The Allo Allo platform may be making waves all over the world, but the reviews for this site are not as positive as you would expect.
Purchasing a refurbished phone can be a great alternative to purchasing a new one, but not everything about the Allo Allo platform is as good as it seems.
Is Allo Allo a legitimate option for refurbished phones in South Africa?
Buying the phone you really want can be a very expensive endeavour. And this is why so many people opt to purchase refurbished phones instead.
In theory, a high-quality refurbished phone can be just as good as a new phone – and even better than a second-hand (used) phone – for a fraction of the price.
Allo Allo is an online-only distributor of refurbished phones which sells a variety of iPhone models, Samsung models, AirPods and even iPads at considerably discounted prices.
The site also offers a 2-year warrantee on their products, as well as a guarantee that their products have been expertly restored and cleaned before they were shipped.
However, while this site may seem like a good alternative when your budget is limited, there are a few key aspects that you should take note of before purchasing from Allo Allo.
The positives
At first glance, the Allo Allo website seems very promising. Unlike many of the other fraudulent sites on the internet, the alloallo.com domain has been registered since 1997.
Allo Allo also reportedly does business in over 70 countries worldwide, offers users a variety of payment methods and can be found on various social media platforms .
The negatives
However, once we start to dig a little deeper, the website seems much less promising. While the alloallo.com domain name is indeed very old, the Wayback Machine reveals that this domain was originally used for a French Language site. Allo Allo has only been operational since 2018.
To add to this, the site also has many of the telltale signs of an illegitimate business, including no listed physical address, no information about the company or the owners, and a lack of contact information beyond the form on the website.
What the reviews say
Another aspect that should give you pause before you purchase one of Allo Allo’s refurbished phones, earphones or tablets, is the fact that the third-party reviews for this company do not always match up with what is presented on the website.
For a start, Allo Allo only has an ‘average’ 3.2-star rating on Trustpilot (not a ‘good’ 4-star rating as is presented on the home page).
And many of the poor, 1- and 2-star reviews complain about a lack of communication from the company regarding warranties and products arriving in damaged condition.
