Tip Top Electronics

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tijuana taxi said:
TP I hope, can't imagine a topless calendar from here would be a big seller let alone the basis for a film
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well i did try to arrange that for charity but there weren't a lot of volunteers :LOL:
 
Paul Richardson said:
Is this Talk photography or is it the WI? If you lot want to run around with your head up each others arses that's up to you! I'm extremely happy with my purchase and Tip Top Electronics!
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sigh obvious shill is obvious
 
They still have the 20% restocking fee on their site & the `Passage of risk` (to the customer) still seems to apply.

Also:
"Our trusted shipping partners will cover 50% of the value of the item if it is damaged in transit. By taking the extra insurance this ensures the item is fully covered in the event of any damage occurring or the item being lost" ???????????
 
Hi everyone!!Our secure credit card gateway is now in place.We now have 3 payment methods.Bank Deposit + Paypal + Credit card!!
Amazon checkout should be active in the next couple of days!!Merry Xmas to you all!!!
 
Hi Gang,

Our business address is now posted on our site.Credit card orders flowing and we are shifting alot of photography gear at some very sharp prices!!!VAT INVOICES INCLUDED!!!!!

The 20 % restocking fee is no more and we are now in line with all UK distance selling regulations!!

Anybody on this forum who comes and uses our service will receive a further discount off their order if they mention their ID when purchasing!!!

Merry Xmas!!!

Cheers,

Team Tiptop
 
Just for clarity, you state; ` Some items shipped from outside the UK into the UK may be subject a small duty fee on entry at customs`. Is this a % of the purchase price?
How would the purchaser know whether an item is already in the UK, or if it's to be imported? Do you mis describe/understate the value of goods sent out by courier?

Does the 'Passage of Risk' condition, still apply to UK sales? All items purchased from, and have payment settled to, Tiptopelectronics.co.uk are made pursuant to a shipment contract. This means that the risk of loss and title for such items pass to you upon delivery to the carrier selected by Tiptopelectronics.co.uk to deliver your order.

I'm still not sure about this?; (when you go to checkout)
Please click here to take out additional shipping insurance. Our trusted shipping partners will cover 50% of the value of the item if it is damaged in transit. By taking the extra insurance this ensures the item is fully covered in the event of any damage occurring or the item being lost.
 
Ben, you don't seem to take responsibility for much do you. I think you need to revisit the UK / EU sale of goods act and distance selling regulations.

You don't accept responsibility for inaccurate descriptions FAIL
You don't accept responsibility for inaccurate pricing FAIL
You don't accept responsibility for goods actually arriving FAIL

You are solely responsible for ensuring that goods arrive with the customer. The customer is not expected to pay additional insurance. No responsibility passes to the customer until the customer has the goods in their hands.

Welcome to trading in the EU

I wouldn't purchase from you if you gave me a 99% discount.
 
much further up the thread Ben said he was going to take advice from a lawyer about changing these terms.. it seems that either he's consulted a lawyer who bought his qualification on ebay , or he hasn't yet done so, or he has but he hasn't implemented the lawyers advice. Either way this is less than reassuring to the potential customer
 
big soft moose said:
much further up the thread Ben said he was going to take advice from a lawyer about changing these terms.. it seems that either he's consulted a lawyer who bought his qualification on ebay , or he hasn't yet done so, or he has but he hasn't implemented the lawyers advice. Either way this is less than reassuring to the potential customer
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You missed one ;)

Or the lawyer is based in China.
 
Dave1 said:
You missed one ;)

Or the lawyer is based in China.
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I've wondered the same tbh.

(I was actually wondering if they were previously trading under another name a few months ago?)
 
Hi,
Just wondering if PAYPAL would offer full protection(?)
Also, still concerned about liability between buyer and coureer once goods have been despatched. Would the PAYPAL guarantee be voided once goods have been despatched?
 
Paypal protection ought to apply (assuming you don't use paypal gift)

and I don't think the thing about liability passing to the buyer before delivery is lawful in the uk anyway - so the paypal guarantee ought to be good so long as you open a dispute with 45 days. Someone on here recently used paypal to get their money back from digital rev.

