Dbrand Phone Skins- BEWARE

[Ericde95]

Hello LTT, today I am here to warn you about a Canadian phone skin company that I have been trying to work with for the past two months. I know Linus has worked with them in the past, so I hope that somehow Dbrand's issues can be resolved by bringing this up with one of their bigger promoters.

 

DBrand Phone Skins - The Company That Couldn't Come Through...

 

7/5 - Ordered a set of skins for my HTC One M8.

I heard about Dbrand from the honorable @Linus himself from several of his videos. Dbrand sponsored a sweet looking skin for his Xperia Z2 

 . I ventured to their website, which is absolutely awesome and well-built, and proceeded to buy some somewhat overpriced 3M-made skins for my phone. The order processed immediately, complete with email confirmations and the works. Keep in mind that at this time I was in New York City working an investment banking internship. I was expected to live in that apartment until early-mid August where I would return to my home in Florida before heading out to Washington DC for school. I though that ordering something with a MONTH to get to my apartment was no issue. The shipping estimate was 7 - 14 days, which puts me at a latest shipping date of 7/21 (assuming it shipped the following Monday). I never received a tracking number, simply a confirmation that it left the warehouse a few days after ordering.

 

7/21 - Last day of estimated delivery

 

7/24 - Still nothing

I began to worry that maybe something went awry with the transaction and decided that I would send them an inquiry in the morning to figure it out.

 

7/25 - Sent Dbrand Customer Service an email

I sent the Dbrand Customer Service team this email:

 

 

 

Hello,
I ordered a skin from you on 7/5/14 for my HTC One M8 (matte white front and back with HTC logo cutout). It has been over 20 days and I still have not received the skin.... I used my work address for the shipping instructions (assuming that I would get it within at least 3 WEEKS of ordering) and am about to go back home again for a month or so. If the skin was in fact ever shipped to my work address, then eventually the skin will be rejected and sent back from where it was shipped. I am requesting either: A) a complete refund or B) shipping another set ASAP to my newer address which I am flying home to tomorrow. I honestly would prefer to get the skin, but this has become a pain to wait for, especially when there are competitors at equal/cheaper prices that could have it to me in a few days. I have checked the mail every day for a week in hopes that I would get it before I had to leave, but no luck... My new address is:

blahblahblah

I heard about your company from Linus Tech Tips. He has never steered me wrong before so I hope that we can resolve this quickly and easily. Please feel free to email/call/text if you need verification of any info. Let's figure this out and hopefully I can feel comfortable recommending you to my peers,

my name here
phone number here
myemail@youdontneedtoknow.net

 

7/29 - Four days to get a reply...

Here is their reply: 

 

 

Hey Eric!!

First off, sorry about the delay in responding. We got a ton of orders this past weekend and fell a bit behind on the customer service emails.

 

We took a look at the shipping manifest and can confirm that this was sent out on the morning of July 10th to the delivery address provided during checkout, which was:

 

Eric lastname

address line 1

New York, NY 10001

United States

 

Normally, orders within New York don’t take more than 3-5 days to arrive at most. Many even arrive within 1-2 days, as we send all US orders from the Buffalo side of Niagara Falls.

 

While it’s a rare occurrence, sometimes orders get lost while in transit. Unfortunately, what’s even more common than that, is USPS workers returning items to us as “UNDELIVERABLE”, even when they’re addressed properly. Your order is, as you mentioned in your email, likely on its way back to our return box right now.

 

We’ll go ahead and get your order re-shipped free of charge to the address copied below, but with an expedited tracking option this time (at our expensive) to ensure a quick and successful delivery. Let us know if there’s anything else we can help with and thanks in advance for your patience and understanding!

 

here they typed

my florida address

 

Signed,

A Robot

 

I totally respect their reply to this. I would want my employee's to reply in the exact same manner. I was not disappointed by the company by this point; mistakes happen, and I was hoping they would come through and regain all of my trust. If I had to wait another week or so, no problem, I get it, shit happens.

 

7/30 - Order #2 shipping confirmation

I happily received yet another email confirmation stating that my phone skin was on its way (again). This gave me some hope:

 

 

Hey Eric!!

 

We’ve checked our shipping manifest and can confirm that your order was released from our warehouse on the morning of July 29th. You can track your order here using the tracking number: 9400110899609003200489.

 

Please let us know if there’s anything else we can help with and have a great day!

