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Further adventures in Pandawill and the Cortex A8

11K views 21 replies 5 participants last post by  BubbaHotep 
#1 ·
I know I know, it's been a while but I've been busy working on a novel and dealing with my terrible two year old. She actually told me "slow it down" as I was scolding her for writing on the walls with crayons. I had to fight back the laughter while trying to discipline her. What cosmic power did I piss off to deserve such a pain in the ass that twists me around her little finger.

Back to my epic android saga. As I can no longer find my original thread in here (my how slatedroid has grown), I'll start a new one and summarize.

It was a cold December day and I was wracking my brain for a gift idea for my wife when suddenly I thought an android pad would be perfect for her (Ahem, what can I say....true genius).

My first and yes sad and misguided attempt at buying one on ebay ended with a paper weight of an electronic device coming in the mail, a magician of a chinese ebay seller with an amazing disappearing act, and a paypal refund. So, after looking around I settled on pandawill.com because of course as it says "It's the Price, It's the Service, It's the Quality, It's Pandawill". Hey you. No not you the other one in the back. Stop laughing this is some serious stuff here. Geez, that's the last time I invite him to a thread.

So where was I? Oh yes, Pandawill. I looked around on the site and settled on an 8" pad because it had android 2.1 and a cortex A8 cpu. I placed my order and waited the obligatory two weeks for it to arrive in the mail. On the day it arrived I eagerly opened it up only to see it had the infamous "shake" problem as many of you are intimately aware of.

As one would expect of course the dreaded back and forth emailing started. There were the "reset the pad" suggestions, the "load the latest firmware" instructions, "take it to a local repair shop for diagnosis" (like there's repair shops for these on every corner) blah blah blah. Basically months of the being given the runaround with little to solve the problem. Finally I'd had enough and fired off a semi-scathing email. Now that I've summarized I'll let the emails speak for themselves.

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5/04/11

Reply ▼

Fm xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

To pandawillservice@gmail.com

I have taken it to every repair shop in my local area and with the exception of 2 shops all of them stated that a)They don't do work on this type of electronics and b)even if they did they have no idea who the manufacturer is to even order parts from. Of the two that would look at it the minimum charge to even diagnose the problem was $40. I am not going to pay money for someone just to tell me what's wrong with it when according to your website the problem is well known (even before I bought it) and it is supposed to be covered under a warranty. The way I see it there are two options. Either you RMA this device and not only pay to fix it but the return shipping as well. Or since we both know it's a simple matter of replacing the touchscreen (as your company has acknowledged in your own forums) you can send me a knew touchscreen and I'll replace it myself (a simple matter considering I have extensive training in electronic maintenance courtesy of the government) and it would be a more cost effective solution. But the fact of the matter is that you sold me a product that doesn't work properly even though you had numerous reports and knowledge of the problem before you sold it to me and you need to stand by your warranty.

Regards,
Stephen

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Date: Sat, 7 May 2011 16:33:36 +0800
Subject: Re: Order # 20172131
From: pandawillservice@gmail.com
To: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@hotmail.com

Dear friend,
Of course,we will keep our promise of warranty.
But could you offer me a video of your broken tablet?
So that we can figure out what's the problem is and see whether is necessary to return it for repairing.
Best regards
Sven

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6/13/11

Reply ▼

Fm xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

To pandawillservice@gmail.com

Here's a video I was able to take (had to borrow a friends camera). As you can see not only does it have the "shake" problem but the cursor sometimes randomly "jumps" around the screen.

(Figured out later my digital camera does video but of course only after scrambling around for someone with a digital video camera DOH.)

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Date: Wed, 15 Jun 2011 11:42:20 +0800
Subject: Re: Order # 20172131
From: pandawillservice@gmail.com
To: stephen.simonsen@hotmail.com

Dear,

Sorry for all the problems happened to you, could you pls send it back to us, we will repair it for you, ok?
If you agree, pls contact us to ask for the RMA ### and the shipping address.
Waiting for your soonest reply.
B.rdgs
Robin

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6/30/11

Reply ▼

Fm xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

To pandawillservice@gmail.com

Please send me the rma # and shipping address. Please be aware that also yesterday the power cord stopped working with it. I don't know if it's the power cord itself that's bad or something in the tablet. I'm beginning to get very irritated with this tablet. I have had nothing but problems with it since the first day I received it. The screen shakes from day one, the edge of the screen film around the tablet starting to peel up at the edge within just a few weeks of having it, and now the power adapter doesn't won't charge the tablet anymore. I'm not blaming you or your company for these problems, maybe since it was part of the first batch the factory sent you some very low quality tablets....I don't know. But I expected something of at least decent quality for the amount of money I spent on this tablet.

