Sunday 29 July 2012

Fake Vs Authentic Happycall Pan (Double Sided Pressure Pan)

Fake Vs Authentic Happycall Double Sided Pressure Pan
By SuperbMothers

Picture 1 - Happycall Double Sided Pans Jumbo Grill & Standard
This blog entry should have been posted on late April but due to our work commitments, it is delay till today. The information here are update to date as recent as 25 Jul 2012. Enjoy reading.

Forewords
In our world today, fakes or clones are everywhere especially when the product is popular. We all heard about imitation iPhone, fake eggs even fake Apple Store! Clones and fakes are spawning everywhere. As consumer like you and i, we are more worries the negative impacts produced clones and fake, especially the fakes; as mostly are made of toxic and inferior materials that endangers our health and being. The blog here is an update expansion of the Happycall FAQ aims to share more information how to check and get an authentic Happycall's cookware.

The rise of the fake Happycalls
Long before the Red Happycall invasions. The first gen Happycall (black colour, with no silicon gasket) already existed 4 to 5 years ago. They are brought in from Malaysia. Without the silicon gasket, the 1st Gen leaks whenever flipping side ways.
Picture 2 -Export version of Happycall Standard Pan, handles is a like duck's beak
In 2011, Lejel, a Home TV Shopping company from South Korea debuts the famous "Red Army" that invades the kitchen of the early adopters. The duck beak like handle without any hook hole (aka Standard Export, Picture 2) becomes the market talks of home makers around the town. By the 3rd quarter of 2011, the Standard Export version of double sided pressure pans become so popular, the second waves of adopters started to buy from forums and Gmarket (Now know as Qoo10 now) lured by the significant discount from Lejel's price. As the wildfire spreads, the wolves stealthy  sneaked into the hot market. In fact the first group that cries woke of the fake Happycall are the Gmarket's vendors themselves who are fighting for the market share. Out of the sudden, nobody were sure the Happycall pans they bought are genuine, as fakes imported from China from some early sellers, surfaced and cheated many unaware buyers. This is the begin of the fakes.

Picture 3 - Happycall Standard Domestic Version, note the handle has hook hole .
Towards the end of 2011, a few Gmarket's vendors began to sell the domestic Happycall Standard Pan (Picture 3) that has hook hole on the handles (aka New Happycall Standard) to break the fear factor. Initially, everyone thought the New Happycall Standard was a fake pan as handles is different from what Lejel is selling. The first few vendors are quick to declare the hook hole version as a new type and the old duck beak type as fake. This statement was not entirely wrong, as a matter of fact till today, fakes only occurs in duck beak type. With the new version, the new vendors smashed the monopoly controlled by the early vendors. However, Happycall still manufactures the duck beak type as export version but started to add new marking on the handle in the late 2011.

Sales of Happycall Standard Export slumped. Wolves are quick to react, majority, knowing the majority out there are still unaware of the fakes. The fakes and clones invades the neighbourhoods and pasar malam (night market) selling to aunties. Fly by night vendors whom advertise selling the new version or lower the price to lure new buyers but shipped only fake to them.

Today, there are more authorized retailers other than Lejel, like BHG, Courts, FairPrice Xtra, Isetan, John Little, OG, Tangs. However, the price of authorized retailers are still much higher than online purchase. Therefore more people still like to purchase online and we need to arms ourselves with the knowledge to get a healthy good deals.

Spot the Differences
1) Hook Hole vs Non Hook Hole Handle
Picture 4 - Duck Beak (Without Hookhole) vs New Handles (Hookholes)
The picture is done by us last year and it is quite self explain. The only fact that is not entirely correct is the  word OLD. Happycall still produce the non hookhole version. Korean domestic version are hookhole and there is a reason behind it.
Picture 5 - Happycall Merchandise Rack in Korea Shopping Mall
Picture 5 shows a typically rack selling Happycall's pan in a Korea's shopping mall. The pans are all hook up for sale, that explains the why Korea domestic version have hookhole. In contract, Picture 6 shows Happycall shown in our shopping mall like Isetan are all box up, thus no need the hookhole.
Picture 6 - Happycall Pan in box sold in Tampines Courts Megastore 
Here are the some pictures so some variations of handles of the Happycall Pan.
Picture 7 - Middle East variation of Happycall Ocher Deeper
Middle East Ocher Deeper (Picture 7), this is a variation contribute by one of the reader in the Middle East, it has the duck beak handle.
Picture 8 - Handle of Ocher Jumbo Grill
Picture 8 shows the handles of Ocher Jumbo Grill, which is almost the same as the new Red Jumbo Grill capture during our visit to Istean @ Nex Shopping Centre (Picture 9)
Picture 9 - Happycall Red Jumbo Grill
Happycall Jumbo Red (Older), Picture 10, the hookhole is similiar to New Happycall Pan but it has the the 3 circles designs instead of the single rounded rectangular design of all other Happycall Pan.
Picture 10 - Older Model of Happycall Red Jumbo
2) Stickers, Hologram & Boxes
a) Stickers
Picture 11 - Sticker on the inner of  the pan, the (R) logo should be visible
The Happycall Pans used to ship with a sticker inside the pan paste on the upper pan. For fake Happycall, the (R) is usually not visible and appears as a red dot. Newer fake pan fixed the (R) issue. Therefore from June 2012 onwards, newer Happycall Pan are not shipped with the sticker anymore.

