China and Hong Kong post are the same type of service, just depends on where the package is shipping from either mainland china (shenzen, guandong, guanzhou etc) or out of hong kong...usually this service is about 10-14 working days to north america
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Fake Vapor Pro Reviews
- Thread starter Jongo1
- Start date
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I just had a long chat with Jacky.
Basically I had an issue with one the case where one of the screws lost its threading and wouldn't tighten in properly.
He/she resolved my issues by either sending new screws, or the part of the frame that is an issue or I was still not satisfied, then pay my return shipping costs as well. This my friend, I believe is good customer service.
She also informed me that element case bitched/complained a ton about her store and basically Aliexpress removed all element/vapor cases from her store and probably other as well.
Frakkking element case! They have over priced cases that cost 3/4 price of the phone, bad customer service and prevent these chinese sellers from letting us try this case for a fraction of the price.
Anyways, she said shes getting a new order of the Vapor comp later this week and she may put it up for sale.
FYI im talking about Jacky Nie (http://www.aliexpress.com/fm-store/903974)
Basically I had an issue with one the case where one of the screws lost its threading and wouldn't tighten in properly.
He/she resolved my issues by either sending new screws, or the part of the frame that is an issue or I was still not satisfied, then pay my return shipping costs as well. This my friend, I believe is good customer service.
She also informed me that element case bitched/complained a ton about her store and basically Aliexpress removed all element/vapor cases from her store and probably other as well.
Frakkking element case! They have over priced cases that cost 3/4 price of the phone, bad customer service and prevent these chinese sellers from letting us try this case for a fraction of the price.
Anyways, she said shes getting a new order of the Vapor comp later this week and she may put it up for sale.
FYI im talking about Jacky Nie (http://www.aliexpress.com/fm-store/903974)
^^ thats because they realized the factories that they have contracted to making the cases are making more money selling it to these other vendors 🙂
Come on, be real, do you think Element's cost per case is $50? Heck no. There are starting to be a lot of "designer" cases like element's. They really should think about lowering their price in order to capture more of the market. Right now, they are pricing their product way out of many people's price point, and I bet most of the earlier adoptors are having Buyer's remorse about buying a $5 piece of machined metal for $150.
I dont know who is doing their marketing research, but they need to realize they will have more people buying at $50, which might reduce their net per piece but increase their overall ROI.
Come on, be real, do you think Element's cost per case is $50? Heck no. There are starting to be a lot of "designer" cases like element's. They really should think about lowering their price in order to capture more of the market. Right now, they are pricing their product way out of many people's price point, and I bet most of the earlier adoptors are having Buyer's remorse about buying a $5 piece of machined metal for $150.
I dont know who is doing their marketing research, but they need to realize they will have more people buying at $50, which might reduce their net per piece but increase their overall ROI.
RobT
macrumors 6502a
I posted on Saturday about receiving my Black Ops case and just want to give a quick update.
First, I haven't noticed a signal degradation...seems to work fine. No problems using GPS so far either.
However, I did run into an issue with the fit. I mentioned the case was not loose when I put it on...and this was true. Case was not loose at all for the first 8 or so hours I used it. Then, later Saturday night, I noticed the case was loose in the top right and lower right corners where I could move my iPhone 4s a little. I figured this was screws coming loose so I tried tightening them but that didn't work at all.
I took off the case and checked to see if I could find out what happened, to no avail. Obviously something changed but I'm still not really sure what happened. The rubber pieces that are on the corners of the case are still there and seem fine.
So, I looked for something I could do to correct this without going out and buying felt or something like that. I ended up cutting a piece off of the sticky part of a post-it note that I had and put a piece on each of the two loose corners. This essentially added padding and the sticky part of the note held it in place long enough to put the case back on. I have to say, so far it works great! Can't see the modification and case fits nice and tight now. And, it's holding up fine so far.
I know I shouldn't have to go through all this and the case just ought to fit right, however, I don't want to go through the process of getting it exchanged. I like the case a lot so I don't want to return it either.
First, I haven't noticed a signal degradation...seems to work fine. No problems using GPS so far either.
However, I did run into an issue with the fit. I mentioned the case was not loose when I put it on...and this was true. Case was not loose at all for the first 8 or so hours I used it. Then, later Saturday night, I noticed the case was loose in the top right and lower right corners where I could move my iPhone 4s a little. I figured this was screws coming loose so I tried tightening them but that didn't work at all.
I took off the case and checked to see if I could find out what happened, to no avail. Obviously something changed but I'm still not really sure what happened. The rubber pieces that are on the corners of the case are still there and seem fine.