 

Signed,

A Robot

 

 

8/19 - Nothing, still

I have been super busy getting ready for college when I realized that I have yet to get my skin.... I double check the email and the tracking number to find some interesting news, again...:

 

 

 

 

It SEEMS like they sent it to the wrong address (even though their email clearly states that it was supposed to send to my Florida address). At this point I am terrified to even tell them that I will be in Washington DC by Thursday in fear that half the continental-US will be receiving free HTC One M8 skins.

 

I decided to send them an email earlier, before I checked the shipping info and realized they shipped it to the wrong address, that quoted all of my previous conversation's with their customer service. Hopefully they can give me some sort of refund or credit so that I can take my business elsewhere... 

 

Overall

 

Im honestly not sure what to think. I believe they mean well, but it is just so hard to work with a company that has failed me for so long, so many times over. Their website is absolutely awesome, their customer service has been helpful (albeit not necessarily prompt). I dont want to totally trash the company, but its been well over a month and I still don't have a simple 3M phone skin that I spent a lot on (considering the price of 3M's materials in bulk)... At the end of the day, I am not a happy customer and I cannot recommend their products to my friends and family (including the LTT or OCN crews).

[Aniallation]

Well I ordered a white carbon fiber one for my M8. Introduced to dbrand by Marques and thought it was really cool and gave it a shot. Ordered it, and two rather amusing emails from "robots" later, my skin was shipped out. I live in Calgary and it was sent over standard letter mail from Toronto and took three days. I'm a happy customer. Maybe USPS just sucks (not surprised tbh)

[Ericde95]

Well I ordered a white carbon fiber one for my M8. Introduced to dbrand by Marques and thought it was really cool and gave it a shot. Ordered it, and two rather amusing emails from "robots" later, my skin was shipped out. I live in Calgary and it was sent over standard letter mail from Toronto and took three days. I'm a happy customer. Maybe USPS just sucks (not surprised tbh)

 

I also heard of dbrand from Marques, but decided to pull the trigger after Linus used them.

 

It may very well be a USPS issue. It has just been very frustrating and the back of my phone is getting scratched up in the meantime. I purposely didn't crush their company in my wrap-up/overall. Im sure it's not entirely their fault, but this is my experience and I cannot recommend them to my friends. I feel they should have at least got the address correct ( if that is the issue).

[Aniallation]

I also heard of dbrand from Marques, but decided to pull the trigger after Linus used them.

 

It may very well be a USPS issue. It has just been very frustrating and the back of my phone is getting scratched up in the meantime. I purposely didn't crush their company in my wrap-up/overall. Im sure it's not entirely their fault, but this is my experience and I cannot recommend them to my friends. I feel they should have at least got the address correct ( if that is the issue).

Two of my friends also ordered dbrand skins and they came perfectly fine as well (Nexus 4 and iPhone 5S). Again I wouldn't be surprised if this is a USPS issue, as Canada Post is real straight up with their business where USPS is dodgy at best

[Jvagle875]

Well I ordered a white carbon fiber one for my M8. Introduced to dbrand by Marques and thought it was really cool and gave it a shot. Ordered it, and two rather amusing emails from "robots" later, my skin was shipped out. I live in Calgary and it was sent over standard letter mail from Toronto and took three days. I'm a happy customer. Maybe USPS just sucks (not surprised tbh)

Not quite sure why you would be surprised that the USPS would suck...? 

 

@OP Sounds just like a bad experience and a series of unfortunate events. They are a small company who are getting much larger these days. Also, you seem to complain about their prices a lot. It may be a 3m sticker, but there aren't really any better alternatives and 3m is high quality stuff. I've had usps screw up before with RAM and it said is was delivered a week before it was. It may have just gotten lost in a warehouse. Things do get lost during transit. 

[Aniallation]

Not quite sure why you would be surprised that the USPS would suck...? 

 

 

Cause I'm Canadian lol

[Guest]

Cause I'm Canadian lol

Yeah yeah, enjoy your functioning postal service and bagged milk.

[Jvagle875]

Cause I'm Canadian lol

The USPS has absolutly nothing to do with the Government at all. It has received a dime of funding in something like 20 years.

[Aniallation]

The USPS has absolutly nothing to do with the Government at all. It has received a dime of funding in something like 20 years.

