Getting hold of an Onyx Boox Poke 3 - retailer gone dark?

[OnlyWhenILarf]

Hi all,

Has anyone else tried to purchase an Onyx Boox Poke 3 recently? I placed an order on the Onyx site, and they clearly handed it off to Ectaco, as it was from them that I got an order "confirmation". I don't think there are any other suppliers in the US, otherwise I'd try them.

I placed the order with them at the beginning of December 2020 and at that point their website said delivery was 5-8 days. I followed up 10 days later, and was told they'd be in stock the week after.

But nothing. And since then, my attempts to contact them by email have produced a deafening silence.

Anyone else had any luck?

[hyegeek]

Have you looked at goodEreader? That's where my wife purchased mine from. I think she ordered it at the end of November or early December and despite what the site said, it came before Christmas.

While I have looked at the Onyx site before, it seemed like goodEreader had more ability to actually get a hold of devices than an end user would.

[Question Mark]

Originally Posted by hyegeek

Have you looked at goodEreader? That's where my wife purchased mine from. I think she ordered it at the end of November or early December and despite what the site said, it came before Christmas.

I would be very wary of that site. They have a very dubious and well deserved reputation.

Originally Posted by hyegeek

While I have looked at the Onyx site before, it seemed like goodEreader had more ability to actually get a hold of devices than an end user would.

I would be very surprised if they "get a hold" of any devices. They simply seem to be a middleman. They take your order and then pass it along. From what I have read, the devices ship from China. Take a look at their webstore. Do you think that they really keep all those devices on hand?

[hyegeek]

Middleman or not, my device showed up. Guess I got lucky.

[Solo1959]

I just got mine two days ago at Best Buy. They have them on line, too

[OnlyWhenILarf]

Thanks for your replies. I'll check with Ectaco one last time, check GoodEreader in case. and go big box at Best buy failing all else.

FYI I've had a Nook Color more or less since it first came out, but it's getting old and grumpy (who doesn't?) and the Poke 3 looked like a spiffy upgrade. I didn't have much of a desire to wrestle with B&N again, or Amazon, or any of the ones whose business model seems to depend on DRM.

Anyhow again!

[LittleBiG]

I am just wondering if it is accidental or Onyx does know that there is a touch screen problem with the recently manufactured batch and doesn't give more to the retailers. It is a very strange coincidence, that the Poke 3 disappeared completely in my country, so not possible to purchase it at all. And at the same time a fellow forum member also started to complain about weird touchscreen and sensitive bezel...

So you better wait for a while.

[Question Mark]

Originally Posted by hyegeek

Middleman or not, my device showed up. Guess I got lucky.

I don't think it was luck that your device showed up. I rather expect any device ordered from their webstore would eventually show up. If not, one could always get one's money back through one's credit card.

What I don't believe is that the order would show up any earlier if you ordered your device through them because they don't seem to ship the devices themselves.

A number have people on this forum have ordered products from them thinking that, because they are based in Canada, the devices will ship from Canada. That would usually make the delivery time much quicker. It would also mean that Canadian residents would not have to pay any duty if they were being shipped from Canada.

However, those people who ordered devices from them were surprised to learn that their products were shipping from China and that they would be subject to duty.

Allowing people to think that their devices are "in stock" in Canada and shipping from Canada is a bit deceptive. They could easily state in the product description or in the check-out process where a device is being shipped from so that there would be no surprises. They don't. Instead, they have a link where they bury information that devices may ship from outside Canada and incur duty or customs fees. Not a reputable business practice.

I also wouldn't want to deal with people who ran such an unethical crowd funding campaign on Indiegogo. It was quite shocking.

Although they did bring two devices to market and although some backers did receive their devices, their campaign was eventually shut down by Indiegogo following many complaints by backers. They then started selling their devices from their own webstore while backers continued to wait. Years later, there are still backers posting in the comments section of their shuttered Indiegogo campaign page stating that they have still not received any device or refund from Good eReader. And yet Michael has boasted about selling thousands of the devices. Truly shocking. These are not people who deserve to be supported.

If you would like to know more, check out the comments section for this article from Teleread: https://teleread.org/2018/04/29/good...g-orders-wait/

[kandwo]

Originally Posted by Question Mark

I don't think it was luck that your device showed up. I rather expect any device ordered from their webstore would eventually show up. If not, one could always get one's money back through one's credit card.

What I don't believe is that the order would show up any earlier if you ordered your device through them because they don't seem to ship the devices themselves.

A number have people on this forum have ordered products from them thinking that, because they are based in Canada, the devices will ship from Canada. That would usually make the delivery time much quicker. It would also mean that Canadian residents would not have to pay any duty if they were being shipped from Canada.

However, those people who ordered devices from them were surprised to learn that their products were shipping from China and that they would be subject to duty.

Allowing people to think that their devices are "in stock" in Canada and shipping from Canada is a bit deceptive. They could easily state in the product description or in the check-out process where a device is being shipped from so that there would be no surprises. They don't. Instead, they have a link where they bury information that devices may ship from outside Canada and incur duty or customs fees. Not a reputable business practice.

