Bought a Galaxy SII @ Sin Tat Plaza

[ngtvk]

The price on the front said $3850 but when I asked for a "SIM Lock Free" version, they told me it was $4480. The store also said it had Hong Kong warranty. I trusted them and I bought one for that price.

Just wondering, here does the price difference come from? And the instruction manuals were in Russian, does that mean it's a parallel import?

Please help.

[ngtvk]

Oh forgot to mention, the store was saying something about "Hong Kong original"... what does that mean???

[BryanL]

I wouldn't trust buying a phone from Sin Tat. Good place to sell, but heard many rumors of them altering parts of "brand new" phones.

Plus, could of got it cheaper with Expansys Samsung Galaxy S II ( S2, SII ), i9100 (Unlocked, Black, 16GB) Prices & Features - Expansys Hong Kong (磐石· 環球數碼城)

[JaredHK]

I wouldn't trust buying a phone from Sin Tat. Good place to sell, but heard many rumors of them altering parts of "brand new" phones.

Plus, could of got it cheaper with Expansys Samsung Galaxy S II ( S2, SII ), i9100 (Unlocked, Black, 16GB) Prices & Features - Expansys Hong Kong (磐石· 環球數碼城)

This is indeed very true. I know a bunch of guys that run 5+ stores in that mall who swap internal components etc.

[ngtvk]

Thank you for quick replies.
Oh wow had I known that, I wouldn't have bought anything there... How's Yau Shing Commercial Centre? Are items there reliable?

[ngtvk]

On the contrary, do you know any trustable and cheap stores around Mong Kok?

[booth]

If they are discounting the price, it is for a reason :-p

Don't buy cheap stuff, if you want a cheap shirt, or to save a few dollars on bootlegged VCD's, thats one thing. But when you are buying new phones, electronics, computers, you should go to Broadway or Fortress. And I have had problems with other electronics stores ("Suning" is REALLY bad and their customer service will never reply to you) in the big malls, so beware. Broadway has been fair to me and even given me a refund on some items, in addition they usually tell you a cheaper price if it's possible and provided you ask. Fortress has been ok as well, and replaced defective parts post purchase and I was able to avoid the traveling to customer service warranty centers.

Any other store is at risk for being a fake, or having the internal parts removed and replaced with lower quality parts. People will do anything for a buck, so don't try to justify that they wouldn't do that.

[MovingIn07]

On the contrary, I have found numerous small stores in HK to be reasonable, fair and not cheating. Obviously, there might also be some that do, but I purchased my bread-maker in Fortress and it's CRAP, doesn't work at all but to return it you have to take it to some office in outer whoop whoop (Kowloon somewhere) which is just more trouble than binning the damn thing and getting a new one! Just shop around, check everything carefully, get a receipt and use common sense. Works most of the time.

[jayinhongkong]

Sounds like you got fleeced ^. If your manual is in Russian, it sounds like you got a Russian market 'water good' and paid well over the market price for a parallel import. The warranty you'll get is a 'store warranty.' Whether or not they'll listen to you if you have an issue remains to be seen.

I've bought two phones there and now just go with what's available in the market through official channels, just in case I have a warranty issue!

[imparanoic]

nothing wrong with most companies within yau shing building, i have used av king and ccav for my purchases and my bosses purchases ( even the official sony installer came in for my boss's tv). all official hk items.

what i do know is that the prices are 20% cheaper than broadway and fortress