Timekettle Reviews 48

I bought the Timekettle W4 expecting fast and accurate translation, as advertised. The reality is the opposite — the device is slow, and the translations are often inaccurate, making it unreliable for actual use.

I requested a return within the stated 15-day “easy return” period, only to have my refund rejected because the product was opened.

This makes no sense. A translation device cannot be evaluated without being opened and tested. If opening the product voids the return, then calling it an “easy return” is misleading.

Between the poor performance and the refusal to honor a reasonable return, this has been a disappointing experience overall. I would strongly advise others to think twice before purchasing.

Do not buy products from this company. We bought a pair and found they did not do what they promised to do so we attempted to return them. The company's claim that there's an easy return is, to put in plainly, a lie. The product is made and shipped from China. It pretends to have a US address but returns must go to China which does not accept such returns. After paying about $75 to return them with tracking they were returned and labelled dangerous goods. That return cost another $11.

Bought the W4Pro for our company as we needed Russian to English and vice versa, as well as Russian to Ditch and vice versa.

The delay is okay, though it does limit the fluidity of the coversation. The reasons I posted a 1 star:
1. The translations were incorrect. Even with simple words & sentence structure. Like "I will give you 10 USD for that dog" ..... it didn't even get that right. It translated "The boat will leave in about an hour" to The boat will fly in about an hour ..... it's just dangerous in negotiations.
2. The lag is much longer than expected. There is no "real-time" translation. We did our tests in the office, with office level WiFi, and still had a few seconds lag.
3. The earbuds are huge .... why does that have to be? It's like going back years ago. Should be a better & more comfortable design.
4. I'd expect it to recognize the language spoken if using AI.

We haven't had issues with a bud dropping out or that it wouldn't work. All worked well. The earbud holder / charger is a bit strange, that it comes apart. Would have thought it should stay together.

I bought the W4Pro and the X1 and in both cases the translation was so bad it was dangerous because the dialog was so wrong and was causing major issues. The main language I have used is Vietnamese and it is simply less than useless. I am returning both for a refund. The X1 I bought from Amazon and there weere items missing from the box so I suspect it had already beenm returned once before - so dissapointed.

Warning WARNING....Never buy from or trust timekettle!!!!!! They will take your money and never send the item. Customer service will give you the run around and lie to you about any resolution. I now have my bank fighting to get my money back and have started the complaint process with the state fraudulent company and fraud department. AGAIN NEVER EVER TRUST OR BUY ANYTHING FROM TIMEKETTLE OR AFFILIATES!!!!!

Ordered a product. Ordered wrong version took almost a month and three different contacts with the company to get the wrong product refunded. They immediately cancelled the wrong order, but did not refund it. They never shipped any product. Despite that, it too three attempts and three weeks to get a refund on the money billed to my credit card.

I ordered the Timekettle W4 Pro earbuds, but the box arrived completely empty. I immediately contacted customer service, sent photos, and followed up several times — no one ever replied. I finally had to dispute the charge with my credit card to get my money back. Extremely disappointing experience and very poor customer service. I don’t recommend buying from them.

Worst experience ever. I was overcharged by almost 35% because the store switched the price from USD to GBP at the same number without warning. No clear answers from support, and refund took 3 weeks with constant reminders. Totally dishonest.

Why should I contact you? I did it 4 times and did not receive a single answer with a clear explanation. You are deliberately hiding information about the price change.

I ordered a set of Pro Translator Earbuds from Timekettle a week ago for an upcoming trip. On their website, it clearly states UK delivery in 3–5 days, which gave me plenty of time before I travel (14 days total). A week later, the order still hasn’t even left Hong Kong.

When I chased it up, I got vague responses from what felt like a chat bot or AI. I was told the 3–5 day delivery only applies if you specifically choose express delivery (5–7 days apparently), but if you go with standard it’s “around 14 days.” Problem is: there was no option to pick delivery times when I ordered. All it said was free delivery on orders over £139.

I paid via Apple Pay (because I don’t like putting card details in), and instead of £352, I was charged £404. When I questioned this, I was told I can just return them when they eventually arrive. Not much use when I need them before my trip. I even pointed out I could buy the same item on Amazon for the same price, and their reply was basically: “Amazon doesn’t give you a guarantee, but if you want to order another set, we can put that on express delivery.” So, essentially, their “solution” was for me to pay for a second pair and hope those ones turn up in time.

What a joke. I really hope the earbuds are better than their misleading website and shambolic customer service.

What began as being enthusiastic and looking forward to using the Timekettle WT2 Edge Translator Earbuds became one of the most frustrating and disappointing experiences in a long time. It began with receiving a box that was crushed or bent on all 4 sides--it arrived via USPS but had come from China. It appeared that someone had actually tried to get into the box because the packaging and the owner's manual were bent and looked like they had been tampered with. Surprisingly, the earbuds, which were encased in a small white plastic case, were still intact. I contacted Timekettle's Customer Support group, and explained the damaged packaging, but agreed at their request to try out the earbuds first. However, when I attempted to use the earbuds to translate content spoken by a Japanese physician (from an online medical meeting), the content it produced was a series of unintelligible phrases that made no sense (ie, translated into gobbledygook) and certainly did not pertain to the topic being discussed. After the unsuccessful performance of these earbuds, I went through the gruelling process of returning them. First, they had to be shipped to a P.O. Box in California and presumably sent back to China from there. I was informed by Timekettle Customer Service that my refund would be processed through PayPal; however, instead of refunding my PayPal account, Timekettle indicated that I was the SELLER, which of course I was not and proceeded to hold up payment and require a bunch of information as if I were the seller. Timekettle's error in doing this proceeded to BLOCK my PayPal account for nearly 2 weeks. I was finally able to speak with someone at PayPal who adjusted the error and processed my refund. All of the back and forth with Timekettle's Customer Service and numerous phone calls with PayPal added up to many hours of my time in order to realize this refund. Just remember, these are not cheap earbuds and most people cannot just flush $345 down the toilet and walk away. I lost so many hours through this frustrating process. If you are considering purchasing anything from Timekettle, I urge you to reconsider, as their product did not perform at all as advertised and trying to obtain a refund will shorten your lifespan.

