CDR-King: A Media And Technology Provider Review

CDR King started as a CD-recordable provider that sells very cheap CD’s. That was around five years ago. Now, it has grown to be a big media and technology provider with more than 200 branches in the Philippines.

As an internet shop owner who rents computer and internet use to our customers, we discovered CDR-King when we were looking for computer parts and accessories. We were gladdened then to find a source of cheap computer accessories which we hoped would translate to more profit with less expense.

However, when we fully grasped and experienced buying from CDR-King, there are things that made us pleased and disappointed with this media provider. Here is my review of the popular media store.

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PRODUCT RANGE

The products offered by CDR-King now range from computer accessories to home appliances, health and beauty products, office and school supplies and many more. Here is a partial overview of their products: portable audio and video like MP3, MP4,MP5 and portable CD player; keyboards such as mini- keyboard, bluetooth keyboard, keyboard protectors, etc; home appliances such as air conditioner, electric fan , cell phone accessories such as batteries, cable, adaptor, wall charger ,etc; flash disks such as CDR-King, Kingston, SanDisk ,etc; home tools and improvement such as doorbell, power saver switches, water heater, etc; ink compatible for Canon ,Epson, Samsung and other brands; office and school supplies like ball pens, corkboard, filing tray, colored paper, shredder, etc; computer peripherals such as monitor, speakers, AVR, UPS , touch pads, etc; camera and accessories such as camcorder, digital camera, tripods and monopods, etc; arts and crafts such as paper crafts, stickers, mug press machine, etc; health and personal care items such as blood pressure monitor, digital scale, thermometer, massager, scrapbook, etc; home furniture and décor like cabinets, home office desk, mounts, clocks, pillows, home audio and theater such as speakers, turntables and many more products. CDR-King’s product range is so diversified that to enumerate all of them here will take half of this hub.

RATING: +++++

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CDR-King Price Review

CDR-King's products are one of the most inexpensive, if not virtually the cheapest, among other stores that offer the same products. The keyboards they sell are 36% cheaper than the other brands. Their 4-gigabyte USB flash disk which I bought from them 6 months ago is 20% cheaper than the branded one. Another thing I brought from CDR-King is a headphone with microphone. Its cheapest set costs 40% lesser than others of the same specifications. As for the PS/2 optical mouse, which we used back than because it was preferred by our customers who are mostly playing virtual games, it is less than half the price of other brands until now.

RATING: +++++

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CDR-King Product Durability Review

Sadly, all the products which I bought and mentioned above, except for the CD’s, only lasted for one to three months. I am not exaggerating. The flash disk, in particular, lasted for only 2 months. I was wondering why it got very hot while it was inserted in the USB port of my CPU so I removed it. When I used it again, it was not functioning anymore. They may have warranty for each product but I didn’t bother with it anymore. I just bought new ones from the other stores. Since my husband realized that all the products we bought at CDR-King don’t last, we don’t buy some of their products anymore. There are computer peripherals that are used heavily in our computer shop like the keyboard, headphones and mouse. We opted for more expensive and branded ones since they last way too long than the CDR-King-made products. However, I occasionally buy CD's from them since they seem to last longer. I also bought a cooling pad two months ago and it seems to be performing very well; with no sign of being easily broken. Since it seemed durable, I bought another one and I have no complaints so far.

In the internet forums posted by those who also bought products from CD-King, many expressed their complaints. CDR-King products are in their words, crappy, because they don’t last long. One said that he bought a speaker-woof for his PC and it lasted only 20 days. While another said that the AP router he bought lasted for 2 years. So it all comes down to what particular product you bought from them. It seems you will be lucky to have bought a quality one. In relation to its price, it would be worth thinking if the cheap price outweighs the durability question of the CDR-King products.

RATING: ++

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CDR-King Customer Service Review

Their stores are mostly located in shopping malls where it is cool, literally. But when you enter their store, you have to fall in line for quite a number of minutes, which would give you the first sign of dissipating coolness that you feel when you first entered the store. If by any chance you got unlucky, you have to wait for at least 30 minutes or more before a salesman or saleslady cater to your needs. And mind you, the queues are always long. Your head will now start to heat up if you have to wait longer before you can buy a thing or two. And when you reach the end of the line, so to speak, you’ll be greeted by a harassed, unsmiling employee-at least this is what I usually experience in all my visits at CDR-King stores. These are the usual steps when purchasing from them: She would ask me what I want, I would tell or point to her the particular product displayed at the counter or on the walls. She would get it, I would choose from the given selection, she would write the purchase specifications and price on the receipt, she would then call and ask the supervisor or whoever is it authorized to sign the receipt, gets my payment, return my change and seal my purchase in a paper bag. These basically is the process of buying from CDR-King, which I and many others don’t like because it takes so much time, not to mention the time spent for falling in line earlier. Unlike in other stores where you just proceed to the cashier and he/she just punches the purchase in the cash register, CDR-King still employs the manual procedure. And to think that they are selling supposedly high tech gadgets!

What peeve us more are some customers who would buy a variety of products; thereby making the waiting game much longer. Of course we can’t blame them. We just hope that with the numerous customers flocking to their store, they will improve their service. After all, they owe it to their loyal customers.

RATING: +

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CONCLUSION

The decision still comes from the customers if falling in line for a particular period of time before reaching the salesclerk is worth the really cheap price of the CDR-King products. Also, it is up to them to decide whether CDR-King products are worth keeping or are just another crappy material worthy of the thrash bin.

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