So, I looked for something I could do to correct this without going out and buying felt or something like that. I ended up cutting a piece off of the sticky part of a post-it note that I had and put a piece on each of the two loose corners. This essentially added padding and the sticky part of the note held it in place long enough to put the case back on. I have to say, so far it works great! Can't see the modification and case fits nice and tight now. And, it's holding up fine so far.
I know I shouldn't have to go through all this and the case just ought to fit right, however, I don't want to go through the process of getting it exchanged. I like the case a lot so I don't want to return it either.
zman2100
macrumors regular
For me I think that is perfectly fine considering we have all saved $120+ by ordering one that might require slight modification like what you did.
I completely agree. Besides the price point, elements customer service is horrible. I ordered my first case initially for iphone 4, they charged me on day 1, but the case took 3 months to ship, no communication, no replies to any of my emails in the time frame and when i did finally get it, it had a sharp scratched off aluminum coming off from one of the edges near the speaker cutout. I returned it right away and had to wait an additional month to get my refund.
This is why I am more comfortable spending 20-30 on a case, and great customer service to do whatever it takes to make me happy.
Haha, I think that they are a smaller company that just has a few products out. They dont own any warehouses or production plants -In order to keep overhead down. They do have great thinkers that produces their products on CAD.
Not trying to diss their company, because I do think it is a great company structure. Smaller companies are making more than some bigger companies these days, so especially in a recession, this is a great thing.
They are living the dream in a sense. Produce something that costs $5-$10, sell it for $150 and they only need to sell 40-50 of them a MONTH to be highly profitable.
Not trying to diss their company, because I do think it is a great company structure. Smaller companies are making more than some bigger companies these days, so especially in a recession, this is a great thing.
They are living the dream in a sense. Produce something that costs $5-$10, sell it for $150 and they only need to sell 40-50 of them a MONTH to be highly profitable.
zman2100
macrumors regular
Just ordered a Blue/Silver Vapor Pro from Jacky Lin. Hopefully it'll be a good quality case. Jacky has been very good so far through the ordering process and has promptly responded to any questions I've had.
After pointing this out
Element is realizing that they are getting taken as pointed out.
But it was a good run on this thread. I think if we did not post the links so much we would still be getting the knockoffs. We just made it more accessible for someone that works for element or someone that just has a problem with people not buying it the right way.
From know on I think we should keep the links and the places to small pms across the board so that when we do find more we don't loose our chances
You can still buy them, but not through aliexpress. It will have to be privately through paypal.
I dont know about you guys but ... these cases are STILL on aliexpress....
http://www.aliexpress.com/fm-store/312505
http://www.aliexpress.com/fm-store/312505
I don't think elementcase can do anything....
check ebay completed auction....people are buying them for $75 for the fake ones.... they should worry about the folks selling them on eBay as they can end those auction more easily.
I'm so glad that I paid only $25 to test them out. I gotta admit...my first impression when I held onto the case, I was like "I can't believe elementcase selling this for $150". It felt so light...so plastic-like... I can buy the top of the line wireless router for $150 and it has so many electronic components to justify it. LOL... I gotta admit...elementcase is doing something well because they got so many people buying them for $150.
Personally, I think they should price it at around $75-$100 for their top of the line. I would buy one from them at that price....
check ebay completed auction....people are buying them for $75 for the fake ones.... they should worry about the folks selling them on eBay as they can end those auction more easily.
I'm so glad that I paid only $25 to test them out. I gotta admit...my first impression when I held onto the case, I was like "I can't believe elementcase selling this for $150". It felt so light...so plastic-like... I can buy the top of the line wireless router for $150 and it has so many electronic components to justify it. LOL... I gotta admit...elementcase is doing something well because they got so many people buying them for $150.
Personally, I think they should price it at around $75-$100 for their top of the line. I would buy one from them at that price....
I just got my white version from simon and everything came as expected.
Finish: 6/10 inconsistent application of the paint and some areas that look just poorly prepped.
Initial Fit: 4/10, it was loose and required some "modification"
Final Fit: 8/10, after some sanding of the joints where there was paint and just machined to the wrong spec it all fits nice and snug now.
for 25bucks its a decent deal and I won't cry over the flaws that it came with as they are pretty easily rectified but if you're a nitpicker and expect perfection I would reccommend you spend the big bucks for the real deal or hope the alleged new versions are better.
In the grand scheme of things though after months of usage the case is gonna look pretty beat up anyways, now I await for my luckylabs white carbon texture wrap to finish the whole thing up.
pics cuz everybody likes pics.
Finish: 6/10 inconsistent application of the paint and some areas that look just poorly prepped.