b) Holograms (Authenticity Seals) 
Picture 12 - Happycall Hologram on the retail box
The authenticity seals (hologram, picture 12) is paste on the box for retailing set in shopping mall only. It resemble the one shown here taken from the Middle East set. As it is a hologram, the happycall logo is 3D instead of the low quality 2D fakes used.

c) Boxes
Picture 13 - Which are the real boxes?
Have you guess correctly, which is the real Happycall box? The answer is A & B. You can see that Fake Happycall Pan has similar boxes compare to the original one. Other than the hologram which it may or may not have on the box. You can't really tell which are the real one unless you examine the pans.
Picture 14 - Many paper boxes for Happycall Pan
Is the Happycall comes in brown paper like those in Picture 14 real? It really depends but usually fake pans shipped in colour box like those in Picture 13. Brown Happycall packing like the one above varies from sellers, you can see that i have at least 8 different design but all the content are real.

3) Stamps
The metal engraves on Happycall use to only 2 lines. 1st Line, Made in Korea, 2nd Line Original. Fake Happycall pan will usually have a very fast engraving on the metal which is not very easy recognizable unless you place the original and fake side by side. At the end of 2011, Happycall Pan start to engrave the 3rd line starting with AA0x, where x probably denote the batches. The latest we seen in Jul 2012 is up to AB04.
Picture 15 - New Engraves at Handles
Fake Happycall Pan, usually occurs in the duck lip Standard Happycall Pan. Above the Made in Korea engraves, the red metal part is usually concave as shown in Picture 15. However, Jumbo pans both Red Grill  (Picture 8) or Ocher Jumbo Grill (Picture 9), the groove is straight. 

4) Sealers
To be updated soon.

5) Weights
To be updated soon.
Original Happycall Ocher Deeper on Kitchen Scale 

Work From No Home
6) Rivets, Silicon Sealers & Venting Hole 






Reference Website
Official Korea Website : http://www.myhappycall.co.kr/
Official Chinese Website : http://www.happycalltv.com/


Thursday 5 July 2012

Spree - 7th Happycall Spree


Dear Readers,


Thank you for your patience. We have launched our 7th spree today. There are some new packages for the spree and if you want to buy the pots and pans individually, do visit our forum to find out the individual price and how to share the cost with others spree buyers 


1. Happycall Double Sided Pan Deals
Type A - HCP Standard (Korean Domestic) - $61
Type B - HCP Red Deeper - $68
Type C - HCP Red Jumbo - $82
Type D - HCP Ocher Deeper - $68 (Newer Pan)
Type E - HCP Ocher Jumbo - $82 (Newer Pan) 

Notes
Price inclusive of 
a) local delivery (except offshore island & restricted area), shipped from our supplier in South Korea
b) original korean & copied english manual
c) 1pc of extra silicon sealer/gasket (extra gasket @ S$3.50/pc)
d) extra gifts are usually given by supplier, will varies from time to time. 

2. Ceramic Pot Deals
Type F - Happycall Alumite Ceramic Set 4+1 - $178
Type G - Happycall Alumite Ceramic Set 5+1 - $223 (New)
Type H - Kitchenart Ecroamic Plus Set 4+1 - $148
Type I - Kitchenart Ecoramic Sline Set 4+1 - $158
Type J - Kitchenart Ecoramic Sline Set 5+1 - $213 (New)


Note
Price inclusive of local delivery (except offshore island & restricted area), shipped from our supplier in South Korea


3. Diamond Pan Sets
Type K - Happycall Diamond 3pc Set - $130
Type L - Happycall Diamond 5pc Set - $191
Type M - Happycall Diamond 6pc Set - $163
Type N - Kitchenart F4 Blue Diamond 3pc Set - $79
Type O - Chefline Diamond 5pc Set - $95
Type P - Kitchenart Diamond 6pc Set $128

Note
Prices are inclusive of local delivery (except offshore and restricted area), shipped from our supplier in South Korea.

4. Delivery 
The delivery will usually takes 5-10 days after payment.
1) Day 1-2 - Received orders, verified payment, order placement, packing of goods, arrange for courier pickup.
2) Day 3-4 - Pickup by courier, shipped to airport, flight, custom check, pickup by local courier.
3) Day 5 - Sort Order, Dispatched of parcel to deliveryman, delivery to customer.


