars, if you contracted with a company for a good there is law called the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) that has been adopted by all of the states. Even though it's state law, from what I've read, sellers from abroad that are selling to you in the US are still bound to it. If the product you received was not as described or functioning as it should have been the seller has a reasonable amount of time to correct the problem. A reasonable amount of time depends on different circumstances, but I have no doubt that six months is past any reasonable expectation for a cell phone. Also, companies/sellers put out policies all the time. That doesn't mean that they are valid. Companies can't write policy that violates law (the UCC in your case). They can't have and enforce policy that allows them to benefit from undue enrichment (sending you broken junk in violation of contract and not rectifying it in a reasonable amount of time). Although the UCC does allow for company policies to be made part of a contract and there is quite a bit of latitude given in regard to company policies during contract formation, the way the policies are presented when you make a purchase can make them irrelevant to the contract you enter into. Where were the policies listed when you made the purchase? Did you click a check box saying you acknowledged them and agreed to them? Were they even on any of the pages in the shopping cart or product description? Even so, what you describe does sound bad, and even if those policies were presented adequately, they would likely not be upheld if challenged by anyone outside of the company.
The points I'm trying to make are 1) with everything going on, I would give them some latitude, but 6 months is more than I would have given them 2) don't ever take what a company says is their policy as being valid and enforceable 3) Paypal has great resources to protect buyers without you having to know all the technical contract stuff, so I'd reach back out to them and try getting them to issue you a refund, including the shipping, VAT, tax etc. They can hold that against an international seller for having breached a contract that they entered into by selling to someone in the US... Keep in mind, I could be wrong, but believe you have to file the dispute with paypal withing 180 days from the time you paid for the item...