I got scammed into buying Timekettle earbuds, expecting advanced translation features. What I got was cheap, substandard earbuds with terrible sound and practically broken translation. It skips the first few words of each sentence, making conversations impossible.

And if you lose one earbud? The whole thing stops working. Yes — the app is locked unless both earbuds are connected. This is predatory. The functionality used to work with a single piece, but they removed it in a later update to force users into buying replacements or new units.

Do not trust this brand. It’s a scam. You're just paying for an app that doesn't even work right. Avoid at all costs.

I had high hopes for these translator earbuds, but the reality is miles away from the flashy marketing:

Far less efficient than advertised

Branded as “instant,” translations routinely lag 3-5 seconds, long enough to break the flow of a conversation.

Anything even mildly technical or colloquial comes out garbled, so you end up pulling out your phone to double-check—defeating the whole point of the product.

Useless in noisy environments

On the street, in a café, or in a train station, the mic picks up everything except the speaker’s voice. The result: the translation goes haywire, chops sentences, or just flashes “Inaudible.” Real-world dialogue? Forget it.

The claimed noise-cancellation algorithms simply don’t work; the moment there’s background music or announcements, the app toggles between white noise and silence.

Bug-ridden software & random translation dropouts

The companion app freezes several times per session; the only fix is a force-quit and relaunch, hoping it reconnects.

Translations often halt mid-sentence with no error message. You have to re-detect the language, wasting precious minutes.

Hardware flaw: left earbud won’t charge half the time

Even after a full reset and multiple USB-C cables, the problem persists: the LED stays red and the earbud dies after about 15 minutes.

Any meeting longer than a coffee break turns into a one-ear juggling act.

Non-existent customer support

I’ve emailed Timekettle three times (video evidence and serial number included). To date: zero response.

No hotline, no live chat. For a “premium” product, that’s downright unacceptable.

Bottom line
The W4 Pro is nowhere near the pocket translator it’s billed to be. Between its uselessness in noisy settings, chronic software crashes, faulty battery, and total lack of support, this purchase has been a major regret. If you need a reliable tool for multilingual conversation, look elsewhere—this model will leave you with nothing but frustration… and a dead left earbud.

Timekettle W4 Pro product
AMAZING PRODUCT
This is an absolutely amazing product and a real game changer for travellers. I had the benefit of testing it out with my Japanese sister-in-law and we found it to be over 98% accurate. The only lag time with Japanese language speakers is because of their sentence structure, however when I’ve tried this with European languages, it was amazingly fast.
I can thoroughly recommend this for both professional and holiday use and makes any conversation more enjoyable when the language barriers are broken down.
Well worth every penny spent.
Congratulations Timekettle.

In just a few short months, and relatively little use, the right earbud has effectively stopped working. The volume is so low it is practically inaudible. We all understand products fail from time to time. It happens. But worse than the inconvenience is Timekettle's service, which leaves a lot to be desired. They ask me for the same details (order details, troubleshooting etc.) over and over again, in what I can only assume is an attempt to make it difficult to claim under warranty in the hopes that I'll just give up.

I had an Enence but wanted an in ear device, so I purchased the $500 new version. The company rejected my card, then took 5 days to refund the money they had already processed..?? I contacted their customer service and a local rep (who no longer works for them) called me and said he had the previous model I could purchase for $200. It's junk.. Randomly says words and phrases. Doesn't translate consistently. Went back to my Enence that I bought for $80. Much faster and more consistent. DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY ON TIMEKETTLE!!!

I received the following from timekettle:
This survey is divided into three short sections:
Section 1: Your decision making process
Section 2: Your experience with W4 Pro
Section 3: A chance for us to learn more about you

Below section 2:
The survey of timekettle is more about them in stead of inquiring the joy of it....
Sorry guys... W4 pro terrible. Let's dive in...About Timekettle W4 Pro... terrible..
With 4 g and slow responds... No translation or after 4 or 5 sec
But no audio.
With wifi, yes audio, it's better but not, but 2 sec... Wait 2 sec in a dialog when you like to respond...but you must wait
It's Not .. I repeat NOT according the commercial... I have sent it back and obtain my money... Thanks for that service...and trying. By the way... service from my home country..

A kind of company does not reply any mail you send

I am a prospect and they dont get involved with me

Right ear bud didn’t work even after trouble shooting. Contacted customer service via email for a return. They refused to give me return options and were slow to respond. They then asked me if I wanted to keep them and get “partial money back”. Still refusing to give me return info. Had to call and request help. Try refused to pay for return shipping on faulty product. I shipped them back and 14 days have passed and I still have not received a refund.

Bought M3, I have tested it a bit and note 5-20 seconds delay in conversational tranlations. It means that you can't pursue a swift and speedy conversation like the company shows in their youtube commercials so the question is, what's the point with TimeKettle? The YouTube clips are missleading. Don't buy it. Wait a few years until there will be AI-models that can deliver.

Overpriced ($300).

Cheap build/construction (~$50).

Charges for each language download for offline use (i.e. cannot download languages for offline use unless you pay for each downloaded language, i.e. virtually useless without Internet, i.e. virtually useless).