Recently I was with my girlfriend when she went to buy a new mobile phone.
We went to a mobile phone shop in a group of four or five immediately outside the main building at Big C on Posri road.
As you exit Big C using the doors next to KFC, (KFC is on the right as you walk outside) the first open-air shop on the left is called Jasmine Shop.

For a couple of years, my g/f had an i-Mobile phone which recently started to discharge the battery in less than one day. Despite having replaced the battery, the same symptom persisted, so she decided to buy a new phone.
Another i-Mobile was favourite, and at 1,800 Baht it was a good price. (i-Mobile is manufactured in Thailand by the Samart corporation in Nontaburi)

There were two young female sales staff and an older lady who was the boss – she spoke pretty decent English.

The sales staff told us to charge the battery for eight hours the first time before use - got home and did that. The next morning my g/f changed the sim cards into the new phone (both old and new phones support two sim usage)

Within a few seconds there was an incoming call, but unfortunately the speech was only one way. The other person couldn't hear my g/f, she could hear them - but with background noise similar to bad reception when listening to an analogue radio station.

I used my mobile and called my g/f. The result was exactly the same. G/f tried fiddling with the phone hoping there might be some adjustment, but of course there wasn't.

Decided to take the phone back to the Jasmine Shop for them to have a look at it. The boss said she'd get the staff to check it. We went to have some food and returned 20 minutes later.–The boss said the phone was OK now. While we were still at the shop, I got my g/f to put her two sim cards back into the phone and call me.
Still the same problem. I gave her i-Mobile and my mobile to the staff to prove the fault. They looked confused. They obviously either hadn't made any test calls or had perhaps just lied - not sure.

G/f had conversation with the boss, asking for a new replacement. Boss told her she would have to pay a premium as the phone was now “second-hand”, despite having bought it less than 24 hours before and it had never worked correctly. (I originally missed this part of the conversation)

The boss said if we took the phone to the i-Mobile service center in Central Plaza, they would replace it for us in 20 minutes.
I told the boss I wasn't happy that she wouldn't replace the phone, as I saw it as her responsibility. We didn't actually argue, but I made my point.
She insisted that it was i-Mobile policy to return the faulty product to them and i-Mobile would replace it.

Reluctantly went to Central Plaza and the i-Mobile shop. The staff politely told us if the phone was ten days old or more, they would issue a replacement, but in a case of a new faulty product, then the shop which sold the phone needed to replace it.
I even called the Jasmine Shop and the i-Mobile staff spoke to the boss, the boss then spoke to me and she she accepted they should replace it.
We went back to Big C. The boss at Jasmine Shop reluctantly agreed to give us a replacement. The replacement phone has so far been working OK.
There's more information regarding faulty goods and consumer rights here in Thailand, but that's another story.

If you buy cellphones in smaller shops like this .....there is no garanties....because the smaller shop buys them from the big shop.....and when people in the smaller shop sells them....they are allready second hand.....by the way...Iphone is a shitphone....we stop sell them in ower shop!

regards Kjell

I don't know much about these so-called smartphones, you said "Iphone" - isn't that an Apple product? The i-Mobile is a Thai made phone.
Where is your shop if I want to buy from you next time?

i bought a phone at the mall in korat,1000 baht,it was A nokia.no bells and whistles.And now I use A motorola razr.It does fine.I don't need internet

if you wamted an i-mobile phone, should of just went to the big i-mobile shop in the complex
I bought a couple phones from them and they are OK

a new (old shelf) battery may be no good, I had new (old shelf batteries die) best to buy a battery right from the dealer, copies are worthless

Great post really.

i'll tell you something kind of strange, those telewiz shops around town (central, big-c, adjacent to tunsri muang
field) sell i-mobile and gnet phones. and the i'mobile phones appear cheaper than at that official i-mobile shop
at the mall. telewiz also seems to be one of the leaders in the retail market. that shop next to tunsri field
the the best equipped/stocked one in town. and they seem to honor guarantees and the like. i've always thought
those second hand shops were kind of dodgy. (like the ones outside big-c) not for me thanks. :-"

Hello everyone....

For what it’s worth, I will repeat what I posted on Stickman or Teak door years ago.

In summary, if you don’t mind having a copy (imitation) of a new mobile phone / camera / stereo equipment , then save a couple of hundred baht and buy at one of those phone shops that are all clustered together in the markets and/or malls.

If you want genuine products that last for years and not months ONLY buy from an authorized dealer. There are no ifs / ands or buts about it.

I know what you are thinking….But the phone came in a sealed box with a written guarantee and was sealed in plastic---

Do you really think the Chinese are going to produce hundreds of thousands of bogus products and box them in a plain box with the words “copy” on the side?

Buyer beware is all I can say.

Cheers……

Just to back up what bugseda says...

The problem with buying phone 'copies' is not actually with the hardware (although the batteries will often be of very poor quality) but with the software. So it may look like a Nokia (i-phone, whatever) but the software running the thing could be from any phone. So when you come to use any of the add on extras they just will not work.
My old Nokia was a fine example of this...
It said on the screen that I have 1 SIM in it & so space to fit another SIM. Except there is no physical space for another SIM card & looking up the model on Nokias' web site it becomes pretty plain that only 1 SIM can be fitted into this particular model.
On a rather more serious note though the Nokia free software that enables PC backup & phone manipulation just would not work either as the official software just would not recognise when the phone was connected to the PC.

So if you want something that is just a phone & a camera then there is not that much risk in buying a copy. If you want a specific manufacturer & model to use some of the add on attractions then Centrepoint or Laos duty free is probably NOT an ideal marketplace....