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Does CDR-King have a reputation problem?

My last entry about CDR-King sparked a heated debate among readers. It’s got to do with the fact that the company, which is well-known for cheap accessories and thing-a-ma-jigs, are now going into big-ticket items such as laptops, cameras, tablets and even windmills!

CDR-King started out selling blank CDs — where other stores were selling branded CDs between Php25 to Php100 a piece, CDR-King was able to sell un-branded ones to just Php5 to Php8 a pop.

The company expanded aggressively despite not going into the franchising business (apparently, all of the outlets are company owned).

The psychology behind the business model is that the items are practically disposable — they’re very cheap you can afford a percentage of the items you bought to actually NOT work out of the box. Sometimes, it is more practical to just thrown them in the trash than to spend on gas to drive back to their stores and get a replacement/warranty.

Due to its success in that front, CDR-King expanded its inventory to many other products — flash storage, networking devices, memory modules, electrical accessories, digital cameras, TVs, tablets, laptops and many more.

However, many of these items are already above the usual “affordable” bracket. In those brackets, customers are more sensitive about the brand, warranty coverage and after-sales support. The fact is — it’s very hard to put “cheap” and “reliable” as a label for a brand.

A friend, who’s into the import/trading business, tells me CDR-King has a 6% warranty provision with their suppliers from China. So for every 100 CDs they import, their Chinese suppliers give them 106 — the extra 6 is provision for possible damaged item.

So, when CDR-King went on and started selling “cheap” laptops, people became more wary about the unit and dismissed it as inferior. I think this is a reputation problem. It’s like having to convince people that 7-11 can serve a nice cup of brewed coffee which can actually beat Starbucks coffee in a blind test.

Then again, there are the thousands of customers who have had not-so-good experiences with their past purchases in one of CDR-King’s outlets. I know CDR-King is trying to improve their CSR by stating the standard warranty claims with each purchase a new customer makes.

Still, it’s a reputation that needs time to rebuild.

I think one way to measure the level of confidence people have on the CDR-King brand is survey what items they’ve bought from the stores. So what’s the most expensive item you’ve bought from CDR-King?

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Abe Olandres
Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines. He is also a technology consultant, a tech columnist with several national publications, resource speaker and mentor/advisor to several start-up companies.
  • 516 Comments

  1. 🥉 Bronze🏆1

    I think they really do have a reputation problem. I will most certainly avoid buying expensive items from them if there are other alternatives (online stores, etc).



  2. 🌱 Noobs🏆1

    There really need to change those impressions that build on them through time.
    BTW, so far is a USB Gaming controller for PC at Php250. So cheap! hihi :)



    • 🥉 Rookie🏆1

      Yeah! In fairness, the USB gaming pads are in good working condition so far. PS2 experience in your computer! Analogs are smooth. I bought the 2 controllers in 1 USB for a cheap price.

      I also bought some CD/DVD/Dual Layer at their store but they’re ALL defective. Even the salesladies are defective! Matataray! hehe! Kaya pag dating sa comp. peripherals PC Express parin ako, kahit mouse and keyboard lang.



  3. 🥉 Rookie🏆1

    i bought a lot of stuff from them. from headphones/earphones that last for a month or so, universal laptop charger thats holding up since i bought it last january. wireless router thats seems to be stable even though its on 24/7. i still buy the even though they might not last long. regarding the laptop well i will rather buy a neo or an msi rather than a cd-r king laptop XD



  4. 🌱 Noobs🏆1

    Yung mga media items at cables lang katiwa-tiwala sa kanila.



  6. 🥉 Rookie🏆1

    I’ve had two to three discs fail for every 100 DVD-Rs that I bought from them. Then there’s the issue of longevity. I keep all my discs in binders, most of which I also bought from them.

    Buying USB thumb drives from them is hit-miss. In my case, I take care not to drop mine especially after the warranty period lapsed. If you can take care of the devices you buy from them then you should be okay.



