Gotta love that feeling you get after you realize you've been bamboozled..
So my friend let me try out his Shokz OpenRun Bone Conduction headphones and they were amazing, so I resolved myself to grabbing myself a pair. I then forgot the brand name and searched online for reviews, figuring I'd find his listed among the top products.
Unfortunately it turns out that there are about half a dozen fake review sites out there listing only one brand with a 5-star rating: Inductivv Bone Induction headphones. And the best part about them is that they are only $60 USD instead of the $130-180 price for the Shokz brand! But hurry up, the discounted price is only available if you order today!
Anyways, like an idiot I don't bother to do any due diligence to check out the site and submit my order, and a week later I open the package and instead find these: OPENEAR Two-ear sports Bluetooth headset. These are NOT bone conduction headphones and instead just have tiny speakers that play sound towards your ears. And they retail for $15, not the $60 + $9.95 shipping I paid for mine.
So I call the customer service number on my email confirmation and reach a nice gentleman in India named "Shane" who proceeds to read from a script and instead of beginning the process to send me the correct product (which, just to be clear, doesn't exist - there is no such thing as a pair of Indictivv headphones) he tries to offer to give me a 50% refund and will let me keep the headphones. I decline, since I don't want them. He counters with a 75% refund, etc. etc.
Finally I just have to provide an ultimatum: Either they give me a full refund or I go through my credit card company and initiate a charge-back and get the company flagged as a scam. He finally relents and says he'll process the full refund and tells me not to bother trying to return the product. Sigh.
It's quite the racket - multiple "product review" websites created that point to their bogus vendor site. Charge people $60 (plus shipping) for a $15 product and just hope that no one notices it's not the advertised product, or if they do, pressure them into accepting a %50 refund (still making $30 off a inferior $15 product). Utterly shameful.
Hopefully anyone else that comes across this bogus product decides to search Reddit to see if it's a scam and finds this post, avoiding the pain I went through. Stay safe out there folks!
Videos
Hi, so I've been looking for some bine conductive headphones, and I came across inductivv... Their site seems kinda sketch, but they have lots of "good reviews" on various tech sites, but they also seem a bit overly positive, if that makes sense. Has anyone gotten these? Are they a scam? Please help!
I received my order today and immediately requested a refund. They are 'Open Ear' not Bone Conductive or "Inductive' as described in my reciept.
So false advertising and definitely a scam.
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Hey guys, wanted to leave this review here because, what if someone's scared to use earbuds that completely block out sound while cycling 100km on a highway? π That's why I bought this model. Even in a car with the windows up, I can barely hear anythingβ¦
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Audio: Man, these earbuds are hilariously bad π Listening to songs after hearing how they actually sound on high-end headphones is comical with these. The bass is non-existent, and the treble is just a twang twang. I put on some 2010s pop girl anthems (a secret when even my energy gels aren't cutting it) and Lady Gaga really didn't get the memo from my bone conduction β funny not saying ear, lol π But seriously, some songs are just impossible to listen to. Mac DeMarco was a struggle. I can listen to my podcasts on a lonely Saturday morning, okay, that's manageable. I'd give this a 3/10.
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Build: Surprisingly, for the price, it seems pretty good. Sure, it's cheap plastic, but it feels like sturdy rubber. The cable is firm and doesn't come loose, even though I was wearing glasses and a helmet!!! It could just use an adjustment; you end up with this weird extra cable at the nape of your neck. 7/10
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Connectivity/Battery: It connects via microSD and Bluetooth (unfortunately, you won't get that amazing Chinese FM radioβ¦), I always keep my phone in the back of my shirt, so I haven't really tested the connection distance, but it seems pretty solid. It only has two buttons, volume up and down, but they handle all the functions, and you can skip tracks!!!! TAKE THAT, BUDS 2!!!! I haven't really tested the battery life much, but I cycled for about 2 hours today, and the LED display still showed 80%. I think it'll last about 6 hours on medium volume! Unfortunately, it's micro-USB, so you'll need a separate cable if everything's switched to USB-C. Just for that, I give it a 6/10
Conclusion: Just want to hear something while paying attention to your surroundings? It's a good option for the price. It does its job, kinda poorly, but it does it!!! Man, this is cheaper than that Steam game you're gonna buy and never play OR THAT UBER YOU NEED BECAUSE YOUR BIKE TIRE PUNCTURED AND NOW YOU'RE STUCK ON THE HIGHWAY WITH NO ONE PASSING BY (I'm never talking about today's ride again). That's it, folks, let's get moving because those who stay still can't tie their shoes when they turn 80!