Manafont Customer Service-Be Warned

Just send a picture without disassembling it, worked every time on DX.

Yeah, they really don't care. They're just following a script.

Even after hundreds of orders over the span of several years and way more money spend at DX than I care to admit, they still require the usual pictures: the envelope picture to verify some stuff printed on the shipping label, because they actually do care whose QC number is on that envelope and, mostly, because they like to make you jump through as many hoops as possible (already tossed that envelope? well, oops). The picture of defective product is because the CS agent generally doesn't know jack about the product in question and couldn't tell a fried emitter from a working one without a side-by-side.

There's really nothing unusal about requiring pictures and they're not trying to imply that you're a fraud or anything like that. I recently had to do the RMA song and dance when a $2 item from DX turned out to be DOA. I actually had to dig the envelope out of the trash because I had already disposed of it and didn't feel like playing twenty questions with a newly hired CS rep.

In this case I would just send a video of me putting in a battery into another flashlight that works, then putting the same battery into the dead flashlight, and showing my hand clicking the switch.

I always attached a few pictures of the item and of the packaging and they never replied with anything else than "We're sending you a new item, keep the old one".

Once they asked what I ment when I made a "Wrong SKU" request and the SKU listed on the item was the correct one (it was the right SKU but the wrong item).

I sent a pic. They actually have a 12 month warranty (I think) so it shouldn't be a problem. It was actually a Mrs Lite. Didn't go down too well with the wife. Here I bought you a flashlight.

"Hey it doesnt work. I told you to stop wasting money" .

Damn it!

The first rule of (flashlight) gifting: Try the light first...

Ditto!

Thanks to everyone for the advice.I remain disappointed that Manafont insists on the picture and video runaround,even for established customers.I just don't have the time and motivation to go through that process to save $15.After eight e-mails from Audrey insisting I would be helped it was obvious that the prior seven e-mails were being completely ignored and it seemed she had little understanding of flashlights or what can go wrong with a drop-in.I would have preferred being told "so sorry no refund or replacement" from the start so I would not waste my time.I had hoped they would be responsive because I had received a replacement from Solarforce for a DOA drop-in in the past-without pictures/videos.I received a DOA Eastward light from DX and received the same picture/video runaround even with several of the Eastward flashlight reviews on the DX site detailing the exact same DOA problem I had.And my purchase history with DX was in the thousands of dollars!I guess I should just learn to suck up the the small losses and become a videographer when the time comes that an expensive item proves to be defective.

I received a uf XML dropin on Tuesday. Thursday morning noticed drops of glue on led. Tried online chat with Audrey and instructed me to take pics of led. After chat noticed email from Jim@manafont. Asking about problem and to send pics. Took pics and replied. This morning I received resolution letter from Jim. Sorry your experience wasn’t as smooth as mine. But I guess I’ve learned well from dealing with dx. So I think manafont support is great from my experience.

It's not a runaround, it's how they do business. I don't know if their customer service people even understand half of what an e-mail might say since English isn't their native language and a lot of stuff relating to flashlights is very technical (and people who speak English don't even understand it). So they set up a procedure that you refused to follow and you got a poor result. It's odd that you don't want to be bothered to take a picture, but you still sent them 8 e-mails?

This is a part of buying budget lights. It may not be for everyone.

Take the damn picture!

fercyinoutloudjusttakethedamnpictureFoy

Heres a PICTURE of a UF xml dropin with some drops of silicone or glue.

Everyone here has been thru it and feel for you .. the long and short answer is you pay with a credit card , use paypal and if they give you more than 3 times runaround you pop them with a dispute and case ..bang bang .. You roll your dice you take your chances ..you knew it going in .. there IS no other option .. no retailer in his right mind is gonna carry this stuff and sell it locally at the margins these guys do ..9o% of the stuff you buy isn't in their warehouse and they aren't carrying it at risk to them ...We feel for you ..all of us do ... but there isn't a choice unless you want to be an eternal geek and pay twice what a light is worth and hang out under the steely gaze of the iron maiden

. if you can't take a picture of the light ....send them this one ...<<<

[quote=Boaz]

. if you can't take a picture of the light ....send them this one ...<<<

[/quote

I cant look at that pic for more than a second. Scary!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Customer care at manafont has been remarkable so far. The effort you have to put to solve the issue is minimal. However you're more than welcome to send the defective product back and they will send you a new one. I hardly believe it is worth it since they only ask a picture as proof to solve all your problems at no cost. At the profit they make they will be at loss in this case but they are willing to solve the issue you have. The overseas business has it's disadvantages but MF is clearly doing it's best to have the end user a troublefree experience at best of their capabilities. All they want is to make sure you're not abusing the system. And they are not even asking much for that.

I had i failing dropin R5 and i disassembled the dropin completely and removed the faulty driver. Took a picture of both sides. They said it was more than enough and thanked me for the fine details i provided. You may do not know but customer care need to have something to justify a replacement.

Anyway, in more than one occasion if you're nice to someone they will probably be nice to you as well. (this works probably everywhere and it's strongly suggested to follow this model) <- for me it alwas does except at KD. They reply to mails they like to reply but trash the others. I think it's up to mail reader mood more than anything.

I had a few mails between me and Jim or Audrey from MF and i can say they are very helpfull, fast and reliable. Not to forget the truly remarkable english most other dealers severely lack.

Good luck finding better customer service everywhere else.

P.S. I'm not "sponsored" by MF to defend them i just felt this topic was particularly unfair as they truly does provide the best experience you can have from a budget HK based dealer. They deserve better that this post name.

I am missing an order posted 17 March. I got one today sent 3 April. I am starting to think it is lost. MFsay to keep waiting but I am getting concerned. I've bought lots of stuff from all over the world and never had anything go missing.

An recent order from DX took over a month to arrive (from it was posted that is). If you get nervous after a few weeks you should probably use registered next time...

I hear ya. I noticed HK post is getting slower lately by 50% average by analyzing tracked shipments. With 12-16 days usual average now needs 20+ (even 30 which is really slow). Never lost a parcel yet from around 100+.

Someone got his knife recently and had to wait 56days! It was even tracked... go figure.

Thought I might the first one from MF to have a lost parcel. I've got my order which was shipped on 01 March missing too. They asked me to wait and wait longer but I had to go with 45 day PP dispute – no claims yet. They don’t have a clear-cut policy on lost/missing parcel[s]. It seems they require evidence of the missing parcel to work on a ticket/case however IMO It doesn’t make sense to provide any sort of evidence for a non-registered parcel which went missing – “No guarantee or warranty for non-registered parcel(s)”.Well, if $2 registered mail does come with Tracking plus insurance cover, why can’t they list down in their policy?.Probably alert people when choose non-register shipping. It looks strange that their management would “only” approve a “special consideration” over the weekends. I went ahead to offer $2 for registered shipping if they consider reshipping the parcel but yet to hear from them. Hope they set things right for me.