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Date: Fri, 1 Jul 2011 16:32:13 +0800
Subject: Re: Order # 20172131
From: pandawillservice@gmail.com
To: stephen.simonsen@hotmail.com

Dear sir,
You can return the tablet to:
Receiver: Dandan wu
ADDRESS: Fl.4-5,7 Longtang Industry Park, Liuyue, Henggang, Longgang,
Shenzhen 518000, China.
When you send it out, pls write RMA WCxxxxxxx on the parcel. Suggest you send it by registered airmail not express so that the postage is cheap.
Regards
Maria

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7/19/11

Reply ▼

Fm xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

To pandawillservice@gmail.com

I sent it a couple of weeks ago and the tracking info is limited. Just checking to see if it has arrived there yet.

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Date: Fri, 22 Jul 2011 15:34:58 +0800
Subject: WC0000575
From: michelle.pandawill@gmail.com
To: stephen.simonsen@hotmail.com

Hi,good day

Your returned product has arrived here.sorry for any trouble.It will be send to the factory for repair.
We will let u know the moment it is fixed.hope this would not cause u much more inconvenience

Best regards
Michelle

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7/22/11

Reply ▼

Fm xxxxxxxxxxxxx

To michelle.pandawill@gmail.com

Thank you for keeping me updated. After it's fixed can you please test it before sending it to me to make sure it has been fixed and the screen "shake" problem is no longer there?

Stephen

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Date: Mon, 25 Jul 2011 10:46:12 +0800
Subject: Re: WC0000575
From: michelle.pandawill@gmail.com
To: stephen.simonsen@hotmail.com

Hello ,stephen

Please don't worry about that
I will test it before sending
And i also need confirm the shipping address with you before sending
You could ask me the problem if you have

Michelle

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7/29/11

Reply ▼

Fm xxxxxxxxxxx

To michelle.pandawill@gmail.com

Just checking in to see what the latest status is.

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Date: Fri, 29 Jul 2011 16:21:32 +0800
Subject: Re: WC0000575
From: michelle.pandawill@gmail.com
To: stephen.simonsen@hotmail.com

Hello

The tablet still under repair.And normally it would take about 2-4 weeks.we will urge the factory do good and quickly repair and will let you know the moment it is fixed.Your patient and understanding on this is much appreciate.
Hope you have a nice day

Michelle

(Even though I had spent $20 that I never should have had to spend just to ship it back I was at least somewhat relieved that it was getting fixed. But 2 to 4 weeks? Now I'm starting to get pissed off.)

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7/29/11

Reply ▼

Fm xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

To michelle.pandawill@gmail.com

2 to 4 weeks sounds a little odd for repair time. Is it because they are replacing it and you have to wait on delivery of a new one? If so I would be willing to pay the difference to upgrade it to a different model and therefore not have to wait that long. Or is mine on a long line of broken pads waiting to be repaired at the factory?

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Date: Fri, 12 Aug 2011 16:55:35 +0800
Subject: Re: WC0000575
From: michelle.pandawill@gmail.com
To: stephen.simonsen@hotmail.com

Hello

Thanks for your patient wait. Your returned product has been fixed and is ready to send. Please kindly confirm if the following shipping address is correct, then the product will be shipped right soon.

stephen xxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
United States

Best regards
Michelle

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8/12/11

Reply ▼

Fm xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

To michelle.pandawill@gmail.com

Michelle,

I have moved. My new address is as follows:

