[Edit] Also read the comments left by visitors below – Not everyone’s review is as glowing [/edit]
The Story
I was recently given a broken first generation iPhone. The headset assembly had a torn ribbon cable that made the phone unusable. Attached to this ribbon cable was the vibrator, headset jack, volume and mute controls, and the power button.
I shopped around online for apple part # 821-0449-A. Unfortunately, it is a pretty rare item that looks like it’s only sold from a few mom and pop operations. No large retailers like Amazon or NewEgg carried the assembly that I needed. Since it was a first generation iPhone, it made it even harder. The few places I did find it varied in price and reputation… anywhere from 7$ all the way to 49.95$.
After looking around, I finally decided I would try to order the part from FlexQueen.com since it was only $8.50. However, I was skeptical about this online store as it had absolutely 0 reviews online. I decided to call the phone number on the website. If they answered and didn’t sound too suspicious, I’d run it through my Credit Card and Paypal… figured I couldn’t lose.
I called FlexQueen and they answered after a few rings. No phone system, just a good old fashioned phone. I spoke with a gentleman who confirmed they stocked the Headphone assembly I needed.
I Placed my order online at 8:27 AM… received an e-mail shipping confirmation at 1:58 PM. My order arrived exactly two days later via USPS. It was well packaged, and exactly as ordered. What actually did surprise me is that the item was OEM. I’m not sure where FlexQueen got an OEM Apple part, but I’m not complaining.
I had to borrow a screwdriver set from a neighbor because the Philips screws that are in the iPhone are incredibly small. I mean… small. You have no idea how small.
After some ridiculous finagling we were able to get the assembly in, except for the power button which had been ripped to shreds by the previous owner. I was totally bummed because I wasn’t going to be able to finalize my reassembly until I could purchase a new power button. However, I did cheat and powered the unit on using the compression switch on the headset assembly without putting the phone back together and sure enough… Power! That means I repaired an iPhone by hand. Oh, the pride.
Naturally I went right back to FlexQueen’s website to order a replacement part. To my heart’s delight, they had a the power button at a fairly reasonable price. (It was $3.50 for a button smaller than a dime.. but still, a hard to come by button..) Unfortunately, shipping on this button was a whopping $7.50!
After some thought, I called FlexQueen and explained my situation. Octavio immediately offered to send me my new part for regular price plus a nominal shipping fee. The additional shipping charge was essentially cost + a few pennies just because rounding and adding wasn’t worth the time.
I ordered my button from Octavio at 2:00 PM Friday and the button was in my mailbox Monday morning in a hand addressed envelope. I think Octavio was unable to fulfill the order using the normal ordering system, so he took it upon himself to complete my order by hand!
Needless to say, I was incredibly impressed with FlexQueen’s fulfillment of my order.
Why did I write this review?
But one question remains… Why did I bother to write such an indepth and stellar review of an online company that is smaller than this blog (Seriously… my blog has a higher Google Page Rank than FlexQueen)?
The answer is simple. Inside of my first order was 4 things:
- My ordered headset assembly
- Packing material
- A receipt
- A hand-signed note note
This note was a hand-signed plea from what I can only assume was a proprietor of FlexQueen.com. It read in part:
We sincerely hope you are fully satisified with your purchase and if so please give us a good review. Good reviews are the only way we can compete with Asian distributors that have overhead costs that are so much lower than ours.
So there you have it. FlexQueen gave me a great price on hard to find cell phone parts, shipped it very quickly, and went the extra mile by giving me a reasonable price on additional products I needed that were associated with my original order. In addition to that, they recognized their ‘small-time’ circumstances and sought out positive feedback.
I don’t need cell phone replacement parts very often. In fact, this is only the second time I can think of… but I can guarantee that if and when the occasion arises, I will order from FlexQueen again.
To Octavio and my new friends on FlexQueen/OCESA Manufacturing: I hope this positive review is an adequate ‘Thank You’ for your honest and prompt service.
I purchsed a front screen assembly from flex queen a year or so ago was left holding the bill from the Guy I bought the screen for different story. But the screen I received is not an OEM does not fit well does not match and will soon see if it even works it was fairly priced then when I purchased it which now is double what new screen assemblies cost. Any way I would not recommended buying from flexqueen.com and I will not ever buy anything from them again not quality products.
I found your review by searching flexqueen reviews. I found this site awhile back and have purchased from them several times.
Your review is spot on. Flexqueen.com has never failed to deliver exactly what was ordered (at very low prices) and every question has been answered swiftly. I always email questions and always have answers within an hour or two.
Not only parts, this site has the cheapest SD cards you will find anywhere.
Recommend shopping elsewhere. These guys are a sham at best and never answer the phone or respond to emails. I’ve left 2 VM’s and sent 2 emails in the past 7 days without a response. Grade = F. Buyer beware! Looks like I’m going back to Amazon and eBay – Unless someone else can recommend a legitimate parts source…
I ordered a flex cable from them because my power button stopped working on my nexus one. It arrived in a small box and inside was the flex cable in an unsealed bag with 2 small pieces of paper with civil war print for padding lol. The part didn’t fit my phone and didn’t match the photo on their website. They sent me a shipping label to return the item at their cost, and a paypay refund as well, after I filled out a RMA.
