PART XIX:
HOW DID I OVERCOME THE BLUES WHEN I BOUGHT MY CAR’S BLUE TOOTH RECEIVER?
I have a weakness, generally I never remember the roads or routes.
God’s grace, my wife remembers well and that compensates - of course whenever she is with me
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Now, at Chennai the routes are diverted without any prior intimation due to the Metro project. So being afraid of late evening traffic, we decided to hire a call taxi and went for shopping.
Only pick up and drop as waiting would be a waste of money and also our mind will be unnecessarily more on waiting duration than shopping. So for return, we thought of booking later.
Shopping almost completed.
We booked again well before coming out of the mall and, got a call within 25 minutes to say that the driver was on the way.
We came down and searching for the car, found no response. I felt it very bad as I was standing outside with my family. Tried many times but the driver was not responding.
I have decided to call him finally one more time and I could hear the driver’s voice in a noisy environment.
He said, “I was caught by police while talking to you over mobile phone and I can’t come & pick up you”
I was really pity about the guy. I felt that now a days taxis should have blue tooth enabled GPS navigators.
It made to feel that first I should buy a simple car blue tooth receiver, at least.
My search began:
It should be -
Flawless reception and acceptable audio quality.
Look good, easily pair able with mobile & fixable in the car.
Battery duration at least for 2 weeks.
And low priced.
The market is flooded with such sets, some are very expensive like ‘Parrot’ brand, some are manufactured by reputed brand like ‘Nokia’ , ‘Blaupunkt ’ and some are really cheap- but do not know whether reliable?.
There are some models like ‘
AD2P- Bluetooth music audio stereo receiver for car aux in home stereo speaker’ for us to make use of our car speakers. I did not try it for two reasons, one my AUX input is inside the HU box and, secondly I was afraid of interference. Some can be mounted on the steering wheel, which I felt might interfere my steering the car.
One thing I found out that whether it is an expensive or cheaper one, all most all are manufactured in China.
One should not think that China means poor quality. Many international reputed manufactures like SONY, PANASONIC, and HEWLETT PACKARD and even our AJANTA CLOCK etc. have their base at China on cost factor and, their quality control ensures creditability of the product. Some of the native Chinese products are also good and some sellers buy in bulk and re-brand it in their name - such Indian mobile phone brands you would have noticed in our market.
One type of car blue tooth set is very popular in internet and cheap, customer review of that piece was also good in various online sites like DX, AE, eBay etc.,
I have ordered from AE.
I checked after 15 days, whether it had left China and the tracking showed no sign of receipt at China customs ware house.
I contacted the seller. The blues … problems started.
He wrote me back that something went wrong and the item got returned from their customs. So he agreed to send me a new one and gave me a new tracking number.
40 days over – I did not receive the set.
Every time when communicated about the delay to the seller, he really responded politely and extended the receiving time 15 days to make me to wait more.
50 days over- Seller understood my disappointment and offered to return the money but he told me that I should pay back him if the item received by me later.
Understanding his honesty, I agreed to wait more and did not ask for refund.
At China itself it took more than a month for clearance.
At last the tracking showed that it arrived in India but indicated ‘Retention Reason – OTHERS’, pending customs clearance.
60 days over, I received a mail from the seller that it was very well in India and requested me to try with custom authority.
I know, going to our customs would cost me indirectly (conveyance for me & convenience for them!) and it would exceed the value of the item I have purchased. So I left it.
75 days over, I did not get it. I contacted the seller and told him that I cannot wait further and requested him to return my money.
He returned the full money # US $14.90 (I have given below the snap shot of his letter while he returned the money), and in fact it was more than the amount I paid to him, as the dollar value got increased!!
After almost one month in our Chennai customs office, I received the packet. The original packing was opened for their analysis and repacked in a black carry bag type cover, tied by jute (!), fixed with custom seal and wrapped with a note ‘ cleared / custom duty nil ’
I thought the way they handled the set would make it useless.
I had to face all these hardships because the package included an electronic receiver & a battery as some radio signal transmitters are restricted by Indian customs for import.
Fortunately, nothing happened and the set really works well as expected in every aspect.
My conscious told that I should honor such seller and pay back the money. I contacted the seller through his mail address, but unfortunately he left the online market and no response from him so far.
Few lines about the product: The set is simple, effective and I am really satisfied. It got paired easily with my Samsung Galaxy note- II. I just switch on BT signal in the mobile before get into the car. I switch on the receiver and drive. If phone call comes, the BT receiver indicates by a voice message and allow to hear the call and talk to the caller. It gets automatically switched off, when BT signal moves away, after coming out of the car. My driving distance is very less & for few phone calls, the battery lasts for more than 3 weeks. I remove the set & charge through my computer USB port. Battery gets charged fast. Cigar socket high power charger also given along with the set. The clip is strong, holds the phone with the sun visor flap firmly.
Of course, if you want to try it, you need not under go all the hardship that I underwent, as the cost is still cheaper now and at present it is very well available in India, for a lowest possible price of Rs. 990/- @ eBay.in
One word of caution, if you get more personal /private call, then the BT receiver is not a good choice unless you are alone in the car; everyone will hear your conversation
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All the very best to you!
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