Stephen xxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
United States

Have you tested it since it came back from the factory to make sure that the "shaking" problem is fixed (as well as the power charger). I don't want a repeat of what happened when I first received it. I am very disappointed in your company for several reasons. First, you should never have sold me or anyone else a pad like that with a known problem (as evidenced on your forums months before I placed my order which regretably I read afterwards). Your company should have pulled those units, sent them back to the factory and waited on properly functioning units before listing that model for sale again. Secondly I should never have had to pay for return shipping on a product that should have worked properly from the beginning. I placed my order trusting that your company provided quality merchandise at a good value just as your motto on the website stated "It's the Price, it's the Service, it's the Quality, it's Pandawill". Instead I received a tablet that had the same problem that others had already complained to your company about and the problems with it only got worse over time (the edges of the screen peeling, the power connector no longer working etc.). And it took MONTHS and repeated emails to finally be able to send the pad back. And to make matters worse not only did I have to pay for return shipping but I had to wait weeks for repairs that should never have been needed in the first place. I would like to know what your company plans on doing to make this situation right.

Regards,

Stephen

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Date: Mon, 15 Aug 2011 11:31:20 +0800
Subject: Re: WC0000575
From: michelle.pandawill@gmail.com
To: stephen.simonsen@hotmail.com

Hello,Stephen

Sorry for the delay of my reply.cause we are not on duty that days
The shipping address will be changed to the correct one
I will test the problem what you worried about before sending
For the problem you said in our forum would you mind give me the link where you have saw?
We know the charger problem .We also have test the problem after a new batch arrived in
Some tablet problem cannot test in a short time.We also don't wanna see that trouble happened.
What we can do it's push the factory do better produce,and we try our best to check quality .
Apologize again for that inconvenience
For the other problem you said , according to our policy,we will do the replacement right after we received the returned product.
But if the product returned back has used sign and scratches,The factory won't replace for us but only agree to repair
So we should wait and resent the repaired item to you after the factory do it
Hope you can understand that
Any question,please feel free to contact with me

Best regards
Michelle

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9:15 AM

Reply ▼

Fm xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

To michelle.pandawill@gmail.com

Michelle,

Pandawill forum>Android 2.2-3.0 Tablets>FS-805T A8 Pad> Touchscreen problems with new A8 Pad

It's dated November 27 of 2010. Also there are posts from a user named Roger Calver who was trying to get a copy of the firmware because they believed it was a software issue (there are whole sections of other forums that talk about pandawills A8 pad on other forums such as slatedroid). The point I'm trying to make is YOUR company not the factory is the one who has given me poor customer service. I contacted Pandawill within a day of receiving my pad through email and live chat and what SHOULD have happened is you should have replaced the pad THEN. Instead your "customer service" gave me the run around for months (I'd be happy to send you all of the emails) telling me to reset this and download new firmware etc. when obviously those same steps hadn't worked with other customers. And when I FINALLY get an RMA number to send it back I have to pay almost $20 to send it which is rediculous. Once your company knew of the problems they should have stopped listing that pad for sale until the issues were resolved. Instead I buy a pad for my wife for christmas through your site after reading other customers reviews of Pandawill hoping to avoid problems people have had with various chinese internet retailers who just sell items, ship them and then it's the customers problem to deal with anything after that. This whole situation is unacceptable.

P.S. I'll be posting all of this on Slatedroid in the thread I started.

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7:39 PM

Reply ▼

Michelle From Pandawill Add to contacts

To xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hello

Your repaired item has been shipped on 2011-08-15 23:11:03 with SG reg.mail
The tracking number is RF060044896SG
And thanks for your patient explian and information
We will think highly of the words you said and to improve our service
How about we creat a 5% discount coupon code for you as compensation
We are glad you have suggestion and feedback to us
Hope you have a nice shopping experience in the next order
Any more quesition or complaint,Please feel free to contact with me

Best regards
Michelle

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So know you know the latest in my android tablet saga. That's their solution. A 5% coupon that unless I spend $400 doesn't even make up for the money I spent on shipping it back to get fixed. All I wanted was a nice christmas gift for my wife. Instead I got more headaches than I think it was worth. I will let you, dear readers of this exalted forum, I will let you be the judge. Do you think that my story falls under "It's the Price, It's the Service, It's the Quality"? Or "I should never buy from such a company"?