When did we get into politics? I'm not surprised USPS messes up a lot because there's just so much mail and so many different places for that mail to go to in America. Here in Canada we only have 13 provinces/territories ("states') and each of them only has one or two major cities.

[Deepak996]

Hello LTT, today I am here to warn you about a Canadian phone skin company that I have been trying to work with for the past two months. I know Linus has worked with them in the past, so I hope that somehow Dbrand's issues can be resolved by bringing this up with one of their bigger promoters.

 

DBrand Phone Skins - The Company That Couldn't Come Through...

 

7/5 - Ordered a set of skins for my HTC One M8.

I heard about Dbrand from the honorable @Linus himself from several of his videos. Dbrand sponsored a sweet looking skin for his Xperia Z2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ak1oaom6pw . I ventured to their website, which is absolutely awesome and well-built, and proceeded to buy some somewhat overpriced 3M-made skins for my phone. The order processed immediately, complete with email confirmations and the works. Keep in mind that at this time I was in New York City working an investment banking internship. I was expected to live in that apartment until early-mid August where I would return to my home in Florida before heading out to Washington DC for school. I though that ordering something with a MONTH to get to my apartment was no issue. The shipping estimate was 7 - 14 days, which puts me at a latest shipping date of 7/21 (assuming it shipped the following Monday). I never received a tracking number, simply a confirmation that it left the warehouse a few days after ordering.

 

7/21 - Last day of estimated delivery

 

7/24 - Still nothing

I began to worry that maybe something went awry with the transaction and decided that I would send them an inquiry in the morning to figure it out.

 

7/25 - Sent Dbrand Customer Service an email

I sent the Dbrand Customer Service team this email:

 

 

7/29 - Four days to get a reply...

Here is their reply: 

 

 

I totally respect their reply to this. I would want my employee's to reply in the exact same manner. I was not disappointed by the company by this point; mistakes happen, and I was hoping they would come through and regain all of my trust. If I had to wait another week or so, no problem, I get it, shit happens.

 

7/30 - Order #2 shipping confirmation

I happily received yet another email confirmation stating that my phone skin was on its way (again). This gave me some hope:

 

8/19 - Nothing, still

I have been super busy getting ready for college when I realized that I have yet to get my skin.... I double check the email and the tracking number to find some interesting news, again...:

 

 

 

It SEEMS like they sent it to the wrong address (even though their email clearly states that it was supposed to send to my Florida address). At this point I am terrified to even tell them that I will be in Washington DC by Thursday in fear that half the continental-US will be receiving free HTC One M8 skins.

 

I decided to send them an email earlier, before I checked the shipping info and realized they shipped it to the wrong address, that quoted all of my previous conversation's with their customer service. Hopefully they can give me some sort of refund or credit so that I can take my business elsewhere... 

 

Overall

 

Im honestly not sure what to think. I believe they mean well, but it is just so hard to work with a company that has failed me for so long, so many times over. Their website is absolutely awesome, their customer service has been helpful (albeit not necessarily prompt). I dont want to totally trash the company, but its been well over a month and I still don't have a simple 3M phone skin that I spent a lot on (considering the price of 3M's materials in bulk)... At the end of the day, I am not a happy customer and I cannot recommend their products to my friends and family (including the LTT or OCN crews).

[flibberdipper]

 

Nice to know your thoughts.

[Ericde95]

Update: Dbrand stated they are going to refund my order and send yet another set to my home in Florida. I will just wait and have my mother forward it to me when it arrives so that there is no confusion.

They also stated that they were going to give me a refund because of all of my struggles. Unfortunately the card I used to pay for it was stolen and promptly cancelled so I'm not entirely sure if I will be getting that money back without going through some more hoops. For now, I'll just wait and see if I can get my skin first!

[Deepak996]

Sad it took writing on this for them to do anything. Jokers

[xdskiller]

I have a white carbon fiber skin from them on my Nexus 5 and for me I think it was just probably a combination of bad luck and confusion. And sure it is a "sticker", but it's a pretty dam good one and there aren't many alternatives so I can't complain. I might sound a bit biased, but I think you're just being a bit too harsh.

[Jagdesh]

I order my Skin around 4th Aug, and after a few days when I went to my Dbrand account, under my orders it says that this order is completed as of July 15th!!! what the hell!!

There was no shipping confirmation email or tracking details shared with me and the order shows completed!!  

