Purchasing a Pandora handheld

[1983parrothead]

I'm from the Southern part of the U. S., and my father won't purchase one from Ithic.com, because he thinks that Ithic.com is a scam site after we recently purchased, then refunded a netbook from a scam site called CostCaptain, but I believe he is incorrect on Ithic.com. For Dragon Box, I didn't show him that website, but he doesn't want to purchase outside of the U. S. after we purchased a Japan-only video game overseas and never got it. And on eBay, only ReBirth Editions are available, but in used condition, and he doesn't want me to buy it used. He thinks the Asus 1225B netbook on the reliable website Amazon is a better choice.


I guess I'll have to purchase a 1Ghz Edition next Christmas or January when the price drops, but this time, use my mother who wouldn't mind, while combining her Christmas money with everyone else's in my family.

 

[LTStone]

Ithic is totally legit, The actual Forum here links to it , Also I am from Canada and purchased mine from there, also ithic tracks the package so you can see the whole shipping process to your door. In your situation I think its your best and most trusted option.

 

[Pickle]

Too bad about the impression about ithic, Link runs it very well and has been very active here at the boards. I believe he is only selling units he has in stock, so if you did buy it then you would be ok and not have the problems of many waiting for their order to be met.

He has been good to the community myself included. Like I said Link is active here so you could PM him if you wanted to ask him questions. He will probably hit up this thread soon too.

All of his units come from ED and his store Dragon Box, so considering to order from the source is a bit redundant and pointless.

 

[TrashyMG]

Ithic is the official North American Open Pandora Distributor.. Go to the openpandora.org page and click Order Now and choose USA and Canada, it's the first choice on the list. I personally ordered there twice and had real speedy delivery.. Although I do only live an hour away from Link's shop.

 

[Link]

I just finished repairing three units.  Just doing some testing on them to make sure all is good.

I could refer you to this link:

http://boards.openpandora.org/index.php/topic/11332-praise-for-ithiccom-link/

 

[CocoCreekFisherman]

Totally too legit to quit.   

 

[Binky]

Just another confirmation (Perhaps my being a mod gives me authority?) in addition to the thread mentioned above:

Link (and ithic.com) is friendly, honest and professional, not to mention generous - Highly recommended!

 

[1983parrothead]

Now my parents don't understand your user names thinking it's some kind of trick.

 

[Fluff]

Now my parents don't understand your user names thinking it's some kind of trick.

What exactly do they think is a trick? The Pandora itself? You could show them YouTube reviews of the device, that makes it pretty undeniably obvious that it isn't a "trick"

Also, as others have stated, Ithic.com LLC is indeed the official US store, it even says so on the official pandora website.

 

[1983parrothead]

They want to know real names like John Doe, not 123sesamestreet.

 

[TrashyMG]

They want to know real names like John Doe, not 123sesamestreet.

What Mark Linkhorst? (get the reason his username is Link yet?) it's not too hard of information to find.


But sounds like your parents are set on this..

 

[Fluff]

They want to know real names like John Doe, not 123sesamestreet.

Almost all of Link's information is available on his store . You can both email and call him to talk more personally.

 

[1983parrothead]

My father is too scared. If we send the money, and if the Pandora doesn't arrive, then he'll become upset. Mark Linkhorst doesn't sound like he's enough customer support in their opinion, because they want more people. Ithic.com doesn't even look safe in their opinion. Safe as in when you type in your Email address to register an account in order to purchase any product from Ithic.com. What if the credit card number is stolen and the bill comes in at a high price?

 

[Fluff]

My father is too scared. If we send the money, and if the Pandora doesn't arrive, then he'll become upset. Mark Linkhorst doesn't sound like he's enough customer support in their opinion, because they want more people. Ithic.com doesn't even look safe in their opinion. Safe as in when you type in your Email address to register an account in order to purchase any product from Ithic.com. What if the credit card number is stolen and the bill comes in at a high price?

That wouldn't happen, although being in the good old USA, that's where laws come in to play. Your money is safe. It's not like buying from HK. Link's customer support is BETTER than the larger corporations, and you buy things from his store the same way you do other sites. (PayPal, Google checkout) and you can make an account. I don't see how a site can "look unsafe" though, but it sounds like they are set in their stubborn ways. Not much else to be done..

 

[TrashyMG]

The OpenPandora project is a small scale effort, all the Shop's even EvilDragon's(Michael Mrozek) DragonBox is only ran by himself and a few others that help with repairs and such.. Michael handles overseeing production, does repairs himself and has a full time job on top of his Pandora work.. You may not realize the Pandora team was founded by only a few guys on a forum that got together to make this device... I'm not sure if there is anything we say on this thread will alleviate your parents fear of ordering it. 

 

[Link]

Do you even know what you are getting yourself into?  We are talking a Linux machine here as well.  It's not some GameBoy, Tablet, PSP, etc.  You'll have to properly format an SD card, create folders, and then download software that has its own specifics per game/emulator/program. 

Ithic.com doesn't take credit cards, your credit card information goes to PayPal or Google Wallet.  The only thing that goes through my system is your shopping cart, phone number, and address.  Your shopping cart information gets handed off to whichever payment method you choose (PayPal, Google), and they are the ones who you get the invoice from. 

DragonBox.de the manufacturer is one person as well, Michael Mrozek.  He has a side kick, named Askarus, who helps with repairs and fulfilling orders when Michael is doing his day job, running a video production company. 

Here's a video from 11 months ago:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDxG-AdqZEA

Thanks for the help everyone.  

 

[1983parrothead]

I appreciate everyone of you for your support, but it seems that after showing all posts in this thread to my parents before Link's second post, they think most of you are strangers. I never could show Link's second post, because we became tired.

However, my father is planning to purchase the product tomorrow while he'll talk to Link on the phone. Again, if the Pandora doesn't arrive, I'll be done for. ( O_O')

 

[Null]

^ Don't worry it'll show up.

 

[Wally]

Sure we're all strangers but so is 99% of the internet.

 

[Marycontrary]

I order stuff online all over the world and I have yet to be burned. I even ordered from china twice, took forever to get here and shipping was 4 times the cost of the item I was buying. From what I read here on the forums, Link ships quickly, so you would be tracking and seeing if it were shipped right away.

The only thing I've not gotten was my preorder, but I'm not giving up on that.