One of Indonesia’s largest mobile phone retailers offers a large selection of cell phones for international customers, without contract obligations. Customers in the US can order hard to find phones from Grakomindo and still choose from most carriers.
Grakomindo is a sharp and well organized website that features a huge selection of Nokia, Motorola, and Samsung (among other) phones. Especially enticing about Grakomindo’s selection is that they have even typically hard to find mobiles like the Apple iPhone and Nokia N96. Most of the phones being offered at Grakomindo are tri-band, meaning they can be used in Europe and the US as well as in most other countries around the world.
Here in the US, cell phones are usually exclusive to a particular carrier, and to get the phone you want you need to sign a 1-2 year contract with a company you may not want to do business with. Grakomindo’s prices are typically much higher than buying cell phones tied to a plan (for you US customers) and you’ll have to decide if the trade-off for a select phone is worth it. Grakomindo offers a 90 day return policy, minus a 5% restocking fee on all orders. Their specific return rules are a bit tricky and I’d contact the company before purchasing.
This is a sponsored review of Grakomindo.
Grakomindo.com is a scam! Please, whatever you do do not make the same mistake I made. I ordered two phones back on the 18th and sent the money for them on the 20th. For some reason the merchant only takes bank wire transfer, and for some reason I fell for it. Anyway, during the time (2 days) it took me to get over to my bank I noticed that the price on one of the phones dropped about 25 bucks. I asked the sales rep if I could pay the new price instead of the one on my invoice. He obliged and I sent the money. After sending him a copy of the wire transfer receipt he told me that it takes up to three days sometimes to complete the transfer. I waited patiently till the 28th to send him another email. And this is when my experience turned bad. He told me that he was confused and still hadn’t received my transfer, and wanted me to check with my bank. I had my bank perform a trace and sure enough it was processed on the 20th. (same day) Now, after sending numerous emails to “Halim Ansari/Daniel Kristanto” I get no reply. Please don’t make the same mistake I made.
Hi Braden,
I’m sorry to hear about your bad experience, but glad you brought it to my and my readers’ attention. I really hope that Grakomindo returns your calls or addresses your complaints – let us know how it goes.
Thanks,
-Anil
I fell for it too – ordered two cell phones from grakomindo and wired the money (nice, happy $45 fee, btw.), and then got a very similar reply to my inquiry from Halim Ansari, namely that the money isn’t there yet and that he’s confused. I then asked my bank – Indonesia is a “slow-to-pay” country, so even though indonesian banks get the money fast, they sometimes hold on to the money before it is credited to the beneficiary’s account. This can take up to 21 days. After I wired the money I emailed Halim Ansari every 2-3 days checking on the status of my order. After about two weeks I stopped receiving replies from him. Yeah, they probably got the money and are now trying to disappear. I went to my bank and had them do a recall on the wire transfer, hopefully that will get me my money back.
God, I’m so mad at myself for falling for this. I even tried to research the company and all the information that I got for the wire transfer on the internet, and even did a whois on the IP address and domain name – it all seemed like a legit company. They even have 3 seemingly active verification services (to guard against hackers and stuff) on their website!
Don’t order from them! Wether they’re legit or scam, you won’t receive your cell phone! Spent a little more money on ebay or so, but at least there you can be sure to either get the phone or your money back!
Hey C.E., I’m really sorry about your experience – you’re the second person to mention something like this. I’ll keep it in mind and make sure to avoid accepting advertising offers from them.
Well, it’s now Dec. 19th and still no word from Grakomindo. This is a scam! Please, just trust me.