They did me right but I’d never order from them again.
I finally ordered a flex from Hong Kong that was the right one.
I did have to cut off a metal backing plate that was taped on the volume button rocker. Fixing cell phones isn’t exactly fun.
Cons… 2 month time frame through the whole ordeal.
Wrong Part delivered and didn’t match website photo
Flex Queen couldn’t offer what they stated
Baby crying in background when I called customer service
Felt like I was getting hosed
pros… Lost nothing but my time.
You’re the second person to say they had to go to PayPal to get money back. Definitely not a good sign.
I ordered a replacement LCD screen for my LG Sentio cell phone. The price was the cheapest on the web and shipping was reasonable-enough. The shipping method I chose was Air 2-5 Business Days. I thought the shipping method would be by UPS, I wasn’t sure but the box did arrive promptly coming in via Priority Mail (which I like better than UPS.
When I opened the box I was a bit concerned because the LCD was wrapped inside a paper towel and inside the paper towel was a small, unsealed bag contained the LCD. I hadn’t liked that too much thinking the bag should have been sealed. I also was surprised to see the LCD looked older than the one I was replacing. It was the right one at least, but it did look shabby. It had wrinkles in the connector ribbon, wasn’t clean-looking and had fingerprints on the back side. At least the front had a protective film over the LCD.
I was careful to install it. I’ve installed these before along with the digitizer touch panels on top. I’ve never had a problem, but this time when I powered the phone up the LCD had two rows of 1″ lines showing black or dead pixels.
I called the company, had to leave a message and so far it’s been almost a week that no-one has called back. I also sent an email explaining everything and that I’d like a replacement for the defective LCD. I so far haven’t received any reply – been four days, I think, since I sent the email. I logged-onto my Paypal account this morning and filled out a dispute explaining everything once again and that I’d like them to grant an RMA and replace the LCD. To me it’s better than requesting a refund since they might want that 25% re-stocking fee.
I don’t care that the LCD wasn’t new, but they really should consider packaging their sensitive electronic parts better since they’re often NOT new! The bag this LCD came in should have been sealed at least air tight if not inside an anti-static bag (my opinion).
I wonder if Paypal’s email will get the company to reply or if I’ll have to escalate to a claim to get my money back? I really dislike dealing with shady companies that have very few or no reviews online. If Flexqueen doesn’t work with me thru Paypal I’ll certainly donate the first review outside this forum.
I’m interested to hear how the Pay-Pal dispute goes. Will that light some fire and get them to respond? Or will they simply eat the loss? Let us know!
Glad you had a positive experience with Flexqueen…mine was completely the opposite. Ordered a trackball and ring from them. It was shipped within 5 days but did not fit my phone as stated on the website. They answered the phone when I called to inquire about their return process–told me I had to fill out a form on-line. That was the last time I heard from them. No answer to my e-mailed form, no answer for phone messages left, na da…I won’t be shopping with them again. I do believe they are a scam. I sent them good money and they sent me some junk and wouldn’t let me send it back to recoup my loss. If you shop with these people be prepared for a less than positive experience!!! I’m a lady or I would use a lot more expletives to describe how I feel about them…………..
Linda,
Thanks for posting – sucks you had a bad experience.
This is exactly why I wrote this blog article – I couldn’t find any review information for them anywhere, so I figured I’d ‘start’ it. Hopefully we’ll get some more comments on it.
Thanks again. Maybe your comment will encourage them to provide better service? Still feel lucky everything went well for me
Not only that, but I tried to call them 2 days in a row during the times they have listed on their website and it went straight to voicemail everytime.
Wow.
My cellphones screen went out and I ordered a flex cable from them, but when I received, it was not the right one. They had the wrong info and title up and it was very misleading. Then after they shipped me the wrong flex cable, they changed the title of the flex cable I ordered to the older model of the cellphone I had. They don’t even have my cellphones flex cable on their website. And now, if I want to return the flex cable, I’ll get charged shipping and handling and a 25% restocking fee all because they had a misleading title for a flex cable. I will not be ordering from them again.
Oh wow. Talk about the opposite experience. Thanks for sharing your comment here.
Give me an update on whether they make good on the error or not!
I emailed them after the calls didn’t work. They emailed back saying to fill out an RMA form and ship the flex cable back to them. I don’t wanna deal with the hassle of paying for shipping and the 25% restocking fee and decided not to return the item. But I will never shop their again.
P.S. I even looked at the receipt that came with the flex cable and it says the flex cable is for my model of the phone, when clearly, it is NOT.
Good for you for fixing a cell phone! Lord knows that they make it hard for you to hold onto old technology.
What a refreshing article! Too often we hear complaints about something, but rarely do we take the time to praise a company for great service. Thank you and good to know their is such a company and also someone taking the time to post something positive.