Initial Fit: 4/10, it was loose and required some "modification"
Final Fit: 8/10, after some sanding of the joints where there was paint and just machined to the wrong spec it all fits nice and snug now.
for 25bucks its a decent deal and I won't cry over the flaws that it came with as they are pretty easily rectified but if you're a nitpicker and expect perfection I would reccommend you spend the big bucks for the real deal or hope the alleged new versions are better.
In the grand scheme of things though after months of usage the case is gonna look pretty beat up anyways, now I await for my luckylabs white carbon texture wrap to finish the whole thing up.
pics cuz everybody likes pics.
For the pple that are saying their cases are loose. Do you have padding on the all aluminum piece where it meets the RF insert (plastic)? Mines was loose also until I cut a piece of padding from another area and put it on the bottom left piece next to the rf insert.
By the way I got my black ops from Jacky Nie and after adding this padding it fits fine.
Well I put in my order today with Jacky Lin, so fingers crossed...
Ordered a Vapor Pro Red/Black, and also the Black Ops version...
Like I said before if Element Cases actually sold these for $50 then I would buy from them. This other pricing is too good to pass up...
Ordered a Vapor Pro Red/Black, and also the Black Ops version...
Like I said before if Element Cases actually sold these for $50 then I would buy from them. This other pricing is too good to pass up...
ansabakhan
macrumors 65816
Good lucky buddy. Shipping to the states would be $$ so most people would be better off just buying from china
Mine had padding there but like I said in my post the RF insert needed a quick sanding along with the other joint as they were milled too long. Now its tight as can be, no extra padding required.
RobT
macrumors 6502a
Hope it works out for you. Even if you have to "mod" the cases to make sure they fit tightly, they're great and they are cheaper than an Apple bumper. And to be sure, they are much much better than an Apple bumper.
Got my Black Ops case from Jacky Nie today. I ordered 11/02 and received it 11/14. I opted for the standard free China Post shipping method. I am ridiculously impressed with the quality of this case. Color/finish is flawless, fit is flawless, I CANNOT see how the "real/authentic" Element case could be better. The ONLY issue I found was that the foam pad in the corner closest to the headphone jack was a little too long and protruded out so it could be seen/somewhat obstructed the headphone jack. A quick slit with an exacto knife fixed that problem. For a seamless fit, I suggest placing the 2 frame pieces on the phone, put all 4 screws in an tighten only 1/2 way, align the 2 frame pieces so everything is lined up perfectly, hold tightly together with your hand, then tighten all 4 screws the rest of the way. Just snug it up, don't over tighten! If you're worried about it coming loose, you could always put a tiny drop of BLUE (NOT red) thread locker on the screws' threads. But I wouldn't bother... FWIW I have a Verizon iPhone 4S (Black), NO antenna band wrap, and just an ugly Zagg invisible shield front screen protector.
Here's some pics:
Here's a couple pics of the only "issue" I found and the solution:
Here's some pics:
Here's a couple pics of the only "issue" I found and the solution:
iz2sick
macrumors 6502
Just an update to my review.
My case has started to show wear in the paint on the edges. Edges as in the contours of the case. Really, doesn't look bad though. If it goes completely aluminum along these edges, it might actually look nice haha.
Also, I found another loose spot. Not sure how that happened as it didn't shake there before. I have been taking it off and on a ton because I filed the plastic joint.
I simply peeled part of the longer pieces of foam on the other side and cut out a portion of it. I added that to the loose side. So yea, you can totally trim that longer foam piece that's on the plastic side behind the vapor pro lettering and use it for the other side. This way, you don't need to search or buy a separate foam/felt piece.
My case has started to show wear in the paint on the edges. Edges as in the contours of the case. Really, doesn't look bad though. If it goes completely aluminum along these edges, it might actually look nice haha.
Also, I found another loose spot. Not sure how that happened as it didn't shake there before. I have been taking it off and on a ton because I filed the plastic joint.
I simply peeled part of the longer pieces of foam on the other side and cut out a portion of it. I added that to the loose side. So yea, you can totally trim that longer foam piece that's on the plastic side behind the vapor pro lettering and use it for the other side. This way, you don't need to search or buy a separate foam/felt piece.
Pez555
macrumors 68020
Yea my red/silver has started to become a bit loose around the plastic insert. Subsequently switched to the blue/silver which has a tighter fit. In fact it is such a great fit i cant see any of the antenna which is quite apparent with my other vapor's.
They are great cases but i have started looking elsewhere now, particularly at the SWORD cases (see the thread). They just look more sleek and i am starting to miss the naked feel (lol) of my iPhone.
They are great cases but i have started looking elsewhere now, particularly at the SWORD cases (see the thread). They just look more sleek and i am starting to miss the naked feel (lol) of my iPhone.