I will keep you updated if you wish to learn more.
 
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#3 ·
Let me know what you think. Am I being unreasonable to think that I should be at the very least compensated for the money I spent sending this thing to get fixed or should I just be grateful I even got anything done at all.
 
#4 ·
I am very sympathetic to your experience. But you are the midst of sadness, their service attitude is very good, although the long time points.
I think you lost me in the translation. The thing that frustrates me the most is that they sold this tablet AFTER people had been contacting their customer support about the screen problems and yet they took forever just for me to send the tablet back. They should have allowed me to send it back the same week I received it (which is the same week I contacted them first about it) so that I could either get a replacement or my money back. Instead they made me jump through hoops just to get them to do that. I mean whoever heard of customer support asking you to videotape a problem and email it to them before you are even able to return a defective product. And THEN I had to pay money to send it back which I should never have had to do. Come on, it isn't rocket science. Take care of your customers or you won't have any.
 
#5 ·
Just to lighten the mood for anyone who's reading, I went camping and fishing south of Eugene, OR last weekend (for those of you who don't know it's a VERY VERY liberal town). I guess the fish there fit right in. Wouldn't take power bait, potzke's etc. only worms. Guess it's all natural for those fish......DAMN HIPPIES!!
 
#7 ·
Sorry to hear your sad experience with pandawill. But i have to say, if you do some research on internet about electronics, you will know it risks to buy a tablet from China as your wife's Christmas gift.
The tablets or cell phones from China are much cheaper than iPad or other band tablets. Manufacturers save the cost from all sides, like the "shaking screen". If you treated it as a common gift, you won't be so disappointed. Some guys enjoy to fix their problems by searching in the android forums. Pandawill staff's attitude is good. As to the tablet quality, the truth is all the China online shops almost sell the similar items.
 
#8 ·
I'd have to disagree. You have online shops like merimobiles that seems to sell pads to it's customers and from what I can read very few have a problem and if they do it's taken care of quickly. And they don't sell them for much more than the "china" shops. In fact I'd be willing to wager that pandawill has higher profit margins than sites like merimobiles since they're next door to the "factories". So if pandawill's "customer service" is so great and their "reputation" so important to them then why 1)did they continue to sell a model or models with known problems (i.e. the screen shake) without so much as a warning to buyers, 2)why does it take months and a customer going out of his way to return a defective product, and 3)act like this is all a matter of the normal course of business? I would love someone from pandawill to come on here and explain this all to the readers of the forum. I would also like to hear from the merimobiles guys on this as well. Because as it stands now when it comes to the next pad I'm buying (which is in about 2 weeks or so) I would rather purchase from a site like them instead of saving 10 or 15 dollars (which includes the "5%" discount) and be have the same customer service that I see that alot of the others on here have received from them. (And NO I have no affiliation or relationship with merimobiles or any of the other android tab online stores).
 
#9 ·
Oh and just a last point. If the customer service had been better I wouldn't even be complaining about having to spend to ship it back. But you add that to the rest and it just pisses me off.
 
#11 ·
So here we are again, back at the beginning. I received my pad back in the mail and you can imagine my surprise when I open it to find a new pad. I originally had a black pad and they sent me a silver one instead. I powered it up and guess what folks, (drum roll) you guessed it. The screen shake problem is still there. Albeit not as bad as the other pad which in pointer location (and while using apps) the touchpoint would randomly jump across the screen (which you can imagine is frustrating while trying to surf the web and it opens a link or does something you didn't intend and don't get me started on the games). I'm through dealing with these idiots. Take my advice, steer far clear of Pandawill.com aka Shenzhen Dan Hong Hao Tian E-commerce Co. aka Danhonghaotian International Trade Co., Ltd. and stick to someone either closer (i.e. north america or europe) or more reputable. You'll save yourself alot in the way of trouble, headaches and frustration.
 
#12 ·
Ok. Too many Chinese tablets and clones out there to know what quality goods you are getting. That's why much safer to go with the Chinese brand names that are popular and which are bought by many users. Less likely to have an issue that way. There is a manufacturer defect in the product either from lower cost hardware or improper firmware and hard to tell which.

