32 Gb microSDHC class 4 sandisk

[vinay]

hi

I recently bought two 32gb microsdhc sandisk cards from amazon marketplace (first and probably last time from amazon marketplace). The amazon marketplace photo showed class 2 card but i got 32Gb microsdhc class 4 card. The packaging looked poor compared to 2 other 16gb sandisk microsdhc cards i bought a couple of months ago from play.com

So I thought they were fake and contacted amazon and the marketplace seller. seller insists it is genuine and amazon just fobs me off (inspite of phonecall and messages) to contact seller even though amazon obviously gets a cut from the amazon marketplace sale i guess. Even when i insisted they looked fake, the amazon customer service chaps kept parroting the line to contact seller although i bought it from the amazon website.

i further contacted sandisk via their complaints section and received an email to send photos. i sent the photos on the 1st of feb but no reply. I called their UK office tech number twice today and was told to resend the photos, which I have done. Looks like I am losing the window for refund as I have opened the packaging now to test the card and seller keeps saying genuine card.

I cant find any class 4 32GB sandisk microsdhc card on sandisk website. The sandisk chaps on the phone are noncommittal and just ask to send photos which i have sent twice now and hopefully will get a reply this time. I copied in the sandisk brand protection email address apart from the support team this time.

using the H2testw v1.4 to test the cards (using sandisk USB reader adapter) the following are the results. http://sosfakeflash.wordpress.com/2008/09/02/h2testw-14-gold-standard-in-detecting-usb-counterfeit-drives/

"Writing speed: 5.41 MByte/s
Reading speed: 9.24 MByte/s
H2testw v1.4
"

Also the test only shows 30,424mb on the card instead of 32GB. Is the difference of about 1.6GB normal when using these tests. The cards were brand new just out of the packaging and not used at all.

above the barcode on the packaging the number given is “SDSDQ-32768-P36M” which is different from some photos that i saw posted on this forum on other posts.

Also on the card itself I can see some number printed at the bottom but i cant read the full number as it is too small (I have normal vision and dont use glasses!). I tried taking photos on a 5megapixel camera and zooming in on the number but it is blurred and cant see the entire number and can only see parts of it, so havent posted that number here.

At the back of the card there is a sticker with a barcode and number. The number is MJ111T32.

Can anyone clarify the authenticity of these cards please.

http://img703.imageshack.us/img703/8632/p1010023b.jpg 

i have inserted the urls to the images above but dont know why the image itself is not getting posted here. you can clik the boxes to open the link to imageshack photos of the card.

Any help is much appreciated.

[mags1230]

@vinay wrote:

hi

 

I recently bought two 32gb microsdhc sandisk cards from amazon marketplace (first and probably last time from amazon marketplace). The amazon marketplace photo showed class 2 card but i got 32Gb microsdhc class 4 card. The packaging looked poor compared to 2 other 16gb sandisk microsdhc cards i bought a couple of months ago from play.com

 

So I thought they were fake and contacted amazon and the marketplace seller. seller insists it is genuine and amazon just fobs me off (inspite of phonecall and messages) to contact seller even though amazon obviously gets a cut from the amazon marketplace sale i guess. Even when i insisted they looked fake, the amazon customer service chaps kept parroting the line to contact seller although i bought it from the amazon website.

 

i further contacted sandisk via their complaints section and received an email to send photos. i sent the photos on the 1st of feb but no reply. I called their UK office tech number twice today and was told to resend the photos, which I have done. Looks like I am losing the window for refund as I have opened the packaging now to test the card and seller keeps saying genuine card.

 

I cant find any class 4 32GB sandisk microsdhc card on sandisk website. The sandisk chaps on the phone are noncommittal and just ask to send photos which i have sent twice now and hopefully will get a reply this time. I copied in the sandisk brand protection email address apart from the support team this time.

 

using the H2testw v1.4 to test the cards (using sandisk USB reader adapter) the following are the results. http://sosfakeflash.wordpress.com/2008/09/02/h2testw-14-gold-standard-in-detecting-usb-counterfeit-drives/

 

"Writing speed: 5.41 MByte/s
Reading speed: 9.24 MByte/s
H2testw v1.4
"

Also the test only shows 30,424mb on the card instead of 32GB. Is the difference of about 1.6GB normal when using these tests. The cards were brand new just out of the packaging and not used at all.

