Kimstore: Gadgets on the Cheap

It's not my first time to order from Kimstore. I bought a Panasonic Lumix from them last December 2011, and the process was practically seamless. Besides the fact that it seemed a bit odd to meet up inside McDonald's Glorietta then to purchase the camera, everything went efficiently. I love my camera til now, the shots are amazing (well for me and my lack of photography expertise!) every time: 

During the craze of the iPhone 5 last December 2012, I was hoping they could keep up with the demand. I wanted a white 32gb iPhone, and I texted all three mobile numbers. Two numbers said no, one said yes and backed out on the deal on the same day. I thought okay, that's fine, the demand was crazy then so perhaps it was so frantic for them during the holidays. 

Fast forward to this week. The boyfriend's birthday is coming up and since he smashed his Samsung S3 last month, I knew that he would really love to get the new Samsung S4 LTE as a gift. 

The new Kimstore website (kim.com.ph) is easy to navigate-I love the icons and the sections, and it's very user-friendly. I like also how transparent it is with their payment process, with matching icons at that: 

 Placing an order was really easy: 

And I was excited to pick it up by Wednesday. When the day rolled in, I was in a hurry to leave the office by 530pm to make it to the pick up point by 6pm. By quarter to 6, I called the meet up manager, asked about the status, and she informed me that the phone was missing-either it was left in the main office or dropped while in transit. "Pasensya na po" was the phrase she said, and while she meant well, that phrase has always annoyed me. 

Anyway, I let it slide and said that I would pick it up the next day. It was great to receive a text as early as an hour before the pickup time that the point person was already there: 

I took a cab to the pickup point near Greenbelt, and was pleasantly surprised that Kimstore had their own little office instead of squatting in an establishment. The point person Jhun was accommodating enough, opened the sealed up Samsung S4 box, and checked all the parts. But when we turned the unit on, the screen was broken-there was a big yellow spot on it! Once again, I was asked to get the item the next day, same time. But I couldn't help but think that the cab fare was wasted for that day. But oh well, what can you do. 

Today is Friday. Before lunchtime, I received confusing texts. I received this one first at around 10am: 

I failed to think right away that this was for the 6pm pickup, since they said they'd text the point person to look for 30 minutes before the pickup time. And then another text by a little after an hour: 

Perhaps it's a lack of coordination, and I'll let it slide for now since I've been there--and as long as my order will finally, FINALLY be there later, complete and functioning!

I'm glad to have received a text from one of their point persons as early as a little past five, informing me that he's already there and the product is ready for pickup: 

I love proactive people so this is a definite plus. 

Embarrassed to say that due to the payday weekend and my ride coming all the way from Antipolo, I was late. I called the point person and he was very pleasant and said he'll wait for me. 

I got to their mini office by around 630pm. Their office space is a bare office which seems to be purely just for meet ups. 

There were two other customers there checking out their gadgets. I was entertained right away, and they had a list of their customers (I'm presuming for the day?) on a pad of 1/2 lengthwise ruled paper. Victor was less hands on with the checking of the gadget than Jheric, in the sense that he only helped me with opening the box and SIM card placement only when I asked him to. That was fine by me, since I figured that he wouldn't want to be liable for any mishandling if ever. we opened the box and checked for all the parts. 

One awesome thing about them is they come prepared with SIM cards so you can fully test your purchased gadget. After inserting the SIM card, I was so happy to see that it worked and had no defects (from what I can see on the screen). 

Another awesome thing is it comes with a warranty, so if anything goes wrong with your purchase, you can send it back to them. They come prepared with a warranty slip, and a 3-day replacement service. 

By Saturday morning I was pleasantly surprised to receive two texts from Kimstore. The first one was from their accounting department, double-checking the amount that I have to their point person: 

Then one from Kim of Kimstore herself! 

I super appreciated both texts since it showed their quality control, and made sure that each customer felt special and taken care of. 

All in all, I will still buy from Kimstore in the future. The hiccups along the way were alright, and weren't much of a hassle for me to pull the plug on my order. They do have the lowest prices for gadgets that I know of, and that alone is worth it :) 

Product bought: 5 stars 

People skills: 4.5 stars 

Service: 4.5 stars