iPad Mini: Sena UltraSlim Case Warning: DO NOT BUY for iPad Mini

[shenan1982]

So I preordered the $60 Sena UltraSlim Case for the iPad Mini back on November 7th, and they finally shipped it December 27.

I received the case this week and was shocked and appalled at the product design. They decided to put 2 magnets, which i can only describe as a marble cut in half, and imbedded them into the leather.

When I opened it, my first reaction was surprise, thinking it was flaws in the leather, they're literally two significant lumps. I thought maybe the cow they got the leather from had moles and they got passed QC.

The design is absolutely unacceptable, as it breaks the plane of the surface, meaning if you were to put a book or something on top of the case, and it were to take an impact, the two hard objects embedded in the leather would act as an assistant to damaging the device.

I have never seen anything like this. It literally looks like there are marbles under there.

So naturally I called Sena. They said they've been getting calls on the case, but the larger magnets were to turn off the screen. I'm not sure why a sleeve needs magnets since the purpose of a case isn't open and close like a book cover case. Anyhow. So they are defensive and say they realize they're big and lumpy, but it is what it is. I explained that the case does NOT look like the smooth, flat surface they show on their website. I sent the guy a picture of the case and he said "yeah that's bad".

So I asked for a return\refund. They refuse to refund the shipping I paid them, and they refuse to cover the return shipping, even though it was a gross misrepresentation of the product on their website. So now it'll cost me half the product's value to return it... that's quite poor of their customer service.

So my advice to all of you... DO NOT BUY. In fact, this experience has caused me to now discontinue further buying things from Sena. Their product quality keeps going downhill, and it's taken their customer service with it. I have been loyal for years, but no longer.

[Jman13]

Wow, thanks for the heads up. Any pictures to share?

[normwood]

Sorry, love mine. You are being overly anal and a drama queen to boot....in my opinion. It is a sleeve....not art.

It is a nice looking sleeve that adds the sleep / wake function....which I don't recall seeing in any other sleeve.

Just my $0.02

Steve

[shenan1982]

Originally Posted by normwood

Sorry, love mine. You are being overly anal and a drama queen to boot....in my opinion. It is a sleeve....not art.

It is a nice looking sleeve that adds the sleep / wake function....which I don't recall seeing in any other sleeve.

Just my $0.02

Steve

You should just come out and admit that you work for Sena. Even the Sena customer service agent said he thought callers (who are all calling in and complaining) were being dramatic, so he went to their shipping facility to see the case and was shocked. You do realize that a consumer paying $60 for a friggin sleeve does have a right to have a little satisfaction in the purchase, right?

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Originally Posted by Jman13

Wow, thanks for the heads up. Any pictures to share?

I sent it back already, it's garbage.

[normwood]

Originally Posted by shenan1982

You should just come out and admit that you work for Sena. Even the Sena customer service agent said he thought callers (who are all calling in and complaining) were being dramatic, so he went to their shipping facility to see the case and was shocked. You do realize that a consumer paying $60 for a friggin sleeve does have a right to have a little satisfaction in the purchase, right?

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I sent it back already, it's garbage.

I do not work for Sena.

You do have a right to be satisfied but you will be hard pressed to find an online retailer who is going to refund shipping going and coming because you are not satisfied or changed your mind. That costs companies money which in the end make the products more expensive for everyone.

I'll admit that the magnets are very obvious but I'm not sure it warrants telling the world not to buy it just because it is a turn-off for you.

Again...my $0.02.

Steve

[shenan1982]

Originally Posted by normwood

I do not work for Sena.

You do have a right to be satisfied but you will be hard pressed to find an online retailer who is going to refund shipping going and coming because you are not satisfied or changed your mind. That costs companies money which in the end make the products more expensive for everyone.

I'll admit that the magnets are very obvious but I'm not sure it warrants telling the world not to buy it just because it is a turn-off for you.

Again...my $0.02.

Steve

If the photo showed two half-sized marble magnet lumps portuding from the front like the product has, I would have never ordered. They have the responsibility to either post an accurate picture, or deal with the fallout from misrepresentation.

[normwood]

Originally Posted by shenan1982

If the photo showed two half-sized marble magnet lumps portuding from the front like the product has, I would have never ordered. They have the responsibility to either post an accurate picture, or deal with the fallout from misrepresentation.

Okay, you have a valid point.

Steve

Okay, I went and looked at the photos on Sena's page again.

I agree that they are not at all an accurate representation of the delivered product.