 

 

 

Yes, Virginia, (you’ll get this if you know the story behind the name  )   there are class 4 Sandisk 32gb cards.  Even if you don’t see them sold as such.

The amount of storage seems correct.  You wouldn’t get 32gb.  And the read/write speed seems fine.  It’s above the minimum write speed of 4mbyte/s.

 

 

above the barcode on the packaging the number given is “SDSDQ-32768-P36M” which is different from some photos that i saw posted on this forum on other posts.

 

Also on the card itself I can see some number printed at the bottom but i cant read the full number as it is too small (I have normal vision and dont use glasses!). I tried taking photos on a 5megapixel camera and zooming in on the number but it is blurred and cant see the entire number and can only see parts of it, so havent posted that number here.

 

At the back of the card there is a sticker with a barcode and number. The number is MJ111T32.

 

Can anyone clarify the authenticity of these cards please.

   

 

 

Try contacting Sandisk Tech Support and send them photos at this link:

 

http://kb.sandisk.com/app/ask/session/L3NpZC94NGtIRk5naw%3D%3D/sno/0

 

 

See if you can enlarge the photo of the front of the card and then crop it to show just the card and little of the background.  You wouldn’t need to zoom in so close if that’s done. You and Sandisk Tech Support should be able to see the serial number on the front of the card then.  I did that with my own card and the serial number came out clear and legible. 

[vinay]

Thanks I did manage to contact the brand protection team and tech team. I managed to read the serial numbers and gave it to them, they are investigating the issue and will get back to me.

tech team told me they are fakes BUT the brand protection team said to wait for further information from them before contacting seller. I have given them the transaction and seller details of my amazon marketplace transaction. So am flummoxed why brand protection team said to wait when tech team said they are fakes, tech team did not have the serial numbers and just had the photos. i sent them the serial numbers later after seeing the brand protection teams mail. will see what the brand protection team says now.

[mags1230]

@vinay wrote:

Thanks I did manage to contact the brand protection team and tech team. I managed to read the serial numbers and gave it to them, they are investigating the issue and will get back to me.

 

tech team told me they are fakes BUT the brand protection team said to wait for further information from them before contacting seller. I have given them the transaction and seller details of my amazon marketplace transaction. So am flummoxed why brand protection team said to wait when tech team said they are fakes, tech team did not have the serial numbers and just had the photos. i sent them the serial numbers later after seeing the brand protection teams mail. will see what the brand protection team says now.

If Sandisk does find your card is a fake, it’s kind of surprising in a way due to the H2testw results.  As I’m sure you’ve read on SosFakeFlash, the results are usually way below specs.  And the card unuseable for the most part.  The stories there of the scams seem endless.

[vinay]

Yes the results for both the cards are similar. Yes it is surprising for me too after reading the results and comparing to the rest of the results on that website.

But as i said techteam of sandisk said fake but brandprotection team advised me not to contact seller till brand protection team gets back to me. This was yesterday. Today I got furthet mail from techteam saying brand protection team is following it up and another from brand protection team asking for further details about the seller, which I have provided to them now. 

I am awaiting further advice / confirmation from the brand protection team now before I chase Amazon marketplace and the seller there. The product is still being sold on amazon marketplace inspite of telling amazon about this more than a week agon in phone calls to amazon. Looks like they are happy to take the cut from the seller for selling the goods and have absolutely no interest if the product is genuine or fake and keep telling contact marketplace seller. Isnt it illegal for amazon marketplace to be advertising these products if these products are not genuine.

Once brand protection team gets back to me and if it is a fake then I will chase this issue with Which consumer magazine as the response I got from amazon marketplace was ridiculous and they just dont want to address the issue of fake products being sold on their website and just keep parroting the line of contact seller. The only way I contact the seller is via amazon order communication system.

[marketshare]

Have the same problem with alledged copies and awaitng the results of brand protection and my wedsite was pulled after purchasing 32gb chips from a legitimate manufacturer and unable to contact Sandisk Corp. to get a lift not knowing that the chips were copies. contacting Amazon to get an update …thanks for the posts

[vinay]

On friday brand protection team got back to me saying card is genuine but packaging is fake/nonstandard !!! They asked me not to contact seller or amazon till they investigate why this seller is selling like this. The product is still being sold on amazon by the seller inspite of me writing and phoning amazon and sandisk and writing to seller via amazon market place.