  7. 🥉 Rookie🏆1

    a wireless mouse for P500 and i’m satisfied with it.



  9. 🌱 Noobs🏆1

    I only walk in CDR King’s stores just to buy scren protectors, flash disks, memory cards, CDRs/DVDRs and alike. I’d rather buy branded and expensive gadgets from other stores. Madalas pang kakairita tech support nila and the sales personels, kala mo alam na nila ang lahat when it comes to gadgets. tsk.



  11. 🌱 Noobs🏆1

    It’s a case of “you get what you pay for.” I know what to expect from CD-R King products, which isn’t all that much.



  12. 🌱 Noobs🏆1

    Im my opinion their CD/DVD are the only reliable product. And in my experience 10 out of 100 pcs cd/dvd are defective.

    I would never buy expensive gadgets from them. Im using a canon 60d and I think they are selling battery grip for 2,500, cheap right? but I will never buy that cheap battery grip. I would never sacrifice my expensive gadget with a cheapy product from them.

    Soon cdr king will be a sari sari store. lahat na nandoon. i wont be surprise if they’ll be selling refrigirator, microwave oven, or even cars!

    and to think until now they are using mano-mano system. they write thier sales on a piece of paper. they can even afford to put up a POS system.



    • 🌱 Noobs🏆1

      wow, your sarcasm became a reality after a couple of years. -_-



    • 🌱 Noobs🏆1

      CDR King already offers refrigerator, microwave, and maybe soon even cars since it now sells motorcycles. By the way, they sell generator too! Priced at 3,500 pesos more or less.



  13. 🌱 Noobs🏆1

    I really think their after sales is poor. When you go in buying their products, they’ll be so entertaining and would assist you, but when you come back for a return, it takes them long enough to piss you before they could entertain you. Learned my lesson around 5 years ago, bought this wireless PS2 controller, didn’t work, also bought those mp3 players that were designed to last for a period of time. After the said experience, I only come there once in a while to buy CD-Rs or DVD-Rs. They give warranty, but the said warranty is surely the lifespan of the product. I almost ran into a fight with the manager of a certain branch for she refuses to replace the item that was faulty due to their mishandling.



  14. 🌱 Noobs🏆1

    so far all things ive got from cdrking are working.. from cds, to gamepads, mouse, keyboards, and the most expensive thing i bought was a 16gb flash drive way back dec. 2008 which cost around P1,280 that time. Its the black one that does really have the cdrking brand on it, and its still working, i’m still using it on my everyday work, also use it to watch movies. 2 years and counting, so its already served me well…



  15. 🌱 Noobs🏆1

    One thing I hate the store is that they don’t want to let you in when it’s just 8:45 or even 8:30 pm.
    Imagine you drive all the way from your work to the mall hoping to buy some blank discs from them knowing that the mall will close at 9:00 pm.But they refused to let you in even you beg them explaining how important you must buy the item.
    Calling the attention of their management “please change your attitude toward the closing time, let customers enter until the mall closes.”
    ps
    I’m referring to most of their SM outlets especially SM San Lazaro outlet



  16. 🌱 Noobs🏆1

    I bought a CD-R King Router which costs about P990 . At First , I was pissed of with their “knowledgeable yet unable to explain” technician at SM Cubao. Yet the CD-R King management of that branch referred us to another nearby branch which is Ali Mall Cubao. The technician knew that there’s an error encoded by the CD-R King SM Cubao Technician and yet majority of the problem was from the customer(which was obviously me and he was correct). The technician of CD-R King Ali Mall Branch said that I shouldn’t put the cable to LAN rather it should be on the WAN port. He was really correct. Then he said that the CD-R King SM Cubao Technician had his own fault. Since we were using BayanDSL, the user ID should be exactly on how it was typed. He reseted the router and input on the correct case of the letters and he let me also experience on trying to reset it. We were able to reset it and it was successful. By the way the CD-R King staff in SM Cubao , Ali Mall and in Tri Noma II weren’t grumpy as some would say.



