Complaint Review: Shenzhen Chipshow

Our company has imported no less than 5 faulty LED displays from Chipshow over the last 3 years.  Our agreement with them were all inked with 3 years warranty, yet they have made it very difficult to get any type of warranty support which has made it very hard for us to keep our customers. On this report, I will highlight the top 4 instances out of many that has cost our company and our customers upwards of an estimated 2 millions dollars in service bills and potential revenue over the last 3 years.

1) Houston: This LED display wasn't designed with an adequate number of power supplies. The sign becomes erratic on hot days. The design exhibited the mark typical of Chinese “cheapness” and "frugality".    Had the incompetent engineers who designed it added one more power supply (a $30 part) everything would have been fine.

Once we had identified the problem, we asked them to replace all the 300w power supplies with 450w, and they refused. They refuse to acknowledge or admit any issues.  

Finally, we bought and installed these power supplies all on our dime.  Thankful, we haven't had a single service call since then. This ordeal lasted over the period of 2 years, thousands were spent on service calls between us and our customer. 10s of thousands lost on potential new orders.

2) Pennsylvania: Weak hydraulics were used so that the weight of the sign made it almost impossible to open. (The hydraulics gave out completely at the end where the customer had to prop open the sign with a 2x4 wood). The cabinet had deformities and the number of hinges on the cabinet weren't enough for the weight of the display.  Hinges became deformed due to the weight of the cabinet, all this turned into  water intrusion issues. The customer started calling after every rainstorm. In addition there were dimming issues at night which caused trouble with the neighbors and the local law enforcement.

When we reported the water problem, Chipshow actually had the gulls to suggest that since we gave them pointers during the design process, we were responsible for 'designing' a sign that was prone to water intrusion.  Why would anyone in their right mind design an outdoor cabinet that leaked water!? Our input had nothing to do with the outdoor worthiness of the cabinet.

After an arduous and protracted negotiation, they finally agreed to provide a new sign at 50% cost.  The irony was that the replacement second sign still had issues. The front hinged doors were not able to stay open.  We finally had to fly in a tech on our dime and replace the inferior hydraulics.

In addition, their incompetent engineers did not design the shipping crates to accommodate the 3" angle irons pre-mounted to the sign (as per specifications) and at time of shipment they had to remove the angle irons. When the sign got to the site, our customer's installer had to mount the angles on-site which opened up a can of worms of water intrusions from the back of the unit.  Granted the installers on site should have put caulking on the mounting holes for the angle irons, but everything would have been prevented on the factory level. 

The original was refurbished by our tech and was re-sold. However, new problems with the logic system cropped up. To date--we have not recovered any money from the sale of the original sign. There were numerous on-site calls through this ordeal, up to 10 thousand dollars of total damage. and 10s of thousands of lost potential orders from irate customers.

3) New Jersey, Water keeps on getting into the cabinet and damaging the power supply in one location of the sign.  Potting of the module and PCB wasn't done per our instructions.  Again, bad hinges, bad design and incompetence of the engineers. The amount of power supplies weren't adequate for the size and power demand of the board.  When the screen reaches close to 90% full white brightness, the portion of the screen turns blue (indicating stress on the power supplies). Again numerous on-site calls amounting to thousands of dollars in service bills.  10s of thousands lost in potential orders from irate customers.

4) West Virginia: We received a recent report that sign cabinet hinges weren't designed with adequate strength; the cabinet has issues with closing and locking back into place. We had booked flights/travel for our tech to go onsite to inspect and replace any problematic parts.  Chipshow proposed and agreed to send new hinges and support pin that would solve the cabinet issues. Yet when we received the parts, we found out they only send the support pins. Now we have to scramble onsite to find some adequate hinges all out of our pocket.  Again thousands of dollars in do not service charges, loss of reputation and potential new orders for things that we have not caused nor have any recourse for.

In all fairness, their individual LED modules are not bad; and we have not seen any rapid depreciation in brightness. However, it's their overall incompetence in designing a waterproof, stable complete display--especially when used in the harsh and various weather environments of North America. It's their attitude of avoiding the issue and shafting the customer that makes them a very poor candidate for any long-term business relationship.

Our USA based service teams have actually helped numerous other clients all across the US with their faulty Chipshow signs. I'd stay away from this company as far as possible. We had extensive communication with the ownership of this company during these ordeals. The impression we got is that the ownership only wants your money (There’s a feeling that they will help you, only if you continued to place more orders) and doesn't care about their customers nor their own reputation. Well you've earned it Chipshow, a nice page on ripoff.com. You are NOT getting away with all the grief, brain damage on top of the monetary damages that you've caused to hundreds of decent, hard, working individuals in America with impunity.  

Be careful in dealing with China direct especially if you don't have the buying volume. The smiles and the pleasantries stop as soon as you hand over the money.  If you don't place a certain number of orders within a certain time period, the service level sinks like a rock. Don't be tempted by the cheap "prices" because you'll be making it up for it on the overall "cost."--if you get my gist. Consider yourselves warned.

Finally, my heart and conscience compels me to regret and apologize for all the stress and financial damages caused to my clients by my company bring in a product from Chipshow. This apparent heartless, lack of conscience of the Chipshow ownership is something by which they will be brought to judgment and condemnation--be it sooner or later.