I find the above answer from brand protection team absurd. Why would any seller be stupid enough to sell genuine cards in fake packaging. That isnt logical unless an OEM whom sandisk hired for manufacturing the cards, produced more cards than ordered by sandisk and doubled up the serial numbers on the extra stock and sold them privately on their own. Then in that senario the stock passed on to sandisk would have been packaged by sandisk in standard packaging and the stock sold by OEM producer may have non standard packaging if the fake packaging was sourced elsewhere. That may be the only story that fits the story told to me by brand protection team.

Now to find out from brand protection team if I still get the 5y guarantee as brand protection team has written to me that card is genuine but packaging non standard / fake !!

Fed up as couldnt contact seller / Amazon as Brand protection team did not want me to contact them and I lost the refund window as was waiting for proof from sandisk that they were fakes as seller was insisting they were genuine. Amazon as can be expected has not got back after telling me on the phone that they will look into it. i havent used the cards other than to take them out of the packaging and test them using the recommended software to check its capacity.

[mags1230]

@vinay wrote:

On friday brand protection team got back to me saying card is genuine but packaging is fake/nonstandard !!! They asked me not to contact seller or amazon till they investigate why this seller is selling like this. The product is still being sold on amazon by the seller inspite of me writing and phoning amazon and sandisk and writing to seller via amazon market place.

 

I find the above answer from brand protection team absurd. Why would any seller be stupid enough to sell genuine cards in fake packaging. That isnt logical unless an OEM whom sandisk hired for manufacturing the cards, produced more cards than ordered by sandisk and doubled up the serial numbers on the extra stock and sold them privately on their own. Then in that senario the stock passed on to sandisk would have been packaged by sandisk in standard packaging and the stock sold by OEM producer may have non standard packaging if the fake packaging was sourced elsewhere. That may be the only story that fits the story told to me by brand protection team.

 

Now to find out from brand protection team if I still get the 5y guarantee as brand protection team has written to me that card is genuine but packaging non standard / fake !!

 

Fed up as couldnt contact seller / Amazon as Brand protection team did not want me to contact them and I lost the refund window as was waiting for proof from sandisk that they were fakes as seller was insisting they were genuine. Amazon as can be expected has not got back after telling me on the phone that they will look into it. i havent used the cards other than to take them out of the packaging and test them using the recommended software to check its capacity.

Yes, selling real Sandisk cards in fake packaging does not make sense. 

If it were me, I would continue to pursue Amazon and/or the seller for a refund once the Brand Protection Team gives the okay to contact them, even if it’s beyond the regular refund time period. 

[mags1230]

@vinay wrote:

 

 (edit)  Why would any seller be stupid enough to sell genuine cards in fake packaging.

 

Because they belong to this category of people/alleged criminals, that’s why. 

[memoryval]

Hello there,

First of all sorry for my english, I will try to explain our experience with those cards.

Regarding the new microSDHC 32GB from SanDisk and after seeing your photo I can say it´s not a fake, as the card shows the serial number printed on it, all the counterfeits do not have the S/N printed.

As we are official SanDisk retailer in Spain we contacted to our SanDisk rep. because some models of SanDisk cards , as microSDHC 16-32GB were being sold on Amazon an eBay at a very very low price, some cards were counterfeit, we sent them to brandprotection@sandisk.com and the removed the eBay listings in 24h, in that case were SanDisk extreme cards of 32GB at price of 4GB, were hacked cards.

Regarding the Amazon issue the response never come, obviously the retail price at Amazon does not match with the “official” price, the reason is that many sellers use to import that cards in bulk format, without blister much cheaper than blister version, the thing is that SanDisk DO NOT sell microSD HC 32GB in bulk format because mobile phones manufacturers as HTC, Nokia, Samung does not include tha huge capacity cards in its mobile phones packagings.

If you buy an HTC mobile or Nokia unlocked should come with a microSD of 4-8GB, but not 32GB.

We think that those Amazon sellers import the SanDisk cards from a “official” factory but without the SanDisk distribution channels, that could be the reason this seller sells genuine cards in fake packaging.

On the other part we “suffer” the changings SanDisk are doing from some months ago changing the speed classes on its SDHC cards.

Currently SanDisk has launched the microSDHC 32GB in two formats, class-2 and class-4 , we have tested both models with benchmarking softwares as CrystalDiskmark, H2testw, etc… and the results are quite similar, minimum write speed are 5MB/s in both models, class-2 and class-4 that means that the card is the same and SanDisk are printing the class withouth a reasonable criteria.

