Chris A.

I attempted to buy a waterproof cover for my Samsung Galaxy J1 phone from this company.

I ordered a product that was described as a waterproof cover, but when it arrived it was just a back cover with no waterproofing function whatsoever. The front of the phone was fully exposed and there was no waterproof covering over the camera lens, flash, the rear speaker, or any of the buttons.

As Mini-in-the-Box advertises a non-waterproof version of the cover that I ordered (at a lower price), I assumed that they had sent me the non-waterproof cover by mistake. I put this to them and they agreed to send me a second waterproof cover without requiring me to return the incorrect one. When I received the second cover it was exactly the same as the first one! I then realised that they dont have a waterproof cover available, and that their advertising for a waterproof cover is false.

I pointed this out to them and told them that they must remove or correct their advertising, but they have not done so this cover is still advertised as waterproof on their website. I can only assume that this is because there is a lot of interest in a waterproof phone cover, so this generates a lot of orders, and when most people receive the non-waterproof cover they simply throw it away and put their poor experience down to dealing directly with foreign suppliers.

I reviewed the phone cover on the Mini in the Box website to warn potential purchasers that the cover isnt waterproof, but they refuse to publish my review. This explains how a product that fails to perform one of its major promoted functions gets five stars on their webpage they simply dont publish or count negative reviews.

Another important issue with Mini in the Box is that I paid extra for the shipping method Postal Expedited (5 - 8 business days) as I am travelling around Australia, which makes it hard to coordinate delivery with my location. However, in both case the delivery took over three weeks, so I wasted my money paying for 5 - 8 business days, and it was a difficult process getting hold of the (incorrect) products when they were delivered as I had moved on.
On the positive side: the non-waterproof covers that I received were well made and fitted very well. However, they were of no use to me as I already had a simple back cover, so I gave them away.

The after sales service from Mini in the Box was very good. I placed many customer service tickets with them and the response was acceptably fast. I received an uncountable number of apologies for my inconvenience, they immediately agreed to send me a no-charge replacement when it appeared that they had sent me the wrong product, and they refunded my money promptly when I determined that they could not supply the product that they advertised.

Of course, no amount of good after-sales service make up for falsely advertising the product and delivery time, and the months of massive frustration this has brought to me.