Still, I think you could post photos of what yours looks like and let people make a choice on their own rather than just telling them not to buy the product. To some people it might not make that big of deal. I personally will keep mine, but I am disappointed that I was a little mislead. If they wanted to do the sleep/wake feature I'm not sure I could suggest a better way to do it.

I sent Sena a comment through the web page letting them know they should consider making the photo more representative of the final product to avoid the inevitable complaints.

Steve



This is about as ugly of an angle I could take. Looking at it straight on it doesn't look this bad.

Steve

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One more.

Steve

[DarkAether]

That is ugly. Overly dramatic or not, I'm with the OP that Sena bombed on this one. They came up with an inelegant solution to a non-problem. I've not heard the masses clamoring for auto on/off sleeves. Even so, every other case manufacturer seems to have used ultra-thin magnets in their folios that are undetectable.

[bigjim83]

I don't want my sleve to have nipples. Thanks for the heads up I won't be spending that kind of money on this

[shenan1982]

Originally Posted by normwood

Okay, you have a valid point.

Steve

Okay, I went and looked at the photos on Sena's page again.

I agree that they are not at all an accurate representation of the delivered product.

Still, I think you could post photos of what yours looks like and let people make a choice on their own rather than just telling them not to buy the product. To some people it might not make that big of deal. I personally will keep mine, but I am disappointed that I was a little mislead. If they wanted to do the sleep/wake feature I'm not sure I could suggest a better way to do it.

I sent Sena a comment through the web page letting them know they should consider making the photo more representative of the final product to avoid the inevitable complaints.

Steve

Image

This is about as ugly of an angle I could take. Looking at it straight on it doesn't look this bad.

Steve

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Image

One more.

Steve

Thanks for posting the pics for others to see. I'm usually not super picky, but I just have to do a correlation between price and aesthetics, and on this one it's a high price and the "nipples" make is visually unappealing.

I just think it's strange they chose to do the magnets, given that it's a sleeve, not a book-style case where a magnet is going to be useful.

[ZipZap]

Originally Posted by normwood

Sorry, love mine. You are being overly anal and a drama queen to boot....in my opinion. It is a sleeve....not art.

It is a nice looking sleeve that adds the sleep / wake function....which I don't recall seeing in any other sleeve.

Just my $0.02

Steve

Keep your 2 cents.

A sleeve should not have magnets. There is NO way to add them without them being blaring and obvious.

Of late the OP comments jibe with my experience with them.

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Originally Posted by normwood

I do not work for Sena.

You do have a right to be satisfied but you will be hard pressed to find an online retailer who is going to refund shipping going and coming because you are not satisfied or changed your mind. That costs companies money which in the end make the products more expensive for everyone.

I'll admit that the magnets are very obvious but I'm not sure it warrants telling the world not to buy it just because it is a turn-off for you.

Again...my $0.02.

Steve

Again, keep you're 2 cents.

If the delivered product is different than was advertised then burden of the shipping cost (both ways) falls to the vendor.

To the OP, if you can dispute the charge and have the credit card company see what they can do.

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Originally Posted by normwood

Okay, you have a valid point.

Steve

Okay, I went and looked at the photos on Sena's page again.

I agree that they are not at all an accurate representation of the delivered product.

Still, I think you could post photos of what yours looks like and let people make a choice on their own rather than just telling them not to buy the product. To some people it might not make that big of deal. I personally will keep mine, but I am disappointed that I was a little mislead. If they wanted to do the sleep/wake feature I'm not sure I could suggest a better way to do it.

I sent Sena a comment through the web page letting them know they should consider making the photo more representative of the final product to avoid the inevitable complaints.

Steve

Image

This is about as ugly of an angle I could take. Looking at it straight on it doesn't look this bad.

Steve

----------

Image

One more.

Steve

MAYBE, you could have investigated before you posted your frivolous comments??

All of your posts have added no value here.

[shenan1982]

Originally Posted by ZipZap

A sleeve should not have magnets. There is NO way to add them without them being blaring and obvious.

If the delivered product is different than was advertised then burden of the shipping cost (both ways) falls to the vendor.

To the OP, if you can dispute the charge and have the credit card company see what they can do.[COLOR="#808080"]

So the payment is a whole different story, which adds fuel to the fire in my opinion. So there's a company called OrderBorder, which is listed as a "partner" of Sena. They sell gift certificates to SenaCases dot com for up to 50% off. I bought one and used it on this, so Sena says they can't even refund back to a "gift certificate" and that I should talk to OrderBorder, and OrderBorder says talk to Sena. Nobody wants to help.

