I was referred to this company by a family member and thought that the word-of-mouth advertising was a great idea and something I could be a part of. $50 unlimited text/talk/data for 4G seemed like a great deal. I can get the same price for prepaid smart phones but with this company they had a referral program that I liked.
Unfortunately, when I purchased their least expensive phone a ZTE Origin (which was still about $150), they neglected to mention that it was only a 3G phone on the website. I let it slide, they are a new company and made a mistake and the 4G wasn't a HUGE deal to me and I couldn't afford the other phones. Unfortunately that was just their first mistake...
As soon as I started using the phone I had problems. It would constantly freeze, sometimes I'd click the "text" button and it'd take me to the camera and it told me I needed to free up space... I am self-employed and a mother of two very small children so sometimes things get put off. When my phone stopped powering on all together though, I decided it was time to try to exchange it for a new one.
I called Solavei with the intention of exchanging the phone. I needed a new one ASAP, my businesses depended on them. Every missed call costs me money. They didn't seem to sympathetic to the ASAP thing at all. The customer service agent actually told me I "need to have reasonable expectations"... Their policy is to have me pay to ship the broken phone back to them, wait for them to get it and inspect it, then if it was broken to their satisfaction they'd send me a new one. That whole process would surely take over a week and being without a phone for that long simply was not an option for me. Also, I was pissed that I'd have to come out of pocket to exchange the piece of crap. I found the customer service to be horrible and was done with the company as a whole. I asked for a full refund instead and after being put on hold was promised I'd get a full refund because the phone was pretty much DOA, it never worked properly since I got it before dying out completely. They STILL required that I pay shipping without reimbursement to ship it back to them for my refund. That made me mad, but I decided to eat the cost of shipping just to get my refund and be rid of them once and for all.
I mailed my phone on Monday Oct. 1st. I called on October 10th to check in on the status. They claimed that they received the phone on Oct. 8th and assured me I'd get my refund within 3-5 business days of that.in fact, the man on the phone said it should be closer to the 3 days than the 5 days since it was a DOA and those get processed quicker. Oct. 8th was a Monday, so I figured by that Friday I should be seeing the refund processed back onto my card.
I did not receive the money and tried calling to find out what was going on. The guy I talked to sounded and acted as if he were a cluelesss high school student. He wasn't allowed to transfer me but assured me that I was getting my refund and he'd put in another request for it. Now that there are two requests, he told me, they are twice as likely to see it. I asked who "they" are and to speak to "them" but he refused to let me speak to anyone.
October 18th (still no refund) I signed for a little while package from FedEx. I resell jewelry and constantly get little white packages from fedex. I was carrying my 8 month old and signed for the package. When I had a chance to open it a few minutes later I saw that it was a Solavei phone! I was fuming. I immediately called Fedex to see if I could catch the driver to take it back but they said since I signed for it they can't take it back. I called Solavei and once again got nothing but vague promises so I filed a Better Business Bureau Report.
It is now Oct. 29th. They have not contacted me or replied to the BBB report so I called in again. This guy seemed to know a little more about what was going on and saw that they made the mistake of exchanging the phone instead of refunding it. I was put on hold for awhile and he came back on telling me I needed to pay to ship the phone back to them before they'd give me the refund they promised! He said there was a note from corporate on my account saying so. Apparently they must have seen the BBB report and decided to make that rule and wait for me to contact them to find out what it was? I said there was no way in hell I was spending another dime, they can't send me something I didn't ask for, order, or want and expect me to come out of pocket to send it back. Then he got antagonistic telling me it was my fault for signing for the package! I should have read the tiny print in the corner that it was from a returns department (didnt' say Solavei anywhere btw) and magically put together that it wasn't one of my orders?! I already sent them the broken phone and they did not give me my refund, I understand they made a mistake, and wouldn't be pissed off about it if they could have just fixed it! They have been hanging onto my $200 interest free and making unreasonable demands for me to fix THEIR mistake by paying for shipping AGAIN to get it back. I already did it once I'm not doing it again. Every time I call them they end up having an attitude with me and nobody is willing to solve this. The last guy said he would "escalate it" for me, but so far they still have MY money. I WANT IT BACK NOW AND I'M NOT SPENDING ANOTHER DIME!!!
Do not do business with this company. They don't care about their customers. Some people might be happy who haven't had problems with their phones, but if you refer your friends you will regret it when one of them has a problem and needs help.
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