Is S B E Ltd. scamming people? Xiaomi, Sony, OnePlus, Huawei, Apple, Motorola, Cat and others are involved.

[Fostel]

Does anybody of you return the phone to SBE Ltd. before?

SBE Ltd (Service Beyond Expectations)​

Unit A1-A2 Beaver Industrial Estate, Beaver Road, Ashford, Kent, TN23 7SH
https://sbeglobalservice.com/worldwide-locations/

What was the outcome?

Reviews of SBE online:

• Yell (~60% of negative comments)
• https://www.yell.com/biz/sbe-ltd-ashford-4846566/#reviews
• Google (twice as many negative comments)
• https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/SBE+Ltd/@51.1355629,0.8657654,17z/data=!4m17!1m8!3m7!1s0x47deda4b23107a5b:0xe5cdb3c3290af8c5!2sBeaver+Industrial+Estate,+Beaver+Rd,+Ashford+TN23+7SH!3b1!8m2!3d51.1355629!4d0.8679541!16s/g/1tmbvd91!3m7!1s0x47dedb0ee0f74def:0x8c5eb7539d9cc645!8m2!3d51.1359687!4d0.8681304!9m1!1b1!16s/g/1thsqnrf
• Trustpilot >750 negative reviews (13%)
• https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/uk.sbeglobalservice.com?stars=1

I found those reviews SHOCKING!
After reading a few of the stories you will notice the pattern. This company operates globally since 1996!

​

This is an invitation to the discussion as the scale of this practice is huge!
Xiaomi, Sony, OnePlus, Huawei, Apple, Motorola, Cat and others are involved.

After reading a few of the stories you should notice the pattern. This company operates globally since 1996!

 

[simplepinoi177]

I planned to return a phone that was switched on only once. It was purchased as a gift but the birthday boy did not like it.
Contacted customer service via chat the next day asking what the return procedure looks like. Instead of explaining, they started the process for me and I received the jiffy bag today.

I had a gut feeling that something is not right when I realized that the jiffy bag was posted by this SCAM company so XIAOMI UK already broke the LAW by selling my details to them (third party - GDPR).

And I mean, everything. My name, home address, email, phone number also IMEI, and the serial number of the device.
The included letter state: ‘Returning your Device for DOA Assessment’

As far as I know, DOA means Death On Arrival. I never claimed the device to be damaged in any way. It was turned on for an hour or two and put down. The condition is the same as it arrived minus a foil wrap (there were no seal stickers on the box).

• What do they play here? Is this a generic letter for a 'change of mind' return?
• Does anybody of you returned the phone to Xiaomi before?

This is an invitation to the discussion as the scale of this practice is huge!
Xiaomi, Sony, OnePlus, Huawei, Apple, Motorola, Cat and others are involved.

After reading a few of the stories you will notice the pattern. This company operates globally since 1996!

I found those reviews. SHOCKING!

https://www.yell.com/biz/sbe-ltd-ashford-4846566/#reviews

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/SBE+Ltd/@51.1355629,0.8657654,17z/data=!4m17!1m8!3m7!1s0x47deda4b23107a5b:0xe5cdb3c3290af8c5!2sBeaver+Industrial+Estate,+Beaver+Rd,+Ashford+TN23+7SH!3b1!8m2!3d51.1355629!4d0.8679541!16s/g/1tmbvd91!3m7!1s0x47dedb0ee0f74def:0x8c5eb7539d9cc645!8m2!3d51.1359687!4d0.8681304!9m1!1b1!16s/g/1thsqnrf

https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/uk.sbeglobalservice.com?stars=1

​

SBE Ltd (Service Beyond Expectations)​

Unit A1-A2 Beaver Industrial Estate, Beaver Road, Ashford, Kent, TN23 7SH
https://sbeglobalservice.com/worldwide-locations/

Why nobody is discussing this?!
I decided to keep this phone but this may be the last Xiaomi phone that I purchased.

They responded to your review left on trustpilot....

I dunno...they don't look like a complete "scam" you are making them out as...there are tons of positive reviews among the completely negative -- that isn't so likely if it was a complete scam. It sucks they were given your information and details, but I don't know how they would function (as a repair/replacement company) without some of that information...

 

[Fostel]

They responded to your review left on trustpilot....

I dunno...they don't look like a complete "scam" you are making them out as...there are tons of positive reviews among the completely negative -- that isn't so likely if it was a complete scam. It sucks they were given your information and details, but I don't know how they would function (as a repair/replacement company) without some of that information...