I have sent three messages and I havent received one single response from Dbrand's side. Order no.429255, I havent received this order till now & did not receive any tracking information after sending them 3 messages. What is going on with my order, I dont know anything!!

Buyers please beware, they are very non-responsive company and you taking a huge risk by buying from them... Go for Slickwraps instead or any other skin manufacturer ..

[d3sl91]

I had very good results with dbrands so far. Extremely quick shipping, and great product. 

 

It sounds to me like, they are a smaller company that is very popular. Sounds like they are trying to make things right for you, which is good. Its just unfortunate it takes so long. 

 

If a company worked with me through mess ups, I'd probably stick with them. 

[Mkfish]

Even if it does get delivered, good luck applying it. I mean seriously... da fuq? I made one tiny mistake and the skin was completely ruined. I just don't have the steady hands to apply such a thing. And in all honesty, even the front vinyl, which I had managed to apply perfectly, really did just look like a big sticker on my phone  

I don't doubt that they can look awesome, but you certainly need quite a few attempts to get it right and even the two skins that D-Brand supplied just wasn't enough for me.

Great company though and shipping to the UK was surprisingly speedy!!

[Nexxus]

Even if it does get delivered, good luck applying it. I mean seriously... da fuq? I made one tiny mistake and the skin was completely ruined. I just don't have the steady hands to apply such a thing. And in all honesty, even the front vinyl, which I had managed to apply perfectly, really did just look like a big sticker on my phone  

I don't doubt that they can look awesome, but you certainly need quite a few attempts to get it right and even the two skins that D-Brand supplied just wasn't enough for me.

Great company though and shipping to the UK was surprisingly speedy!!

you had to of really fucked up to of ruined the entire thing, it takes my multiple attempts to line them up properly and ive not once ruined one.

Anyways ive ordered from them twice (ruined one skin due to carelessness on a photoshop causing the rear glass of my nexus 4 to break) and will likely keep using them in the future.

[Mkfish]

you had to of really fucked up to of ruined the entire thing, it takes my multiple attempts to line them up properly and ive not once ruined one.

Anyways ive ordered from them twice (ruined one skin due to carelessness on a photoshop causing the rear glass of my nexus 4 to break) and will likely keep using them in the future.

 

Well as soon as I made a mistake, I tried to peel the vinyl off, and because the adhesive was so strong, when I peeled it off it made the vinyl curl up onto itself, and lo.. it was ruined

[Nexxus]

Well as soon as I made a mistake, I tried to peel the vinyl off, and because the adhesive was so strong, when I peeled it off it made the vinyl curl up onto itself, and lo.. it was ruined

thats why you lay the vinyl on the device making sure its all lined up before actually pressing it on it makes me like a dozen attempts to line it up

[Jagdesh]

Well to tell you guys my order no.429255 still hasn't arrived and its going to be a month now, plus after sending them 5 emails & messages through their website plus 2 FB posts on their page they haven't bothered to respond till now!! 

 

62USD might sound small to some but when you convert it into my country currency which is INR it makes a considerable amount.

 

I cant believe they are doing this, since I ordered skins for S6 Edge before, their customer service was quite responsive at that time plus I received my package as well.... BUT THIS TIME I JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND WHAT IS GOING ON!!

 

Maybe someone who is in Canada can get their number and call them to check if they are still in business or they have closed down and just taking money off from their website which they need to also bring down if they are out of business

[jonman122]

The only thing I read in this review is that Dbrand seriously goes out of their way to make sure the customer gets the product, even at their own expense. That's some serious dedication, this "BEWARE" review just made me even more interested in their services.

[Gale]

Aw, I'm sorry to hear this is happening to you.

 

I've bought several skins from them, and they always get delivered fairly fast. They also amuse me whenever I ask them to draw something for me and they deliver it to me with the product.

[Speedyv]

Aw, I'm sorry to hear this is happening to you.

 

I've bought several skins from them, and they always get delivered fairly fast. They also amuse me whenever I ask them to draw something for me and they deliver it to me with the product.

 

What do ya mean draw something?

[Gale]

What do ya mean draw something?

 

Whenever you buy something, at the checkout, there's a box that says "special requests". In it, you can type whatever request you may have and DBrand will try to fulfill it. I always ask them something like "Would you please draw me a dinosaur?" and they do it; they send the drawing to me alongside the skin.