Now I have a Samsung Galaxy S2, I wanted to get myself a desktop dock for it.

The dock for my HTC Hero was the official HTC one – a shiny piano black horizontal slab with the phone sitting solidly in the middle. Underneath was power, USB and audio out connections. It was simply but has drawn many admiring enquiries due to its superb looks.

Samsung have their own dock for the S2 but, unfortunately, it’s rather pricey at £30 – £40. Instead I decided to go for one of the many cheaper alternatives on eBay. I say “many” not because there are different types, but simply because so many sell the same type (pictured). There is a 2nd type available, but this simply holds the phone vertically whilst a spare battery is charged behind it.

At between £10 – £12, I wasn’t expecting anything too much but, as the same time, for that money wouldn’t expect a simple stand with a USB cable attached.

However, that’s just what I got. The “metal look” surround is a bronze-ish piece of painted plastic. It comes with a captured USB cable that you can connect to your PC for charging or syncing. When connected up to a USB source a blue light is evident on the top- there’s no way of switching this off. There’s also a USB connector on the back, the same as the one on the S2 – not sure what this is for, unless it’s so you can connect other accessories at the same time.

You put the S2 down onto the male USB connector and it connects you. And that’s it. The S2 wobbles a bit when in position (a couple of rubber pads inside the mounting area would have helped here) and it’s just generally deeply, deeply underwhelming. And to top it off,even the thinnest of cases prevents it from being docked without having to remove the case first. I guess it does what it says – just. For the money I’d expect more – a good solid seat for the S2 and a power cable (not just the USB connector) at least.

I put mine straight back on eBay – it sold within hours but I made a loss. Oh well, I can just remember, wistfully, my excellent HTC dock.

Summary of Samsung Galaxy S2 Desktop Dock

It works but it’s totally without the frills. The phone wobbles in place and you don’t get a mains charger. There are better for the money

Reviewed by David Artiss on 1st August 2011.

An official product, this goes by a number of names¹ – combinations of the words mesh, case, black and cool usually.

A rigid (but not too much), rubberised case for the Galaxy S2 it clips on the side of the phone providing side and back protection. Cut-outs for essential sections of phone (headphone socket, side buttons, speaker, etc) are accurately cut – especially for the camera on the back. The whole of the rear of the case has a mesh of holes. This allows the heat from the back of the phone to escape whilst preventing the back from getting too hot (it’s cooler to the touch than the back is without the case). The colour is more a dark graphite grey than black.

I have one on my phone and it’s the first case I’ve owned for a phone that I’ve been happy with – it’s extremely slim and light so doesn’t make the phone look big and ugly (as so many others have).

You can purchase them from Amazon for £7.99.

Look out for cheaper alternatives – they usually don’t have Samsung badge on the back or, if they do, they don’t have the “proper” logo. In the gallery below is a close-up of the badge – check this is correct before purchasing!

Gallery

Summary of Samsung Galaxy S2 Mesh Case

It doesn’t add much weight to the phone, adds some extra grip and, most importantly, protects the phone. I’d combine it with a screen protector thought for total protection. At £8 it costs more than cheaper alternatives on eBay, but I think it’s worth it.

Reviewed by David Artiss on 31st July 2011.

1. I’d clarify the exact name if I could find an official Samsung page that mentions it, but I can’t – that’s often the case with Samsung accessories. Their site seems to think that Bluetooth headsets are the only mobile phone accessory that they sell. [↩]

I’ve been a customer of Play.com for many years. I’ve spent hundreds, if not thousands, with them and have promoted them heavily on this site. However, things have turned sour.

How Play.com treated me

On the 13th July I ordered 2 product, both of which were in stock. On the 19th July I realised that I hadn’t heard anything further about these orders so looked them up on the companies website. Both were showing as “packing” – the Help text indicates that this status usually occurs for up to 24 hours. Next day, sure enough, I received a “despatched” email but only for one item. The other was still “packing”. Next day I sent them an email but, still finding it as “packing” on the website on the 22nd I rang them.

Play appear to use an “off shore” help desk – the line is quiet and they appear to work from a basic script. I told them the issue and they told me that as it was being packed it would take 24 hours. I decided to give them the benefit of the doubt – maybe they were doing something to ensure it got despatched.

On Saturday 23rd I received a reply to my email..

Your order is currently being packed as of 23/07/2011, and should be dispatched shortly.

The status was still “packing” but they’d changed the date on the order to show that this was the status as of the 23rd. When I rang on the Monday (yes, it was still “packing”) I was told it only had that status since Saturday – I corrected them firmly, stating that they’d simply updated the date but in fact it had been packing since the previous week. Again I was told it would be despatched within 24 hours, and they’d left a note for the despatch department to chase it up.

On Tuesday it was still, yes, “packing”. I rang them. They told me it would be 24 hours. I saw red. My voice rose and I angrily asked to speak to a manager. After 10 minutes of being on hold I needed to leave for work so ended up hanging up. They made no attempt to contact me in the meantime – I rang them myself  an hour later. Again, I was told it would be 24 hours. This time I calmly asked to speak to a manager. They put me through to a supervisor who told me she would chase it up herself and ensure something happens with the next 24 hours.

Whilst waiting I directed Tweets at Play.com via their Twitter account – the first one to express that I’m unhappy with their customer service, the other to ask if there’s anyone in the UK I can speak to with regard to my issue. The first was ignored, the second one resulted in them directing me to their standard customer services email. When I replied to ask what I did when that didn’t work they took my order ID and investigate it.

And I got a result. After 2 weeks.

The product is….. out of stock. The item on the Play website also now shows it as taking 1-2 weeks to deliver. So they offered a refund, which I’ve accepted, with apologies. I’ve now ordered the same item from Amazon.

How Play.com treated a friend

Maybe this is just a one-off? Or maybe not.

A friend of mine ordered a Christmas present last year from Play. However, when it turned up it was a different product – similar but not what he ordered. He rang their Helpdesk to arrange to send it back. However, he was told that they didn’t have stock of the product they ordered, hence why they’d sent something similar.

So, he wanted his money back. No problem. Would he get his postage back? Yes. Great. He sent the product back and was refunded – but not for the postage. He rang their Help Desk to be told they wanted him to email a copy of his receipt (even though the postage price would have been printed on his returned parcel). He did this but the money didn’t turn up. After ringing them 3 times about this and getting nowhere he gave up, had his Play.com account deleted (you can’t do this via the website) and never shopped there again. He told them he was going to do this on the third phone call but nobody seemed to care – they happily cancelled his account.

Why does this matter?

I know these aren’t one-off’s – a couple of years ago the website Bitter Wallet stated that Play.com missed out on a place in their Worst Company in Britain contest by a single vote

Even if my issue this time is a one-off it doesn’t matter – they’ve had multiple opportunities to resolve this to my satisfaction (which is hardly set to a high bar – send me my product!) and have failed at every opportunity. That’s not a mistake, it’s blind incompetence – they have treated a good customer so poorly and there really was no need for it. After waiting 2 weeks, I am now forced to order the product elsewhere and wait longer to finally get it.

What’s failing from Play.com here is 2 fold..

1. No one is realising that they are repeating the same message. If they did they’d realise something was wrong. Repeating the same, incorrect message leads to an unhappy customer.
2. They appear to have no way to escalate an issue – all they can is repeat instructions from the website. If it deviates from this, they’re stuck.

I contacted Play’s PR company informing them of this post and giving them an opportunity to respond. I have yet to receive a response from them.