Christel

Mirko was super helpful. Answered all the questions I had. Really helped me understand my options and move forward. Can only recommend!

Wow, so terrible. Did the Ennegrame test because it said it took 5 minutes and was free. Complete lie. Took ages, and only after spending all that time do you realise it's not free. Then I paid a small amount to get the results after all the time I spent, only to then realise they had signed me up for ongoing expensive changes. Such terrible practices.

Great tool and team! Always super helpful whenever you need something sorted.

I connected with a lovely therapist through the It's Complicated workplace programme. Being an expat in Berlin, I've found it difficult to navigate the system and connect with English-speaking therapists. It's Complicated made it easy.

Don't buy from them. If you forget to read reviews about the company before purchasing, like me, if you pay via PayPal, you have buyer protection and can dispute the purchase through PayPal. After escalating the case, PayPal decided in my favour, and I got the money back.

I purchased an Umbrilight lamp. The quality was nothing like advertised. The product page says free shipping within Germany and a 30-day money-back guarantee, but that's a lie.

I emailed the team to ask for a refund and they said I would have to pay for postage to China (much like many other people have said). This would likely cost more than the product. Crazy!

The team then offered a 20% refund and then, when I said no, a 40% refund, and I could keep the product. Make sure you say no. You have rights as a consumer if you're in Europe.

They email you back and forth in a friendly manner but don't actually answer your questions or fulfil what they state on their website. It's like they are gaslighting you, and it's false advertising on their website. They shouldn't be operating, and they clearly know what they are doing.

Avoid them, but if you have already purchased and used PayPal, go straight to reporting a problem and escalate it so PayPal will look into it. Otherwise, I would go to a consumer protection organisation.

I lost time and money and won't be buying from Reburbed again, or recommending them to anyone I know.

Below is the full story:

Initial review - Nov 2021

I ordered a Samsung Galaxy S8. When it arrived it had ghost/burn-in images on the screen. I contacted Refurbed to let them know and they said to send it back. However, I really needed the phone for work and didn't want to be without it. So I decided to just put up with it. I admit that was my mistake, but unfortunately, more issues began to pop up down the line.

5 months after purchasing I began to have more problems. I emailed Refurbed to let them know that along with the ghost images:

The headphone port stopped working
The phone had stopped charging, staying at 0%.

They said I could send the phone back and they would fix the issues. I did and a few weeks later I received my phone back. The other issues had been fixed but the ghost images were still there.

I emailed refurbed and they then proceeded to tell me that I had caused the ghost images from using the phone, which, was an outright lie, and I reminded them that they had a record of my email about the ghost images shortly after I received the phone. Then they said that they couldn't fix it because it was now months after I had received the phone.

Now it's just gone over a year since I've had the phone and my battery is deteriorating, with Samsung saying I will need to replace it. I am past the 12 month warranty period and can't get it replaced.

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Update - Dec 2021

Following this initial public review, I was emailed by customer support. I added this comment to my review following the support I received:

After posting this review I was contacted straight away. I was told I could send my phone back and all the problems would be fixed. This was despite it now being over a year since I purchased the phone. Although it was a hassle to send my phone back again, it was quickly returned with all the issues fixed, including a crack on the back of the phone which I did not ask to be fixed. They also gave me a voucher for a phone case and a protective shield for the front of my phone. Resolution management was extremely helpful in getting my problems fixed.

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Final update - Jan 2022

4 weeks after getting my phone back a major error appeared on the screen. Now there are constant horizontal lines flickering across the screen. There was not an incident that caused this. They just appeared. I asked for a refund, despite now being past the 1-year guarantee because after all of my troubles, I hoped they would help me. I was told they could no longer offer me a refund.

This is the email I sent:

"I understand that you are no longer required to give me a refund, but on a human level, I hoped you would assist me as the many issues I've had with this phone have been well documented.

It is a shame that the best service I received was when I wrote an honest public review about my experience, which I also only did after a very long time of dealing with multiple issues. I also admitted the fault on my end of waiting too long to get the first issue fixed. I am someone who can put up with minor problems on a phone, but this phone is unusable; there are constant lines on the screen. So now I'm left with a phone that lasted me just over one year, with many issues during that time.

I understand that I may be in the minority of people who have issues when they order a phone from Refurbed. But I walk away with a very disappointing experience, having lost time and money. And 258 euro is not a small amount of money for me. After receiving my last assistance to fix the phone issues, I received an automatic message from your company asking me to edit my review because negative reviews hurt you a lot. I did edit it, but I want you to know that I have also been hurt a lot by this experience. It's been extremely disappointing."

It is a shame that sometimes the only power you have as a customer is to write a negative review.

However the company chooses to respond, the facts remain. I've had issues with this phone right from the start, which were not caused by my use of the phone. I was only assisted properly by resolution management after writing a public review.