The super shady part is in investigating OrderBorder, they share the same physical street address in Irvine, CA.. so it's clearly the two companies working together.

I'm just going to try and make them spend time dealing with this, so will be opening a credit card dispute (since I paid for the shipping on my credit card), as well as a BBB complaint (so they must respond), and then a complaint with the Dept of Consumer Affairs for product marketing misrepresentation.

I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place on this one unfortunately. :-(

[normwood]

Originally Posted by shenan1982

Thanks for posting the pics for others to see. I'm usually not super picky, but I just have to do a correlation between price and aesthetics, and on this one it's a high price and the "nipples" make is visually unappealing.

I just think it's strange they chose to do the magnets, given that it's a sleeve, not a book-style case where a magnet is going to be useful.

Shenan1982

I apologize for my initial responses. They were out of line.

You have every right to have and voice your opinion.

ZipZap

You're pretty much right.

Steve

[shenan1982]

Originally Posted by normwood

Shenan1982

I apologize for my initial responses. They were out of line.

You have every right to have and voice your opinion.

ZipZap

You're pretty much right.

Steve

No worries, often times people tend to complain about minor issues (cough cough iPad Mini, lol), and I've been guilty of the same, so it's easy to dismiss complaints. This one is just bad, and the way Sena is handling it isn't good. :-(

[Evil B]

I just received mine here in the UK and although they don't protrude anywhere as much as yours do I can imagine that over it,e the situation will only get worse. What concerns me is that what if the thin velvet lining wears around the magnet and they start scraping on the screen!

I love the case though so think I am going to take a scalpel and make 2 small slits inside the sleeve to remove each magnet. I'll post my results when complete

[Evil B]

Right, just for anyone who is interested. As I said I really like sena cases and there are not many decent alternatives so I am going to attempt to remove the magnets myself as Sena aren't being too helpful. I contacted them, mainly because I feel they should be aware that customers are not happy and act on this. They were very abrupt with me and basically just said send it back if that's what you want.

I thought I would give removing the magnets a go. Firstly I gently turned the whole case inside out and located the magnets. I took abrand new sharp scalpel blade and made 2 small slits at the bottom side of the magnets. This is when I found out that they are glued down! I then used the blade to gently scrape away the glue. If you try this you need to be extremely carefully and take your time as you don't want to slice through to the leather. Repeat the process for the second one and gently press the lining back down, turn the case out and that's it. Took about 15mins and now looks how it should.

I'll post some photos but I am on my mobile so will have to post them separately.

[Evil B]

The sleeve inside out

[Evil B]

Small slits under the magnets

[Evil B]

Removed

[Evil B]

No nipples! Hopefully this will help someone. (Sorry for the dodgy uploads doing this from my mobile and it keeps rotating the photos)

[shenan1982]

Originally Posted by Evil B

No nipples! Hopefully this will help someone. (Sorry for the dodgy uploads doing this from my mobile and it keeps rotating the photos)

While I give you kudos for the effort you spent on this, I think it's terrible that someone would have to go through this to have a usable case. Sena lost my business over this whole deal.

[normwood]

I posted here earlier that I had made a comment through Sena's website that their photos were not an accurate representation of the final product. Here is the response I got yesterday:

Update for Case #84191 - "Sena Slim for iPad Mini"

Hello Stephen,

Thank you for the feedback.

You are actually only the second person to comment on this issue.

But I will forward this to our product development team and web designers to see about a change in the photos.


Sincerely,


Jonathan H.

[shenan1982]

Originally Posted by normwood

I posted here earlier that I had made a comment through Sena's website that their photos were not an accurate representation of the final product. Here is the response I got yesterday:

Funny Jonathan H. (Phone support as well) told me that he'd been inundated with calls, both praising, and complaining about the magnet lumps. My question is this... why would anyone call to compliment the magnetic lumps? Nobody calls customer support for that.

Firthermore, his manager, Christian P., agreed that they looked different and that they've been passing along feedback and complaints about the magnets to product development.

Sena has become one big mess of an example of how NOT to treat your customers.

[senacustmrsrvce]

1. Sena Cases issued a prepaid return label for the case for this customer.It was acknowleged as received, prior to reading this post.

2. We are listening to all customer feedback regarding this product.

3. This is not a defective item, and product development is aware the magnets are visible. We will take the necessary steps to make sure our customers are aware of them as well.

4. We will update our website to reflect the presence of these magnets in photos.

5. We stand behind our service team, and dedication to our customers.

Thank you.

Sena Cases

[LaymansDomain]

Thanks OP, I appreciate the honesty.