  17. 🌱 Noobs🏆1

    I bought a TDK headset for Php550 here at CDRKing Davao. I can’t see other TDK dealers in this part of the globe and it just turns out that they are my best option. Satisfied with the product.

    Dealing with the reputation, media items (except for their CDRKing flash disks), cables and non CDRKing items are the best. The branded (non CDRKing) DVDs that they’re selling are authentic second class media except for Verbatim which has the highest quality. However, Verbatim is no longer sold at their stores.

    The rest, idk. Might be rubbish.



  18. 🌱 Noobs🏆1

    I’m curious as to the quality of their LCD TVs. The price is really appealing, but the company reputation is just keeping me from getting one. I don’t expect anything much but I also don’t expect them to bonk out within a months usage.



  19. 🌱 Noobs🏆1

    This is what I miss here… here in KSA they don’t have a CDR king store or the like. So you need to look for store that offers the devices and media that you are looking for.

    about the question.. yes similar to the AMD reputation problem, which was also featured here… they have a reputation and probably a CS Problem.



  20. 🥉 Rookie🏆1

    The most expensive item i purchased is a USB router. But it’s not a CDR King branded item. So far it’s working fine.

    The company built an image of being “your go to store” for low-priced computer peripherals. they will definitely find it hard to attract customers for big ticket items. if they want to go that lane, they need to change gear on their imaging tactics.



  21. 🥉 Rookie🏆1

    I’ll probably buy the 40″ inch LCD in the near future and see if it lasts :D



  22. 🥉 Bronze🏆1

    The most expensive thing i bought was a bluetooth hands free earpiece for a mobile phone. BWAHAHAHA 350 pesos, lucky to survive 350 minutes. Actually I avoid CD-King like the plaque; their staff are the most useless I have ever seen in any operation. Sheez, SM guys look professional in comparison. I prefer to buy my cd’s/dvd’s from office warehouse or even PC Express, more expensive but at least I don’t have to face the asswipe employees of CD-King. Would I buy laptops from CD-King. You gotta be kidding me!



  23. 🌱 Noobs🏆1

    I bought the following from CDR-King: blank CDs and DVDs, an optical mouse, a notebook cooler pad, a headset, and USB thumb drive.
    The thumb drive, I think, was the most expensive at that time, 2008. It’s still ok. the headset and the mouse are not working anymore. I wouldn’t buy anything from CDR-King that costs more than P1,000. Yes, they have a reputation problem. Also, they should improve their customer service.



  24. 🌱 Noobs🏆1

    I buy earphones from the them, and usually have a lifespan of maximum of 2 months. yep very disposable, but I can’t really convince myself to by those branded counterpart with 10X the price.
    Same goes with mouse. I’ve bought wifi adapter, seems to be working fine for a year now.

    But the laptops, high-end gadget will always be a no-no!! not only the build quality but the aftersale support is so questionable.



  26. 🌱 Noobs🏆1

    Kupal lahat ng tao sa CDr King. Lakas ng loob mangsnob at magtaray sa customer kasi alam nilang sa kanila pinakamura.



  27. 🌱 Noobs🏆1

    …masusungit mga tindera sa CD-R King… lalo na yung mga hindi kagandahan… pbbbbbbbbbbbt…



  28. 🌱 Noobs🏆1

    I hate the CDR-King customer purchasing system… mano mano pa nila sinusulat ang receipt! It takes up too much time that it took me 45 minutes to buy a darned set of blank cds, (they’re the only things I buy there) and to think there were only around 7 people ahead of me sa line at that time! People were grumbling so bad and were ready to pounce on the salespeople. There were dozens of salespeople but only two people servicing/manning the line. Some people take longer kasi they buy more complicated stuff… so we poor customers behind, who just need to buy some freakin’ cds, have to wait for all the questions to be addressed pa. FRUSTRATING!



