By A bit over two months ago we told you guys about a 7 inch Android tablet that could be had for quite cheap. It was the Matrix One, a 7 inch Ice Cream Sandwich device that didn’t boast gaudy specs, but definitely turned some heads with its attractive $59 price point (which eventually ended up selling for $110 after the pre-sale period).
As sweet as that deal may have sounded back then, the risks of trusting a small, unknown company hit some people in the worst way possible. Unfortunately, it looks like the headaches won’t stop.
One reader of ours — who still doesn’t have the devices they paid for — told us their story about the rather non-existent customer support they’ve experienced. Nine Matrix One tablets were ordered for a grand total of $600 two months ago, and that was the end of it. The customer’s card was charged for the aforementioned amount before receiving so much as a confirmation, and no shipping details were given when the devices eventually went up for sale.
The “inexperience” bug
Companies make mistakes, but it’s the shoddy customer support that’s ruffling feathers. Trying to contact them via phone is a dead-end as an automated system immediately hung up on us after a short message stating they’re not available. The Facebook page associated with the company has been shut down.
It’s worthy to note that the Twitter account is still active, but the last Tweet was from November 9th, a message informing customers that orders will be shipped November 20th. We could get no response from them on Twitter, and neither could many other paying customers.
Today, the company’s website has been completely shut down and replaced by a rather long statement explaining what happened. Long story short, the initial shipping time of two weeks had to be extended to four weeks due to problems with manufacturing. It turns out there was a back-order for the glass used on the Matrix One. If that’s not enough, even when the glass came in the devices were being outfitted with the wrong circuitry, causing even more delays to get things right.
Refunds
The merchant claims to have issued refunds to anyone who requested it due to the extraneous delays, but that wasn’t enough for Google (the manufacturers used Google Wallet/Checkout to take orders). The search giant suspended their account due to all the complaints consumers sent in regarding the delays and lack of customer service.
Unfortunately this happened so abruptly that the Matrix One team had no way of knowing who still had orders being processed or needed refunds. After pleading with Google they were able to get low level customer information, but that was about it. Thankfully Google has taken it upon itself to begin refunding customers.
This action should have taken place automatically beginning this week, but those who haven’t received refunds should contact Google Wallet’s support team with all the information they can — including your full name, email address used to purchase the tablet, and order number — to make sure that it gets processed.
Logistics matter
Many are beginning to label the Matrix One team as scammers, and we urge you to put that label down for now. The company certainly has shipped out many orders since the device went on sale, and with its latest statement it has shown that they truly are sorry for how things have turned out.
If their story is true then the issue of unfulfilled orders certainly was out of their hands, but that doesn’t make up for shoddy customer service on their part. For starters, if you know you have a legitimate issue on your hands then shutting down your phone system, your social networking accounts (or some of them, anyway) and taking your entire site offline is not the way to go about handling it.
It did initially sound like a “take the money and run” scheme, and customers have every right to be angry. The aftermath of such poor planning and execution is only uglier because of all of that, and if the delayed manufacturing and shipping process wasn’t enough to completely drain your customers’ trust then the nonexistent and borderline fishy customer service certainly is. We love to support and encourage small companies who aim to deliver what the masses want, but when it comes to logistics amateur hour should be saved for Showtime at the Apollo.
Again, if you were affected by this unfortunate episode then do not panic. Check your bank and Google Wallet accounts for refunds from Google, and if you’re not seeing anything then be sure to contact the Google Wallet team to get it all straightened out. In the meantime we want to know how many of you actually received your orders, and for those who did we certainly wouldn’t mind hearing about the tablet itself in the comments below.
I received the two I ordered for my children. However they have not functioned well since we got them. I have called for months now asking for replacements only to be told we do not have any. So I guess at this point my kids are screwed with crap that is almost unusable. Guess this will be the last time I go with some no named anything.
Hows that old saying go…you get what you pay for? Anyone who thought this was a good buy is a horrible shopper. Go buy a cheap Galaxy Tab 2 7″ for around $150. Be happy and move on
I got them for my children so I didn’t plan on paying a lot for theirs.. I expected them to function though regardless or honor their refund policy. However, if you want to spend $150 or more on tablets for your children you go ahead. :)
The Nintendo Wii costed about $270 when it came out.
