During our trip to Hongkong last month, we went to the place called Mongkok where cheap items are sold. We bought 10 pieces of USB sticks with cute designs like Pooh, Minion and other cartoon characters. When we arrived home, all those 10 units were not working. We opened up one and it looks like real because there is a microchip inside, like an electronic card for data storage. I am posting this thread to beware potential victims of this kind of items. Have it tested before buying.
Well, that sucks man. When I usually go on a trip I don't pick that much stuff from any store abroad, unless it is something rare or really cheap, but I always make sure they are working, of course if they are not I give them back to the shop.
Mong Kok can be a rip off, but is fine for clothes and things you can actually see. It's a bit like the East End n London where things come off the back of a lorry. With electronics you always have to be careful and try them out there, if you can't then you risk buying a dud. Most will have some device you can test things on if they really do want to sell things.
I never would buy something when traveling abroad because eventually I'd still have to pay some taxes on it. Since I most likely would get a better deal if I bought any electronic at home, that's what I'd do. As for buying stuff abroad, before you pay for it, have it tested because if you don't and find out later that it was defective, you'd have lost your money.
Oh how horrible for you Corzhens, and now you can't return them either. Oh well, I guess live and learn. I know when we traveled to Europe we bought a voltage converter and it did not work either. So, I am not sure how we charged our electronics. I don't really remember it was several years ago, that we were there.
Voltage is another thing, because it'd a higher voltage in a country it may not be suitable for long term use, even if you have a charger and an adapter. I used my travel kettle (13amp) in the US where there is a lower voltage and it took forever to work. Sometimes for certain items it's worth buying the correct charger for the voltage in the country if you use it long term.
I try and not buy electronics abroad because I usually prefer knowing I could return it if ever things break or end up not working. Also I try and weigh if I really am getting a good price for them because most of the time I can search for them locally and find a similar price especially when they are generic brands or from China. Thanks for sharing your story though as sometimes I do tend to forget it and this serves as a good reminder, and thankfully you didn't spend that much on them at least.
It's really sad because we bought those USB sticks for gifts to the teenagers this Christmas. They have cute designs and I was really delighted when we were choosing the 10 units that we purchased. We are still thinking of what to do with those USB sticks. Maybe we will just store it in the display cabinet to be part of our collections. That is a big lesson for us to learn. Well, tomorrow we are going to Singapore and surely we buy electronic gadgets only when it is tested in front of my eyes.
That really sucks, it would have been tolerable if it was only 1, but no and you bought 10 of them! I guess it's a warning already when the price of the item is unusually lower than the normal price, then you should consider that as a warning that it has a hidden defect.
I'm a gimmicky guy by default, so I buy anything that strikes my eyes when I'm abroad. I've recently been to Vietnam, and have got the opportunity of buying "wholesale" lighters for a bargain. So I hastily rushed towards buying them, gave the dongs, and took them with me. Guess what? The lighters, half of them being jet ones, half USB-rechargeable, didn't work at all! They were rip-offs. I felt so disappointed. I didn't pay much, so I didn't feel as disappointed as one would expect. But the cheapness should've warned me I suppose...