I also wouldn't want to deal with people who ran such an unethical crowd funding campaign on Indiegogo. It was quite shocking.

Although they did bring two devices to market and although some backers did receive their devices, their campaign was eventually shut down by Indiegogo following many complaints by backers. They then started selling their devices from their own webstore while backers continued to wait. Years later, there are still backers posting in the comments section of their shuttered Indiegogo campaign page stating that they have still not received any device or refund from Good eReader. And yet Michael has boasted about selling thousands of the devices. Truly shocking. These are not people who deserve to be supported.

If you would like to know more, check out the comments section for this article from Teleread: https://teleread.org/2018/04/29/good...g-orders-wait/

Wow, truly disgusting behaviour on their part.

I placed an order with them, but then happened upon their trustpilot page and immediately cancelled. They gave me a partial refund, but did not pay back shipping (the item obviously hadn't shipped) and did not answer my questions about why either.

They seem about as trustworthy as a random vendor on Aliexpress.

But this crowdfunding business really takes it to a whole new level. It's not only shady business practices (as in stating that you have a Canadian warehouse, but actually shipping from China) but a pure scam. Hopefully, they'll go out of business soon if they don't clean up their act.

[Question Mark]

Originally Posted by kandwo

I placed an order with them, but then happened upon their trustpilot page and immediately cancelled. They gave me a partial refund, but did not pay back shipping (the item obviously hadn't shipped) and did not answer my questions about why either.

Sorry to hear about your experience with them. That seems very typical of their unethical business practices. They know that most people will eventually give up trying to recover the full amount that they paid.

If I were you, I would contact my credit card company and demand a chargeback for the remaining amount of money. If they did not provide the service (nothing was shipped), then they cannot charge you for that service.

[GoodCompany]

I also ordered mine from Best Buy and am the fellow forum member having issues with the touchscreen. There's lots to like about this device, but all the excessive tapping trying to get things to respond is doing a number on my carpal tunnel. (I don't think an ereader has ever done that to me before!) I wrote to Boox on Facebook and got no response. Today, I sent them a message from the device under "Feedback." I'll see if I hear back and also looking forward to the report from LittleBiG on his replacement. Depending on what I find out, I'll either exchange it or get a refund. I almost didn't buy from Best Buy because everyone else online was ordering a free cover, but then I read a lot of people not crazy about the adhesive style cover it comes with and thought I'd rather go with an option with an easy return if there's a problem and now glad I did!

[Solo1959]

I have had the Poke 3 for a few days now. I do NOT have a problem with my touch screen, so I think that the quality control is poor - some are good, some are bad, and they just ship them out.

I had the Onyx Boox Lynx T68 several years ago. I was hoping at the time that it would be everything the Poke 3 is. That device was horrible. Tapping was very wrong and not calibrated, it kept turning off the wifi, and text on the bottom of my reader was cut off. Very bad ereader.

What keeps me from being in love with the Poke 3 is difficulty in navigation. If I am reading a book and want to check my email, I can't get back to the book without going to the Library page and re-opening my my book, and that is a journey to get there.

Either you can't, or I don't know how to switch between apps. It's very problematic. I don't like that.

All the features are what I was looking for. Google Play apps, email, reading, they all work well. But switching between them is not good.

Again, I'll assume that quality control is poor because some units work, some don't, and there is no way of knowing which is which until you get yours. And from reading here, it seems that customer service is missing in action.

I do recommend buying a good one, I do not recommend buying a bad one. But how you know one from the other is the luck of the draw.

At least I did buy mine from Best Buy which is a local store for me and their customer service is much better. If you buy one, get one from a decent retailer.

[hyegeek]

What you want to do is turn on the gestures. That way you can swipe up from the left to switch between apps, swipe up from the middle to go the library and swipe up from the right to use the back arrow.

Once I turned that on, the device has been much more pleasant to use.

[Solo1959]

Originally Posted by hyegeek

What you want to do is turn on the gestures. That way you can swipe up from the left to switch between apps, swipe up from the middle to go the library and swipe up from the right to use the back arrow.

Once I turned that on, the device has been much more pleasant to use.

Wow! That works like a charm. The included directions were not very instructive. It's probably in there somewhere. After reading your message, I discovered that the navigation ball also works. There is an icon not unlike the "copy" icon in a word processor like two sheets of paper on top of each other (that doesn't make sense). That also brings up the multi-task window.

So now I think I am in love with the Poke 3. Thank you!

[lemon07r]

I got mine from good e-reader for $190 + $20 (shipping) because it had the cheapest shipping to canada by far. Shipped by dhl, got it 7 days after placing my order so I can vouch for them, but had to pay 40 CAD in customs to DHL (so basically another 30 usd). When I consider that tax would have cost me 13% anyways to buy it locally, not even considering the fact this isnt sold locally anywhere in Canada I guess I cant complain. The case it came with is actually quite nice (for a "free" case), and this is coming from someone who dislikes the use of cases because of their added bulk.