The Nintendo DS was about $170.
Those are devices you could give to your children. =.P
So spending $150 on a tablet for your child; I don’t see that as “spoiling” them. Unless they didn’t deserve it of course.
They have a Wii that they already use. All of the combine get to use it. So to me spending that so 6 kids can use it = money well spent. The tablets were bought for the two older ones.
Ah. You’re thinking individually. Makes sense. And 6 kids!? Let me make sure I get all the fun out my life while I’m still young. That must be a hand full. LoL!!
No refund as of yet just read this article…I had a bad feeling leading up to this…I new something was wrong when I got “Your call could not be completed please try later”
Just wanted to know. Is there anything I can do about a dead device? I filed a ticket to get another under my warranty about 2 weeks ago and noticed that the site wasn’t letting me check the status of my ticket, it just gave an error. Am I sh*t out of luck or can I contact Google?
I filed a mediation request with Google Wallet. Hopefully I will get a refund for the two I purchased. It cant hurt either way.
I’m contacting Google right now, have a quick question. The date of disputed transaction is the date of my purchase, correct?
That is what I put.
I put that as well. Thanks.
I bought one and received it. After about 4 hrs of use it stopped working. Tech support sent me the files to fix it. After I fixed it I played with it one more day and then it broke again. This time it just shows the dead battery symbol. Called again with “Jacob” stating he would send out a new one, never did. Pulled it apart and tested the battery, it’s fully charged :( $60 paper weight.
Wow. I was about 1 click away from buying this. Glad I had second thoughts. Sprung for a nexus totally satisfied. Whew.
Good man.
Maybe Google Wallet should shut Google Devices from being allowed to sell devices. Gee what a concept…pay for something an not getting it. I’m referring to the Nexus 4 fiasco. I got billed last week and they still haven’t shipped. They said they wouldn’t bill till the item ships. Google is a bunch of /strike: H-i-p-p-o-c-r-a-t-e-s- /edit: hypocrites.
I see that this may be your first purchase of an expensive product on the internet. Google will put a pending charge on your phone every week or so to see if you have the proper amount of cash for the device. Depending on your CC company, the charge may go away in 1 day, 3 days, 5 days, or even 7 days. The charge will appear again every so often, as stated before, to make sure you have the money.
Source: I bought and received my Nexus 4.
Nope you are wrong on several things. I have ordered hundreds of thousands of dollars on the Internet as I am an IT Manager. I was also no hit on my credited card with a credit hold but a fully processed and billed amount to my credit card that had its statement close a day ago (my bad luck), and I now owe my credit card for something that hasn’t shipped.
well too bad for you @Gus70:disqus like @bradley305:disqus said about the statement appearing and going away that is exactly what happened with me i ordered my nexus 4 on the 27th and the charge appeared 4 times between the 27th and yesterday and all four times it went away but today it appeared and this time instead of pending it showed today’s date meaning the transaction was complete and an hour later i got a tracking number from google saying my phone is coming on monday, so maybe your just very unlucky
I think you mean hypocrites … Unless you are suggesting they are a bunch of Ancient Greek physicians. (Hippocrates – is called the father of Western medicine in recognition of his lasting contributions to the field as the founder of the Hippocratic School of Medicine.)
Thank you! I learned something. From now on I will not assume that choosing an auto correct word that I struggled with is actually the right word. It didn’t look right when I went with it, I should have dictionary searched it. So thanks again.
Last week I have contacted my credit card company to file the claim and they transferred me to Google Wallet rep. Yesterday I got my money back. Looks like Google Wallet got my back.
I bought one and never got it. I contacted them to request a refund just before the “Nov. 20th” ship date. They told me the tablets were stuck in customs in Alaska. I asked for a refund and I was told to email “Jacob.” Jacob email replied saying I had to request a refund with Google Wallet. I went ahead and waited the extra 15 days and have processed a request with Google Wallet now. Google was very nice and promised an easy refund. I was asked to fill out a form and reply to an email that the phone conversation started.
What makes me mad is the lack of communication though social media and their website after 11/20.