The problem is that SanDisk does not change the part numbers, we are receiving microSD 32GB from the same provider in class-2 and class-4 , both with the new carton blister.

Most important is to find the serial number that has to be printed in the front of the card , with the "made in … "  normally SanDisk counterfeits does not have the serial number printed.

Also in your photo the “class-4” logo appears in different place as the SanDisk official cards we have received, class-4 for logo is printed in the center of the card and your photo appears at the upper right side of the card.

Maybe in this picture you can appreciate the diifference:

On the left there´s a SanDisk genuine 32GB microSD Class-2 model and on the left is a Class-4, look the class-4 logo in the center as appears in the genuine cards:

(same blister, same card, same part number but different class )

Obviously if SanDisk brand protection has confirm that your card is genuine you should be covered with the SanDisk warranty.

SanDisk genuine cards in Europe come with the retail carton blister sealed, so the only way to access the card is by cutting the upper part with a pair of scissors.

Please note as seen in the next photo, that genuine SanDisk microSD cards must have serial number and factory origin printed in the front, if not is a fake. If you still have doubts you can use H2testw in order to check the real capacity and speed rates of the card.

If you to SanDisk official website still appear the old microSD 32GB in class-2:

Sandisk Store

But we are receiving the class-4 from Jan-2011 , we think SanDisk will update the info at the website shortly.

[vinay]

thanks memoryval. i have seen some of your useful posts on other forums increasing peoples awareness about authentic sandisk memory cards. Do you have an uk store or do you sell via any uk website? I’d be happy to buy from your uk website if there is any. I have asked sandisk for any list of sandisk approved resellers for the UK but havent received any such list yet. I remember seeing some such list on the website referenced earlier (for testing fake flashcards)

the outer cardboard packaging looked cheap compared to the ones i bought earlier a few months ago (this was my 4th sandisk card purchased in the last few months). the previous one i got from play.com i had to literally cut the top of the packaging and wrestle with the packaging to get the card out. but this amazon marketplace purchase the packaging was some cheap cardboard and very easy to get it out of the external packaging. the internal blister pack looked like it was handcut and was not evenly cut, it definitely didnt look machine cut to me. i have a video / photo of that too.

i havent heard back from brand protection yet since their last contact a while back. am awaiting the results of their investigation. Its almost 1month now and i havent been able to use these cards yet and havent contacted amazon and seller as sandisk hadnt finished their investigation yet.

Atleast the test results were ok for the cards. Lesson learnt not to enourage a ■■■■ website like amazon that takes no responsibility for any suspicious activity on their website even when reported to them. Inspite of phone calls and messges I have yet to receive any acknowledgement or investigation being instigated by amazon in the matter even when I had to remind the amazon person on the phone that selling counterfeit products is a criminal offence(as far as I know). But looks like the law gets hard on the roadside small fry fake product seller but big fish like amazon are free to take a cut from the sale of counterfeit products without any fines or action against such sellers.

Surely if sandisk starts selling their products on their website for the market price rather than the marked price then more people will buy from official sandisk website than resellers. That way sandisk neednt give a cut to any reseller. it shouldnt be that difficult to sell at rates competetive to other wbesites selling sandisks own products at a cheaper price. Or atleast release an approved list of resellers who sell genuine sandisk products.

[vinay]

Brand protection has now written to me today saying, they cant assure the quality of the product and to contact amazon if needed. previously brand protection had written to me saying the card was genuine but now i still dont have a guarantee for a genuine sandisk card because it was in “non standard” packaging. This issue will affect all customers who buy from sellers who buy bulk products and package it themselves which looks like what may have happened in my case.

Am awaiting statement from brand protection to support my claim before i contact amazon on a refund.

I have also been sent a link to resellers regarded as safe by sandisk http://apac.sandisk.com/retail-buy.aspx . but amazon is already there on list and i bought from amazon.

[mags1230]

Yes, I see that Amazon.co.UK is on Sandisk’s list of safe retailers.

IMO, Amazon is included on Sandisk’s list of retailers as a direct seller and not as a middle-man.  Any other seller listed on Amazon is a third-party seller and, most likely, not included as an approved or trustworthy seller unless they are a part of Sandisk’s list.