That said I personally wouldn't use a company who's T&Cs weren't fully compliant with uk law
 
Ben Broome said:
.....We have an overseas SEO company looking after social media in India as our marketing budget is not huge.I have already sent the content on here to them to see what is going on.We are looking to use local IT firms to look after all this once we gain some real traction in the UK and our marketing budget increases.If there is any fraudulent FB activity going on I will immediately get rid of this Indian firm and look elsewhere.
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Seems like a couple of `reviewers` on http://www.trustpilot.co.uk/review/tiptopelectronics.co.uk aren't quite tuned in to the many dialects in this country, as far as the written word is concerned. Landon = London? :LOL:
 
yeah strange that they were both new registrants as well (wheras the neg reviewer had made 6 other reviews) - maybe both shills completely genuine reviewers were from laindon in Essex.
 
I also love how the broken English in the review gives it a totally different meaning to that intended

"This is the first time I ordered a product on-line at Tiptop and got positive response" so every other time you ordered you got a negative response ? - that may not be what he meant, but that's what he said.

Correct punctuation, the difference between "helping your mate Jack, off a horse" and "helping your mate, jack off a horse" .
 
Hello all,

Looks like I might just be a victim of TiptopElectronics.co.uk if indeed there are a scam. Happy to clarify if I ever do see my money again!

Foolishly paid them via Bank Transfer as my cards kept getting mysteriously declined when I tried to pay for a camera lens purchased for £254 on the 11th of December.
No confirmation email. Called them the following morning to check status and was informed by Ben I was all set but it would take 7-10 business days. Called them up later that afternoon to request them to try and speed delivery up as this was a present for Christmas. Was told, 'don't push us during this time of the year. Our website policy clearly indicates time frames'. Admittedly, I missed their complicated diagram communicating processing and delivery time frames. On his own accord, Ben suggested they will cancel my order and refund my money. When asked how long? Our website policy (non existent - still can't find it) states it's 2-5 working days and my bank might take another 2 days to process, so totally 7. It will be refunded to the original method of payment, i.e. Bank transfer.

Over the weekend, receive an email from an SP Singh in Customer Services....the colour black is out of stock would I like Silver. I informed him that I have requested a refund and I do not want silver or black for that matter. Since then sent in four emails and no responses to any of my emails. On Monday afternoon (yesterday), finally spoke with Ben, told my refund was on the list, it would take 2-3 days (it's already 3 business days; 5 calendar days) to process. Not sure if this has now reset my clock? Asked if they had my bank details? Hmm...Shouldn't they have the details since it was a bank transfer? Regardless, I was asked to email my bank details which I immediately did. Nothing as of yet.

Lot's of obvious questions and red flags all through the process. They bank with HSBC as do I. Bank transfers back should be instant and should not take 2 days for the bank to process? 2-5 business days for them to process a refund? Really? If they truly are a new business trying to make a mark for themselves, polite and prompt customer service should really be an integral part of trying to make a name for yourself unless of course, you don't plan on being around for very long. No responses to any of my recent (4-5) emails. There seems to be a new problem every time I try to get my money back....the last one is, we don't have your bank details.

Again...more than happy to update this forum on any progress if this issue is ever resolved and I do see my money again.

Regards,

Rahul


Update on 18/12: Finally received my payment this morning. Whew. Perhaps they are legit. Just wish they communicated a lot better and with certainty.
 
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big soft moose said:
I also love how the broken English in the review gives it a totally different meaning to that intended
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To be fair and very pedantic, the example sentences you have provided both have incorrect English.

big soft moose said:
Correct punctuation, the difference between "helping your mate Jack, off a horse" and "helping your mate, jack off a horse" .
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These example sentences are not typically used to show the importance of punctuation, but capitalisation (Jack must be capitalised or the meaning of the sentence changes drastically).

There actually shouldn't be a comma in either case as Jack is presumably a restrictive appositive (unless you are very lonely and only have one friend). If you did only have one single friend named Jack, then the sentence would require two commas, because Jack would become a non-restrictive appositive, and it would instead read, 'helping your mate, Jack, off a horse'.
 