I sent in the mediation form to Google Wallet yesterday and got a reply back last night. They are crediting my card the $132 that I spent for the two tablets. Sadly though they said it takes up to four weeks for it to be permanent. Said if the seller shows that the transaction was within their terms of agreement then I could be recharged the money. Too bad they didn’t read that I got the tablets I just cant get them replaced being they are broken. Personally I hope all goes well and I keep my money.
Well, mtxone.com has now been resurrected as strivetek.com – same bs, pre-order blah blah. An ip query reveals that strivetek and mtxone are hosted on the same server – to see for yourself do this – ping mtxone.com, note the ip address returned, and type the following into the search box on Bing ip:”ip address returned by ping”, and it will bring up a list of sites hosted on that IP address.
Also, the images of the products look suspiciously like a Nexus 7 and a Kindle fire.
I got out of this a long time ago, and have my money refunded. I have since then applied the funds to purchase a Nexus 7 3G, and love it.
When I try to ping mtxone.com it says it cant find it.
Looks like Matrix One is completely offline now. Their DNS servers are still up, but it looks like the dns record has been deleted.
Maybe Quentyn will want to rethink the statement “Many are beginning to label the Matrix One team as scammers, and we urge you to put that label down for now.”
I hope you get your refund.
Thanks. It hit the bank but have to wait out the 4 weeks to make sure they arent going to recharge it lol. However, I did call Google Wallet and tell them what you and some others that posted on Rip off reports thought about them being the same company so maybe they will look into it so it doesnt happen again lol.
Submitted my claim for refund with proof of purchase receipt attached to Google Wallet and confirmation was received with approved refund with in 10 mins….NOW THAT’S CUSTOMER SERVICE!!!! THANKS GOOGLE!!!
Just checked out strivetek.com. Clearly another scam. The pictures of their XRT-750 are obviously just pics ripped from the Nexus 7. If you look at this picture ( http://strivetek.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/x/r/xrt750.png ) you can see where they photoshopped over the NEXUS on the back. Look at the bottom where it normally says ASUS and you can still see the corner of the S.
Quentyn, as someone who was a victim of this SCAM, I truly feel your comment about not labeling them as such to be quite comical. How may tablets did you order? I ordered 3. When my 4 week window came and went with no shipping information, I called MTXOne. That’s when I got to hear about this whole “customs delay.” When I asked what port they were stuck in, “Cliff” gave me a port name that doesn’t exist (I used to work in International logistics). 2 days later the mtxone.com site and phone support were gone. Oddly enough, a new website called pacatek.com showed up with the EXACT same verbiage as the mtxone site. In fact, they even copied their “About Us” description from the MTXOne site and posted it verbatim on the Pacatek site. That included the customer support email address for MTX.
As if that wasn’t fishy enough, their CEO is Robert Klayman. Google search his name and Mr. Klayman is NO stranger to fraud and pyramid schemes.
I personally spent hours on the phone with Google Wallet and assisted them in tying the 3 companies together (MTXOne, Pacatek and Strivatek). Google was just as much a victim in this as we are. This whole deal was a scam from the start. My card was charged the day I made the purchase. I work for a large online retailer and we NEVER charge their card until the item ships. MTXOne charged us the day we ordered instead of when they shipped the item. By giving a 3-4 week delivery timeframe, that gave them time to get the money out of their Google Wallet account and run with it. And don’t say Google Wallet pushed the charge through. I’ve used GW as a seller and know that the seller has to initiate the charge to the customers card. Google Wallet does NOT automatically do that.
So, while it’s admirable that you think you are sticking up for a small company just trying to get off the ground, the facts completely contradict this fact and lead directly to a well seasoned fraudster who knew damn well he was taking us all for a ride from the very start.
I have 20 that I was donating to veteran related non-profit organizations. I also spoke to Jacob. None of the 20 had instruction manuals. 1 was missing the accessories bag! 2 won’t charge up. 1 has a cracked screen. 3 are in a perpetual reboot loop! I requested replacements which haven’t showed up! I requested info on how to update the OS! None received! I requested they post this info on the support section of their web site! No action was taken … I am visiting LA and will venture to the Pasadena location to see if anyone is in the office!