James Z.

I purchased phones 2 phones from Gearbest. The first phone I paid "express shipping" for extra $10. It was supposed to ship the same day, but did not ship until 2 weeks later. I received the phone 3 weeks later. The second phone I used free shipping method, and it took 4 weeks.

The second phone did not work at all out of the box. After trying multiple ways to update it, the manufacturer confirmed that Gearbest tempered with the phone, and installed an unofficial firmware loaded with Adware and junk software that could not be removed. Attempts to update it with official firmware all failed.

I've been going back and forth with Gearbest for 5 days now. They finally offered 3 solutions.
(1) Send it back to China from U.S. and pay for shipping, and they will try to fix it and send it back to me. Given that it took me 4 weeks to receive the phone, it just seemed like a really bad idea.
(2) They will give me $10 credit for this $177 non-working phone, to be used on Gearbest website.
(3) They will send me another phone for replacement, but want me to pay ANOTHER $150 for it, and I can keep the non-working phone.

Their website may state satisfaction guarantee, with 45 day money back. But they do not honor it at all. I posted poor reviews on their website. Not surprisingly, all the reviews were removed.

I would recommend to anyone who thought about buying from Gearbest to reconsider. The poor customer service, long shipping delay, and "unofficial" firmware they load on the phones makes for the worst online shopping experience.