Note
a) During public holidays at both Korea or Singapore, especially when it falls on the weekend, the delivery will be delayed up to 14 days. 
b) There is no courier delivery service during weekend at Korea. 
c) Usually deliveryman will not call the recipient before delivery. If goods are undelivered, usually deliveryman will left a notice for arrangement of redelivery or call on spot for rearrangement.
d) Express delivery by Singpost can only be arrange to deliver 9am to 5pm weekday and 9am to 12pm on Saturday.   



5. Order and Payment
i) Step 1 - Transfers of Payment 
Once you decide the order, transfers the amount to our account as follows
POSB Current Account : 702-12247-3
ii) Step 2 - Email/SMS/Whatsapp Your Order Details
Note : Payment via DBS/POSB ATM Transfers need to MMS/Whatsapp your transaction receipt to 8234-8479 to verify transfers. 
Email/SMS/Whatsapp the following details to us.
1. Name : Receiver Name, preferred as in NRIC especially when parcel is via Singpost.
2. Contact No :
3. Email : We will notify tracking number and verification of payment thru email.
4. Shipping Address : 
5. Orders : eg. 1 x Ocher Deeper + 2 additional Silicon Gasket
6. Transfer Amount : $68 + $7 = $75
7. Tx Ref : e.g ibanking posb, $75, 4 Jul, 7pm or atm (details on txn receipt)
8. Delivery Note : e.g Please do not delivery on sat or sun, the office only open from 9am to 5pm weekday.
iii) Step 3 - Verification 
We will checked for payment usually at the end of the day and revert back to you on latest within 3 working days. If you do not hear from us, do give us a call/Email/SMS/Whatsapp.


Note:
a) COD (Cash on Delivery) - This option is not always present, please checked with us to see if the option is available, there will be a surcharge for this option.
b) Self Collection - This option is available if the spare stocks are for release or you set the receiving address to us. Self collection is near Hougang Swimming Complex.
c) ibanking via other bank - The placement of order will delay until the payment is verified trfed to our account.


6. Warranty & Exchange
a) Goods are cooking utensils with no electrical parts thus do not carry any warranty.
b) However, as the item is parallel imported, we do have 1:1 exchange policy if the goods arrived damaged. Please email/SMS/MMS/Whatsapp the following when the goods arrived damage 
(i) Photos of Box on arrival (is the box damaged) 
(ii) Photos of the defected parts 
(iii) Photos of the waybills attached on the delivery box.  
c) Exchange will be at AMK Hub during weekend unless otherwise we make other arrangement with you.


7. Product Details
Up Soon


8. Product FAQ
Q1. Is the product authentic? 
The above items in the spree are authentic from suppliers (retailers) in South Korea. We often purchase and sample the items from our suppliers. All free gifts from the original manufacturer are also authentic e.g silicon gasket. We do not endorse the quality of free gifts given by our supplier that are not originated from the manufacturer e.g facial mask. We urge reader to read our Happycall FAQ to find out more how to spot fake Happycall products. 


Q2. Why our price is lower than retails store and tv shopping?
We source our goods from South Korea's wholesalers/retailers. As we do group buy, the Korean retailers are able to give us a good price for the spree. 


Q3. Differences between Red & Ocher Series and differences of the Type 
Ocher is a later series from Red. The Ocher is a clay that can help to remove odors from food. The others differences are already described in Happycall FAQ, below is a summary of differences.

Q4 Differences between Ecoramic Plus, Ecoramic Sline & Happycall Ceramic?
Kitchenarts' Ecoramic Pot is the first gen, non stick, easy to wash, Ceramic Pots introduce on Channel U's shopping TV. Ecoramic Plus is the enhanced version that include spill free and stand-able glass lid.  

Ecoramic Plus has two annoying issues. Firstly, Ecoramic Plus' pots are good conductivity of heat and the whole pot is die cast where the handles of the pot are metal. Thus very hot to handle when heated up even with pot handler. Secondly, Ecoramic Plus do not have larger 28cm stewing pots in their series. Ecoramic Sline is the solution for Ecoramic Plus when the handles of the Sline' pots are make of bakelite. The drawback? Sline can't be use in oven to bake cake.

Happycall Alumite Ceramics has inner layer that are diamond coated so you can scrub up to 50k time even when use metal scrubs to scrub on it. Thus longer life span. The weight of Alumite is a bit lighter than S Line but the lid handle of Happycall is not quite comfortable for handling and the glass is a bit too dark to see the content properly. 


9. Contact Us
Email : mummyissavvy@gmail.com
Contact/Whatsapp : 8234 8479
Forum : Kiasu Parents