I Went Out on a Limb & Scored an Incredible Deal!

An Amazing Deal That Could Have Gone Wrong

I write about a lot of deals on Miles to Memories with excitement. One thing that I don’t always point out is the effort I make to only post things from reputable merchants who I personally have experience with. The last thing I want to do is steer you into a disaster.

While there are a ton of reputable companies on the internet and a ton of scam companies on the internet, there are a group that sort of sit in the middle. These companies sometimes have terrible customer service or the products they sell aren’t of the best quality. They aren’t really scammers, but they aren’t reliable either.

One of those merchants in the past was NoMoreRack.com. This website had a notoriously bad reputation in the deals space, which is probably why they changed their name to Choxi. About a week ago I came across a thread on Slickdeals regarding a deal on the Samsung Galaxy S6 on Choxi.

A Galaxy S6 At An Incredible Price

Choxi was selling the Galaxy S6 (International Unlocked version) for $575, but they were holding a site wide sale. By using a promo code the price was dropped to $460. The Galaxy S6 is a relatively new phone and the cheapest price I have ever seen was $529.99 as part of an eBay daily deal.  This was a fantastic price.

Just as I was considering this, people started posting about all of their bad experiences with this company. Additionally, Chinese manufacturers are flooding the market with knockoff Galaxy S6 phones. The thread got a ton of thumbs down and I started to doubt the deal. After all, when something is this far below the normal price then something is normally wrong.

I went back and forth on this for a couple of hours and read the listing 3 times to make sure it said brand new, etc. There ultimately was 1 thing that put me over the top. I found that Saving Star was offering 18% cashback for new Choxi customers. Since I was a new customer, that meant my final price would be $377.20! I even triple checked to make sure a promo code wouldn’t invalidate the cashback.

Pulling the Trigger

While my immediate thought with great deals is to buy some extra for resale, I decided that wasn’t wise in this case. I did want the phone for myself though, so I decided to screenshot everything and purchase the phone with my Amex Business Platinum card. Since I am meeting the minimum spend it made sense, plus if anything went wrong I decided that I would just let Amex deal with it.

So I placed the order and waited for the phone to come. I knew I would receive something, but would it be new and worse yet, would it be a fake?!? I also was a little worried about the portal cashback tracking properly. Well things have turned out well, for the most part.

A Phone & Cashback

The phone did come the other day and I studied it to see if it was a fake. After watching a few YouTube videos of fakes, I did determine this was the real deal. The phone came sealed in its box as well with a legitmate warranty card and everything. In other words, it was as described.

The 2nd part of this transaction was the 18% portal cashback. Unfortunately on that front I have good and bad news. The good news is cashback posted, however it only shows $57.50. Since 18% of $460 is $82.80, I have been shorted $25.30. I did contact Saving Star a few days ago and have yet to hear back. I plan to inquire again.

Takeaways

Of course in hindsight I wish I had ordered more phones, but there are a few other things I learned from this. If you read that Slickdeals thread you will notice that almost no one went through a portal. Big mistake. Unfortunately Slickdeals doesn’t allow portals to be mentioned on their site, so it is up to you to do the research yourself. ALWAYS research portal opportunities.

Also, I learned that I really trust Amex. Based on my past experiences with them, I had no doubt that they would have made me whole had this turned out to be a fake. So many people complained about issues with their money being tied up at Choxi, but I knew this wouldn’t happen with Amex. While I didn’t need them this time, I do like having that confidence. Hopefully they never let me down.

Finally, I am a little disappointed that the cashback didn’t track correctly, but I have faith that too will be fixed. Since I have screenshots of everything, my 18% claim should be easy to prove. Even if things stand as they are now, I only paid $402.50 for a phone that retails for more than $600.

Conclusion

I’m sorry for not sharing this amazing deal with you, but I just wasn’t comfortable. This time it turned out good for me, but this is a reminder to always be diligent and to document everything. In a perfect world all orders go perfectly, but we know that doesn’t happen. By choosing which card to use and documenting everything, you can enjoy a deal and be protected if it turns out rotten.

Disclosure: Miles to Memories has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Miles to Memories and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers.

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