  29. 🌱 Noobs🏆1

    USB wifi P350 for my desktop pc.
    so far so good :)



  30. 🥉 Rookie🏆1

    for me so far so good naman ang mga nabili ko sa cdr king. nasa user na yan kung burara ka, kahit anong brand madali lang masisira



  31. 💠 Supremacy🏆1

    Most expensive? Hmmm shop branded wireless router G….I think it was the very first released model in their store. At first I am having a hard time setting it up in PLDT, probably because those were the times that DSL new in PLDT, and CD-R king haven’t studied it set-up…with alot of trial and errors, I was able to set it up. Its been up and running for about 3 years I think (24/7…yep, ou hear it right, 24/7) and haven’t got any problem. :-)

    And planning to buy their shop branded Router N.

    It is very risky to buy expensive gadgets in CD-R King due to quality. But then again, that doesn’t stop me from buying from them those cheapos like CD’s, CPU fans, laptop desk, etc.



  32. 🌱 Noobs🏆1

    The most expensive I bought was a wireless router for P1,500. It’s been working for 2 years. So far so good.

    The rest of my purchases are DVDs, SD cards, and thumb drives. The usual cheap media storage items.

    With that said, I wouldn’t even consider buying big ticket items like laptops and TV from them. I’d rather pay a premium for reliable brands. Abe’s right; we can only disregard quality for price when the items are disposable.



  33. 🥉 Bronze🏆1

    Personally, I would buy branded memory cards and discs from them with no reservations at all, since they are probably big enough not to risk dealing in ‘clones’.

    They also carry stuffs that are not available elsewhere, stuffs you probably see in engadget or even Yugatech, that usually is the reason I drop by CDR-King everytime I went to the mall. Not that I buy them, although once in a while, I would… That if not for CDR-King, we probably would not get hold of, or get hold of at high premium on the net or in tiangges.

    AS for house-brands electronics, I probably buy elsewhere unless it too cheap to resist or not available elsewhere.

    They really have to change their system, the lines are too long and inefficient, sometimes I would buy elsewhere because the money saved for say, a couple of discs, are negated by the long wait (time is gold, remember?).

    They should use the barcode scanners they sell!!!



  34. 🌱 Noobs🏆1

    wireless mouse P450… still working for more than 6 months now. i will not buy anything that’s more than 500 in cdrking promise!



  35. 💎 Platinum🏆1

    I go to cdr king for the generic stuff: power supply, avr, optical media. Some say their rechargeable batteries are great. CDR king is always great when looking for spare parts, cables, connectors and of course recordable media.

    By the way, CDR King isn’t always the cheapest, external ODD for example, as well as keyboard and mouse.



  36. 🌱 Noobs🏆1

    dibale kung makabili ka nang Blank CD/DVD, masaya na ako basta nai-store ko ang mga memories sa Disc for a long period of time, nakasalalay sa brand, malamang ang motto nang CDR King, magandang serbisyo, kahit ano meron basta may kinalaman sa computer at iba pa.



  37. 🥉 Bronze🏆1

    Buy at your own risk. I believe, everything generic from china is just the Same. They just repack everything and put brand here in the Philippines. Just like the China Phones. They actually have the same models. Some were just branded as cherry, torque, myphone etc. Just be wise and know the risk in buying these items.



  38. 🌱 Noobs🏆1

    I hope more whiny people stop buying from CDR-King so lines will be shorter and no more irate customers who feel that the world is revolving around them



  39. 🌱 Noobs🏆1

    Bumili ako nung gamepad na mukhang Xbox 360 controller (380 pesos). So far, okay naman. Pero parang defective yung vibration simula nang nabili ko. Namamatay yung controller kung gumagana yung parehong motors. Ilang beses na rin nahulog, maayos pa rin.



  40. 🥉 Bronze🏆1

    Most Expensive Purchase: Tomato-flashed CDR King BRanded router with USB support. Working for 24 hours, 6 days a week for 8 months now.

    Most frequent purchase: Blank dvd-r’s. at least 20% failure ate although I have suspicions that the failure might be more because of the burner than the disc.



