Unstabe MTP mount Android device on Linux

I have Linux Mint 17.1 (rebecca) MATE edition and a HTC One mini 2. My computer is able to mount the device, and I sometimes get access to both the inteal memory and the SD card in the phone.

However, behavior is VERY unstable. Sometimes, after the device is mounted, it would unmount and later remount again. This would happen in the middle of file transfer sometimes. Other times, however, the device won't mount at all.

Almost always I also get flooded with error pop-up windows saying:

Unable to mount Android Phone
Unable to open MTP device '[usb:002,042]'

(the numbers change as more and more erros message windows start appearing).

When I plug in a Samsung tablet I observe similar behevior. My computer is a Lenovo Ideapad U430p laptop.

Any idea on what could be the reason? I have no clue on how to diagnose the problem or find out what's the package/configuration that is failing.