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fair point well presented - I meant to use the example where the punch line is "i'm a Panda "he said , "look it up" but I couldnt be arsed to type all that out
 
big soft moose said:
fair point well presented - I meant to use the example where the punch line is "i'm a Panda "he said , "look it up" but I couldnt be arsed to type all that out
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Ahh yes, now that would be a more appropriate example of how a misplaced comma can completely change the meaning of a sentence. Fortunately, someone else on the internet has already typed it all out for us:

A panda walks into a café. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and proceeds to fire it at the other patrons.
"Why?" asks the confused, surviving waiter amidst the carnage, as the panda makes towards the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder.
"Well, I'm a panda," he says. "Look it up."
The waiter turns to the relevant entry in the manual and, sure enough, finds an explanation. "Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves."​
 
Wonder whether tipiop/Ben picked up on that negative review from the Trustpilot site after I pointed out the link? It's been removed! (another reason I wouldn't use them now)
Shame he hasn't responded on here to the concerns mentioned.
 
yeah having negative reviews removed is always the sign of someone with nothing to hide isnt it ;)
 
Rahul Agarwal said:
Hello all,

Looks like I might just be a victim of TiptopElectronics.co.uk if indeed there are a scam. Happy to clarify if I ever do see my money again!

Foolishly paid them via Bank Transfer as my cards kept getting mysteriously declined when I tried to pay for a camera lens purchased for £254 on the 11th of
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Typical scam site. Pretends to accept credit/debit cards but throws up false errors to lure you into paying by bank transfer.

I'd start by reporting them to action fraud and then start a small claims against them.

It may spur him into processing your refund to keep the law of his back.

In fairness they would not automatically have your bank details with a bank transfer, but as you have now given them the details, a refund should be immediate.
 
big soft moose said:
yeah having negative reviews removed is always the sign of someone with nothing to hide isnt it ;)
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As someone said earlier in the thread, these 'review sites' are pretty pointless when it's so easy for shills to post glowing reviews and so easy for companies to get any negative ones removed. Even the likes of tripadvisor and amazon can be 'gamed'. The only one I know of off-hand which has verified (proof of purchase) reviews is revoo, although I am sure dishonest companies could probably find a way around that too (pay people to purchase stuff and review it then refund them the purchase price upon return of product for example? - not saying that happens there but it's not hard to think of a way around it.) http://www.reevoo.com/our-plea-to-amazon-remove-all-unverified-reviews/
 
Dear All,

Update on my earlier review.

I have finally received my refund. Thankfully. In full.

Took a while but their responses when received, statements like: '2-5 days + 2 days from your bank'; 'should receive' etc. were all really vague and had me doubting them. Cant speak for product as I have not received any but at least I got my money back.
 
OK, let me start by saying that I'm not going to try to defend Tip Top Electronics. If they do intend to try to be a decent, legitimate retailer - and I think the jury is very much out on that point, to put it mildly - they still have an awfully long way to go. This pretty much sums it up:
ecoleman said:
You don't accept responsibility for inaccurate descriptions FAIL
You don't accept responsibility for inaccurate pricing FAIL
You don't accept responsibility for goods actually arriving FAIL

Welcome to trading in the EU
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But having said that, I'd like to caution people into reading too much into what they see on reviews sites.

OldCarlos said:
Seems like a couple of `reviewers` on http://www.trustpilot.co.uk/review/tiptopelectronics.co.uk aren't quite tuned in to the many dialects in this country, as far as the written word is concerned. Landon = London? :LOL:
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Unfortunately as a business owner you don't get to choose who your customers are. For example I'm constantly amazed at the number of our customers who, when confronted with one of our (supposedly reusable) boxes with a big "OPEN OTHER END" label on the bottom and a strip of easy-peel tape on the top, decide to hack into it through the bottom with a knife. You'd think that if they had enough mastery of English to place an order, they'd be able to understand that simple instruction ... but apparently not. So I wouldn't want to read too much into the standard of grammar used by reviewers.

big soft moose said:
yeah strange that they were both new registrants as well (wheras the neg reviewer had made 6 other reviews) ...
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That's really not strange. Most people don't contribute to reviews sites very much if at all, so when they do they're likely to be first-timers. We have a policy of specifically inviting every customer to leave a review after their hire is completed, and sending them a link to the TrustPilot site to make it easy for them. A quick glance at our current listing shows that 17 out of the last 20 reviewers have never contributed to TrustPilot before, and that doesn't surprise me.

applemint said:
As someone said earlier in the thread, these 'review sites' are pretty pointless when it's so easy for shills to post glowing reviews and so easy for companies to get any negative ones removed. Even the likes of tripadvisor and amazon can be 'gamed'. The only one I know of off-hand which has verified (proof of purchase) reviews is revoo, although I am sure dishonest companies could probably find a way around that too (pay people to purchase stuff and review it then refund them the purchase price upon return of product for example? - not saying that happens there but it's not hard to think of a way around it.) http://www.reevoo.com/our-plea-to-amazon-remove-all-unverified-reviews/
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We use TrustPilot and they only accept reviews from verifiable purchasers: in order to leave a review, a customer is required to provide their order number and it has to fit the template supplied by me. That makes it pretty easy to prevent the site being spammed etc. Though of course there's no way to prove that I haven't colluded in the production of reviews, e.g. by supplying fake order numbers to paid reviewers, or (more subtly) by not sending the invitation to customers who might have had a bad experience. I don't do those things, but of course it is possible to "manipulate" reviews, even on TrustPilot or Revoo.