It’s true that Sandisk doesn’t cover bulk-packaged cards under their warranty.   But that doesn’t necessarily mean that bulk-packaged cards are of poor quality.  I’ve purchased several of Sandisk’s cards that were sold as bulk-packaged, the lower capacity ones, and have had no trouble with their performance in the two plus years that I’ve owned them.  And these cards were purchased from Amazon and sold by a third-party seller.  They are low in price, so if they go kaput on me, I can afford to eat the cost. 

Just to be clear, these cards did not come in the same type of “non-standard” packaging like yours did.   In fact, two were shipped with only the plastic card case and, IIRC, one card arrived in just a small plastic bag.

[vinay]

Thanks Mags1230

Atleast the H2w test results were ok. So probably the cards are of ok quality even though i dont have the guarantee now.

Whats disappointing is the response of sandisk. Sandisk doesnt seem interested in pursuing people misselling sandisk products under ‘non standard packaging’ and claiming to have 5y guarantee on amazon website, while infact they have no such guarantee and are in ‘non standard packaging’. This process has taken more than a month and inspite of requesting a statement from sandisk to support my claim against amazon, now after 7days after last email i still dont have a statement from sandisk. My intention was to pursue these missellers by contacting advertising standards authority and if applicable the police for selling products in fake packaging and defrauding customers. But sandisk has not even bothered to respond to my request for a statement from them for me to pursue such missellers with appropriate authorities. If all I wanted was a refund i could just have forgotten the misselling and asked for a refund on day 1, now after 1 month and more and being delayed in making a claim within the required period, delays mainly because sandisk was investigating the matter and asked me not to contact the seller now sandisk seems to be dragging its feet even to give me a statement on the matter.

I have bought sandisk products ever since i can remember buying memory cards, this episode has left a bad taste about sandisk products. Not much can be said of a company that itself has no interest in pursuing people selling their products in fake packaging. I will write to the head office of sandisk now regarding the handling of these issues by the teams dealing with my complaint about counterfeit products. I will inform Which magazine. I can afford to lose the nearly 120£ i paid for the cards, but atleast i will make more consumers aware of the counterfeit products being sold on amazon website and sandisk dragging its feet in even giving me a statement or even telling me if they are bothered in pursuing this vendor selling products in fake packaging and mentiong 5y sandisk guarantee when in fact there is no such guarantee.

I might as well buy fake products from now on for lesser and take the risk of the product not working well, than bother paying for sandisk products due to the attitude of sandisk in pursuing the matter as described in these posts.

[pack]

Hey sorry for bumping this a month later lol I was actually just looking at a few sd’s on amazon. After seeing this I’m back n forth on it now. Do you have the seller/company name that you purchased them from?

[cheesedoff]

Hi all

I’d like to add my 2p to tales of woe.

I just bought and received one of these from Amazon UK, although it was through a reseller or somesuch.

When it arrived, it wasn’t in plastic sealed wrapping, but a flimsy carboard package, though it looked legit. Photos:

Front of packet
Back of packet
Front of card
Back of card

As you can see, the packaging isn’t right, the “made in” is on the reverse of the card, and it says Made in Taiwan, not in China which is what the packaging says. Also, and tellingly, the SanDisk logo etc on the front of the card is poor quality and slightly mis-aligned. And it says it’s class 6!!

I ran it through H2testw, and although it wrote 32GB at about 4mb/s, it hung while verifying at about 707MB, and the computer didn’t recognise the drive.

I have reinserted it and have re-run the verify, but thought I’d post this here so people can hopefully be aware. I have contacted Amazon UK, and they said they need to escalate it and I’ll be contacted in 5-7 working days they told me not to tell the seller, so I am now stuck. Meh.

BTw, the verify hasn’t even completed, and I’ve got :

Warning: Only 31772 of 31773 MByte tested. The media is likely to be defective. 1.8 GByte OK (3870656 sectors) 1.8 GByte DATA LOST (3801256 sectors) Details:32 KByte overwritten (64 sectors) 0 KByte slightly changed (\< 8 bit/sector, 0 sectors) 1.8 GByte corrupted (3801192 sectors) 32 KByte aliased memory (64 sectors) First error at offset: 0x00000000761f8000 Expected: 0x00000000761f8000 Found: 0x00000007c1be0000 H2testw version 1.3

[tapeworm]

Gee, no wonder you’re

[cheesedoff]

haha, how long have you been waiting to use that?