Hengjia Shop Lin Wang, Petland527, Elite-Tek Dishonest eBay seller Lin Wang (Petland527) and poor Elite-Tek products Calgary, Alberta Canada

I bought the ELITE-TEK SH-9888 DOG TRAINING COLLAR from Lin Wang, a Canada-based eBay retailer. Lin Wang runs Hengjia Shop at http://dogtrainer.auctivacommerce.com/. She sells Elite-Tek's electronic dog training collars under the eBay ID hengjia52766 and operates eBay store Petland527.

The collar is also described as the HUNTING/SPORT WATERPROOF BIG DOG REMOTE TRAINING COLLAR.

Before the device stopped functioning entirely a few weeks after I began using it, it was clear there were numerous quality, design, and functionality issues. More details of these are below.

The Elite-Tek email support people seemed to be trying at first, but limited English ability often caused them to politely answer a different question to the one being asked. E.g. Q: "Is X light supposed to flash...?" A: "This will change in a future version. Have a nice dog."

Finally, after the device stopped functioning entirely, I thought: No problem, as it has a two-year warranty.

For service under warranty, Elite-Tek email support's Jason quickly directed me back to eBay seller Lin Wang. I messaged her numerous times and called her, but there was no cooperation at all and a promised follow-up did not happen.

When I told Elite-Tek's Jason, he stopped responding, too.

EBay said they would take action against the seller, but they would not tell me what the action would be. The only certainty is that it will not benefit me at all. It was a waste of time contacting them at all.

This manufacturer, product and retailer are to be avoided. There are far, far better, more competitively priced devices out there. It is worth taking the time to research so you can get exactly what you want for your purposes. I wish I had taken that time myself. The product is not fit for its purpose, manufacturer Elite-Tek does not back its own warranty, and eBay seller Lin Wang shirks her responsibilities.

Here are some of the device's shortcomings:

The battery in the receiver is permanently fixed and cannot be changed. That means the receiver is in fact disposable, raising issues about durability, value, and environmental pollution.

Matching receiver and transmitter is a very hit-and-miss, tedious process. There will be a multitude of failed attempts for every success.

Instructions in the user's manual are badly translated into English from Chinese. In many cases they are difficult to follow and/or inaccurate.

The anti-bark auto setting for the collar does not function correctly. There is often no reaction to loud barks, and then a correction will be given for a soft growl.

The transmitter offers "shortcuts" to the tone, vibrate and shock training functions. To utilise the shortcuts, the user must depress and hold the appropriate button on the transmitter for three seconds, then the selected correction will be delivered by the collar's receiver. Any average dog trainer knows that a correction must be given to the animal under training within a second or so of the inappropriate/undesirable action. A three-second delay is unacceptable, and this function on the transmitter is useless. To get around this, the user will need to disable the corrections that he/she does not want to administer, then press the transmit button for an instant transmission. If the unwanted corrections are not disabled, they will all be delivered when the instant transmit button is pressed.

I note that the warranty for the "waterproof" receiver does not cover water damage. I wonder why.

The bottom line: US$149.95 + around 20 bucks for shipping totally misspent. The ELITE-TEK SH-9888 DOG TRAINING COLLAR is not worth even a quarter of that and eBay seller Lin Wang has shown that she cannot be trusted either as an eBay seller or at her Hengjia Shop in Calgary.