Thanks for popping in. Some of those positive reviews on Trustpilot do look fake. FYI Trustpilot can be played and many shady companies do it... daily. Also, would you write poems in reviews of the repair centre after they just did their job? I would still be upset at the manufacturer that the item broke in the first place and I had to go through a warranty claim.

I have read hundreds of reviews last night and I truly feel for people crying out their stories. They cannot all be wrong or coincidental as there is a pattern that I know full well as I learned the hard way. I lost my property and after months of chasing got another device with a different issue (somebody else's return). I sold it privately to minimise loss and moved on but many are naive enough to send it back to them again to get scammed a second time.

I am just trying to make people aware that this practice exists. Do not get scammed folks. Do your research. Peace!

 

[Robbo.5000]

Maybe the online chat was a chatbot and got the reason for return wrong. Or maybe it's Xiaomi UK's policy to have all phones returned, where the customer has changed their mind, to have the phone inspected to ensure it's still in as new condition.
Whatever the case Xiaomi UK are within their right to nominate any company to act as their service centre agent, and as such are well within data protection laws in sending relevant customer details to any third party company chosen as their agent to act on their behalf. It's exactly the same as passing on your details to a courier to deliver the phone, and I don't see any complaint about that. You will have scrolled passed something telling you these things when skipping past the Ts and Cs.
There does not appear to be a scam, nor has anything illegal happened.
It's just unfortunate that Xiaomi UK have chosen such an apparently disreputable company to act as their service centre.

 

[Fostel]

Maybe the online chat was a chatbot and got the reason for return wrong. Or maybe it's Xiaomi UK's policy to have all phones returned, where the customer has changed their mind, to have the phone inspected to ensure it's still in as new condition.
Whatever the case Xiaomi UK are within their right to nominate any company to act as their service centre agent, and as such are well within data protection laws in sending relevant customer details to any third party company chosen as their agent to act on their behalf. It's exactly the same as passing on your details to a courier to deliver the phone, and I don't see any complaint about that. You will have scrolled passed something telling you these things when skipping past the Ts and Cs.
There does not appear to be a scam, nor has anything illegal happened.
It's just unfortunate that Xiaomi UK have chosen such an apparently disreputable company to act as their service centre.

You must be mad thinking that was a chatbot.
It's obvious you did not read the reviews of the people who had their property stolen/damaged/not adequately replaced/ money extorted.
In the UK, you need to consent to your details being passed to a third party otherwise, it will be a data breach. A courier or postman cannot be compared to any Ltd. company.

You've completely missed the point so I edited the original post to make it clearer.
EOT.

 

[Robbo.5000]

You must be mad thinking that was a chatbot.
It's obvious you did not read the reviews of the people who had their property stolen/damaged/not adequately replaced/ money extorted.
Also, you are wrong about UK law. You need to consent to your details being passed to the third party. A courier or postman cannot be compared to any Ltd. company. You are free to send them your devices if you will.

You completely miss the point so I edited the original post to make it clearer.
EOT.

You gave no info either way to indicate if the online chat was real or a bot. I only gave that out as a possible cause of why Xiaomi thought you wanted to return the phone because it was broken.
I've done numerous data protection courses in the UK for various companies of worked for. I know they don't need to ask your permission. As said previously this fact would have been buried in the T's and C's.
Xiaomi UK have obviously outsourced the service centre repair work to SBE Ltd. (Along with many other manufacturers) They have the right to forward relevant information to SBE to allow SBE to do the required work on their behalf.
It is exactly the same as when the phone was delivered. Xiaomi do not deliver themselves, they outsource the work to a delivery company. In order to do this, they have to give your details to the delivery company. In order for SBE to perform their duties for Xiaomi, they too require details of Xiaomi's customers they are performing the service for.
Xiaomi (and all other manufacturers) are not allowed to send customer data that is not relevant, but they are allowed to pass on data that is relevant and required to allow SBE to do the services they are contracted to perform.
The unfortunate part of all this is that it's not financially sensible for these manufacturers to have their own dedicated UK service centres. I would guess that almost all manufacturers use SBE Ltd. because their is no other company in the UK that can compete with the scale of work SBE can do. So as customers in the UK, if you have a problem within the warranty period, you have no choice but hope SBE get it right with your phone.

 

[Robbo.5000]

Now to get the point. In your case, your contract was with Xiaomi. If SBE had stuffed up your phone, whilst working on behalf of Xiaomi, then that would be between you and Xiaomi to work out. It would be Xiaomi's responsibility to deal with SBE. If Xiaomi's contractors are incompetent, that is only Xiaomi's problem to deal with.