CarPlay MMI box seller to avoid

AnubisZed

Senior member
 Lincolnshire, UK
OK, so mcbutler posted a seller warning back in September (here >> https://z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=131736 )

The seller in question is "carsara MT Store" and the item is this one (well actually it's the previous version as they have changed it now).. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001063666209.html?spm=a2g0s.8937460.0.0.403d2e0e0qcmpu
Now in my installation video (here >> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jY-pSPUz0IU&t=), on this site and on the Facebook groups, I've recommended this seller to other members and quite a few have bought these boxes without issue, but a few have had issues with the boxes, some have been easily resolved but a couple haven't.
Now when I hear about this I take it personally, as I've made a recommendation, and see what I can do to help. In this case with Mark I've also been contacting the seller to see what can be done, and to cut a long story short basically the seller has stopped responding to either Mark or myself, which is simply not good enough and has left Mark with an unusable MMI box of which he has now had to remove.

Now to put some clarity here to my original recommendation, I used this seller myself after some research, I placed my order, received it and installed it all without talking to the seller at this point. There were no real installation instructions (like most things from AliExpress!!), but I had Google and other BMW forums to help, although it was relatively straightforward anyway. I did, since, contact the seller for some technical help and he sent me a firmware update (and I've had a couple since) and to be honest was reasonably helpful even though not always responding very quickly (after all they sell a lot of stuff so I put it down to time and possibly a language barrier).
They have now changed the design of these boxes (which has created other problems, but that's not what this is about) and I think anything to do with the older ones is simply not being supported anymore, even though that's not really good enough.

So, in short, I no longer recommend this seller and I've removed the links in my videos, but that's your choice. Saying that though if you do buy one of these boxes and would like some help then give me a shout and I'll still see what I can do, not via the seller but on a personal basis as I've got quite a bit of knowledge of these now.

As for the newer style of MMI boxes I'm still trying to find the best way of setting these up so that I can help here as well, more on that when I have more to give.

Sorry to be the bearer of crappy news, really don't like to diss a seller but when needs must :thumbsdown: :!:
 
Good that you posted this up…might save a few people from a lot of frustration :thumbsup:

Had a what appeared to be a great Xtron head unit for another vehicle go bad after a few weeks…but it seems that they are offering support :thumbsup:
 
I've been wanting to order one of these for a while but after reading this I'm hesitant...

Should I go for a different seller - any experiences? E.g.Mekede (https://www.aliexpress.com/store/3893034)? I suppose the boxes are the same, regardless.

What are the other problems with this newer style of boxes?

Thanks!
 
fantomass said:
I've been wanting to order one of these for a while but after reading this I'm hesitant...

Should I go for a different seller - any experiences? E.g.Mekede (https://www.aliexpress.com/store/3893034)? I suppose the boxes are the same, regardless.

What are the other problems with this newer style of boxes?

Thanks!

I bought mine from Alibaba. Although generally that site is used for wholesale or bulk purchases, I purchased mine as a sample of merchandise as I considered importing them in for resale. You can see the link below to the item and it looks like they are still selling the old style box. I had a few issues but the sales agent I dealt with, Terry was always helpful and resolved any issues. However from my experience with dealing with China, one minute they can be helpful but the next minute they can refuse to solve the problems which is why I always pay with PayPal. It's really very unpredictable.

https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Apple-CarPlay-interface-add-on-adapter_1600053087730.html?spm=a2700.12243863.0.0.2ce83e5fBVzJIS
 
Thank you Silverstar! I'm curious whether AnubisZed recommends getting the old style while possible, or the new one. What's the difference apart from the silver design of the new one?

Edit: looked at the photos again and (assuming they're correct), there seem to be at least two different new silver models (the one from Mekede and the one from Carsara MT look a bit different), so I will definitely wait for the expert's opinion, so I don't buy the wrong thing :)
 
Well I'd suggest that if you can find the older style box then do so.

I've had a number of members here and on the FB groups asking for help with fitting the newer style box as they all seem to end up with the same problems which is canbus related and the correct connections to use. Now out of all of these I've never had one single member contact me back informing me which method worked!! So in short I can't help anyone completely with these issues only advise a few suggestions, and I wont be finding out myself anytime soon as I wont be buying one of the new boxes for myself as mine is working perfectly. Shame, but that's the way it goes sometimes, the flow of information stops because once they have sorted things for themselves their interest ends and simply don't help others! :thumbsdown:
 
Quick update: the pictures from the Alibaba seller linked above are misleading - the old style box is no longer available. So I ordered the new version - and once I get to installing it, I guess I will be contacting you, Dave. Happy to share information back, of course.
 
It will be interesting to see if the issues mentioned with the new box can be resolved. Personally I don't understand why they changed the box, seems like they tried to fix something that wasn't broken and then broke it in the process! :tumbleweed:
 
UPDATE ON CARSARA MT SUPPORT

I am the OP in this thread and just wanted to update you all.

The seller has completely cut communication with me so I am left with a piece of crap in my car, a dashboard thats been dismantled and reassembled around 8 times and many wasted hours of my time.
Not to mention being robbed of around £200.
If you are going to buy one of these I would strongly recommend you find a UK distributor as at least you have some protection in your purchase.
Failing that pay with a credit card via PayPal and you should get a refund easily.

Please also share this rogue 'seller' on any other forums you may be a member of..

Huge thanks to Dave for trying to help :thumbsup:

All the best

Mark
 
mcbutler said:
Failing that pay with a credit card via PayPal and you should get a refund easily.

This would be my advice to anyone looking to buy from Alibaba or Aliexpress, request the seller to accept PayPal. If they don't move on to another seller. Sometimes you can pay with PayPal via Alipay which is ok too. In my 6 years or so of trading with China there has been a handful of times when I have to use PayPal to get my money back due to zero or unsatisfactory after sales support and each time I have had a full refund from PayPal without any headaches. Some sellers will try to tell you that Aliexpress / Alipay offers buyers guarantee but from what I've seen it isn't very good.
 
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