Reading your situation I can see two major problems from Pandawill. #1 selling a faulty designed product. They should check the quality of their products before making them available to only sell good quality tablets and #2 giving you the run around for many months before accepting return. Pandawill should have allowed to return this defective tablet in 1 to 2 weeks from when you first got and tested it out.
 
#13 · (Edited by Moderator)
I'm starting to think that there is a cosmic force out there somewhere right now laughing at me while pissing in my cheerios. Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, please give me a minute while I bang my head against a brick wall. When the tablet arrive yesterday (for those who want to know, a silver tablet in a yellow box) as I stated I checked it out and the screen shake was still there but not as bad as the first tablet. I resigned myself to the fact that I was just going to have to live with it. The battery was in the red so turned it off and plugged it in. Later in the evening about 5 hours later I turned it on and started going through the process of connecting wifi and downloading the apps I wanted. It worked for about 20 to 30 minutes (still plugged in mind you) and then turned off. I scratched my head and turned it back on. It then got as far as the penquin and shut down again and now it's a glorified paperweight. It won't turn on anymore and the little red light next to the 30 pin connector doesn't even come on anymore with the power connector plugged into it. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SON OF A #$#$%#$&@@# #$$q!@#$ !@#$$%$^ !@#$%#$!#@$ !#$!#$!#$!@#!
 
#14 ·
Seems you bought low quality Chinese clone or just very unlucky person.

Call or Email them. Get RMA. Send back for replacement. Ask them for refund or to upgrade to better tablet; pay the difference if you have to.

This tablet brand maybe poor quality or they may have sent you a RMA'd tablet to replace your old one. Companies are unlikely to send new one to replace an RMA. A RMA is not always fixed right depending on what issue it had.
 
#15 ·
I calmed down a bit and then fell back on the troubleshooting skills the gov't spent so much money training into me. I noticed that the plug at the wall (it's a white box about the size of a ring box with folding prongs) when wiggled would make the red charging light on the pad blink on and off. Destruction ensued. As anyone who has this plug can attest it has no screws so I had to work at it for a while to weaken the glue and get the two halves apart. As you can see in the before picture at 1) you can see that the wires weren't running through the slot that's there for them instead they were pinched between the two halves and it caused some mayhem. Not only is that just someone being sloppy at the assembly line but that's really dangerous. Those wires carry 110V straight from the wall outlet. Anyways, on top of that the two metal tabs that you can see are what make the connection to two points on the prongs as you swivel them out to plug into the wall (as a side note I really don't like that design...too much can go wrong with that so I'll be making some changes to that in the future and I'll post the results). Those two tabs were also loose and making a bad connection. So I cut the wires, did a little resoldering, bent the prongs and made sure the plastic cover was tightened. Now it's charging the pad. I'll have to wait a bit since the red light blinks when you turn the power switch on and I'm assuming that means the battery is down to basically nothing.


By bubbahotepp at 2011-08-25


By bubbahotepp at 2011-08-25
 
#16 ·
I've let it charge for hours. I turned it on it went to the android logo (the one past the penguin) and then turns off with the red charging light blinking. And then refuses to turn on again unless I let it go for an hour or so and then rinse repeat.
 
#17 ·
Fortunately I had another 9V 1500mA power supply in a box (Yes....I admit it....I'm an electronics hoarder). So with a little soldering magic the pad is now charging and turns on. While I'm at it I'm going to make the cord longer so I'll post pictures when I'm done.
 
#18 · (Edited by Moderator)
My guess is that the bare wires shorted and it was no longer providing enough amps to charge the pad. I'd test it further but at this point I really don't care. So now the pad is charging since the battery was fully depleted. At least it's working again. I'll try the KKMOD firmware once it's done charging.

Here's my jury rigged power supply-


By bubbahotepp at 2011-08-26
 
#19 ·
It was plugged in and charging all night and according to the reading from the "battery calibration" app it only went from 5% to 8% in that time. I'm really hoping that the power supply didn't damage the batteries before I fixed it. Does anyone else have the battery calibration app installed on their pad? I'd like to compare readings. The one I have installed is from the market by NeMa. Right now mine is reading 8%, 6745 mV. Oh, where's Hardcore when you need him.....
 
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