Hope this helps.
 
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We use TrustPilot and they only accept reviews from verifiable purchasers: in order to leave a review, a customer is required to provide their order number and it has to fit the template supplied by me. That makes it pretty easy to prevent the site being spammed etc.
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That's not strictly true. You can post a review without proof of purchase, but only if challenged/reported will it then be removed for investigation & proof of purchase asked for before being returned on site.
I think if everyone clicked the button & `reported` all suspect reviews, the majority wouldn't be put back on!
 
Stewart your comments above are valid in general but I suspect you didn't get a chance to read the actual reviews in question before they were removed. Both positives were by different posters but written in the same very bad English with the same very bad grammar and the same obvious spelling mistakes (i.e. both from the same non existent town of "Landon"). In other words both painfully obvious shill postings as it appears the earlier glowing review in this thread was.

When it comes down to it whether Tiptop are genuine or not they are destined to fail, there's just too much competition for a genuine company to survive with the obvious lack of effort they have made to study the market they want to sell into.
 
StewartR said:
Unfortunately as a business owner you don't get to choose who your customers are. For example I'm constantly amazed at the number of our customers who, when confronted with one of our (supposedly reusable) boxes with a big "OPEN OTHER END" label on the bottom and a strip of easy-peel tape on the top, decide to hack into it through the bottom with a knife. You'd think that if they had enough mastery of English to place an order, they'd be able to understand that simple instruction ... but apparently not. So I wouldn't want to read too much into the standard of grammar used by reviewer
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Hmmm, I think you paint your customers in a dim light? :)
 
to be fair to stewart anyone who deals with the public a lot cannot help but notice that a fair minority are idiots... photographers are not excepted unfortunately. However there was not much doubt in my mind that the reviews in question were shills - two seperate people not being able to spell london was a good indicator
 
Well I just find the comment surprising. I have read loads from Stewart about customer service delivered by Hong Kong suppliers etc. I just thought he would be showing a whiter than white approach. I am not intent on flaming Stewart either. Just trying to give some feedback. :)

I deal with the public a lot. I would not put any comment like that on an open forum. I just did not find the comment serves a purpose but it certainly gives me some good insight. Some thoughts are best kept private. :)

Anyway, sorry to go off topic.
 
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I can't comment on Tiptop, but I can say that customers are generally curious, regardless of what they buy. I work in an area that sells test kits to measure proteins in blood etc, and our customers are usually highly trained and qualified, working in hospital labs and universities. But despite that, they are entirely 'normal' in that they will do all sorts of dumb things, like open a package at the end that says 'Open Other End'. It's just a fact of trading: some customers will do really stupid things, even when they are qualified beyond PhD level.
 
indeed , ive never forgotten the woman (lecturer at a well known high profile educational institution) who fell through the ice and nearly drowned despite there being a "danger thin ice" sign , because and I quote " the sign didn't say what the specific hazard about the ice was"

Some people are idiots , and intelligent people aren't immune, they are just intelligent idiots who are able to describe in multi syllable words why ''it isn't their fault'' that they did something totally asinine
 
I would neither agree / disagree about idiots. My comments were more about a business that belittles it's customers in public. They may / may not be idiots. But they put the wage in the pocket so for me it's about respect? Maybe it's an old fashioned approach? Maybe it is acceptable in today's world to pass negative comment about customers? My opinion says not but I will respect the opinion of others. I would just never procure goods from any business that shows disrespect to the very customers that put the bread on the table. Simple. :)
 
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but he's not belittling all his customers - just those who can't follow simple instructions.
 
so in essence he's only putting down those he'd rather be without, and if they take their business elsewhere as a result then that's a win - the rest of us, who are brighter than a paramecium don't need to worry because the remark wasn't aimed at us.
 
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