  41. 🌱 Noobs🏆1

    Got me a CD-R King 8gb Micro-SD for my smartphone. The thing conked out after three weeks. Never again. To buy electronic things from them. I also bought a wooden laptop chiller, some parts were missing. They replaced it by getting the missing part from another package of the same model. Crazy. Why did the sales lady not just give me a new one instead of getting it from a complete package?



  42. 🥉 Bronze🏆1

    i get dvds from them almost monthly, 1% of the dvds i got from them failed (prolly 250-300 dvds)
    last item i bought was a laptop cooling pad…which i seldom use
    other than that, i won’t buy it from even thumb drives…so i guess that’s a rep problem
    i consider stuff from them as disposable

    one thing i hate most is the purchasing! it doesn’t have a system



  43. 🥈 Silver🏆1

    The saying goes, you get what you pay for.

    They have a market definitely, theyre better off launching a seperate brand for higher end products with real warranties



    • 💠 Supremacy🏆1

      Probably you are right. CD-R King should have a different shop in terms of their high end products. Hmmm CD-R King PLUS? Like Shopsville PLUS hehehehe



  44. 🥉 Rookie🏆1

    The two most expensive items I’ve got from CD-R King are the 7″ e-book reader and an emergency purchase of a 19″ external LCD monitor for my laptop.

    What, you think I’d spend a minimum of 6K for a 15″ screen when I can get 19″ for 4K? And it is a *beauty*. And yes, it will last as long as it lasts, but while it lasts, it is a wonderful thing. *smile*

    I love my e-book reader. Already I’ve read more with it than I have in ages. Video quality is pretty good, too. I think it’s worth the price.

    Have been very lucky with the CDs and DVD-R purchases, I have little to zero failures per batch (usually I buy 50pcs at a time); that may be due to my burning technique and/or drive.

    Heh, my office space is a CD-R King showcase of sorts. Stereo speakers, that gizmo that allows you to watch TV on your computer monitor; earphones, card readers, memory cards, CD markers and so on. The ones that died, died after a reasonable time frame, those that didn’t are still going strong after 2 years of usage.



  45. 🌱 Noobs🏆1

    We are not born yesterday! Anyone who sells very cheap items will certainly raise doubts. And I suspect that their manual pos is one of the reasons they are so cheap. Needs to be investigated!



  46. 🌱 Noobs🏆1

    a pair of powerline ethernet adapters and as expected it failed me after a couple of months :-( hehe



  47. 🌱 Noobs🏆1

    When I think of CD-R King and expensive things just don’t work out. I’ve bought some CD’s and laptop coolers from there but anything over a few thousands pesos I go elsewhere for a trusted name. I already know where the products come from and the quality I do question.

    I rather go to a more high end place if I want gadgets with better reputation and quality plus after purchase servicing.

    I’m from Canada so my expectations are higher when it comes to buying a product. In Canada or US I can buy a product and if i dont like it i can return it within 14 days after purchase.

    The problem here is they don’t have such a policy as far as I know. That’s the downside. PLUS, the sales people never know what I’m asking for. They don’t know squat about technology or gadgets enough to sell something. People buy blindly. Sayang.



  48. 🌱 Noobs🏆1

    I have bought a megabeat soundbar speaker worth Php2100 and I am so very happy with it. The one thing I don’t like about CDR King is their service. Its too slow, I could have bought the blu-ray player yesterday if the service was good but I was really turned off.



  49. 🥉 Bronze🏆1

    Most expensive I bought was a 2-GB PQI Flash disk. Around 700 pesos. I won’t go up from that. Most CD-R King items have no approval seals from Wi-Fi(R), Bluetooth (R), etc. Meaning, most of their items did not pass their tests and regulations.



  50. 🌱 Noobs🏆1

    cdr king memory card reader/writer: 2 years
    ms duo adapter and 2 gig microsd : 2 years
    both are still ok and working as of this posting.


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