AliExpress

[Gary 4,066]

I had a glowing recommendation for this company. I had over fifty orders and was satisfied with all the orders. Now I retract that praise. The most expensive item I bought was a $321.56 Samsung S4 refurbished phone. The difference with this order was that the phone was tied to AT&T. It wouldn't work in Thailand. I was unable to change to a custom ROM because AT&T saw fit to lock the bootloader. The seller agreed to replace it so I sent it back registered mail. This seller is a preferred AliExpress seller. The seller had been paid for the phone and now has the phone back. End of story, no replacement, no refund and no replies to my many emails and messages. AliExpress refuses to help so they may be in bed with the thief seller. I paid for it with a credit card so I disputed the order. I have no idea if BoA will get my money back or not. Somehow I think I am screwed.

 

If you buy anything from AliExpress, forget about warranty or replacement, AliExpress is not to be trusted.

[yankee99 1]

Seems your complaint is with the seller not aliexpress. With out posting the sellers ad or more details i wouldnt try and take down a 100 billion dollar company based on a bad seller.

 

All my purchase through aliexpress have a limited amount of days to file a dispute. I havent had the need to nor do i know if they are even handed.

[Gary 4,066]

Since Hongkong Hi5 mobile is a preferred seller and they have obviously cheated me, I really would expect AliExpress to at least try to help me. Since this seller already has the money, AliExpress says they can do nothing. I think that is bullshit. The seller is still selling and likely still scamming customers..

[Trvlr 50]

Seems your complaint is with the seller not aliexpress. With out posting the sellers ad or more details i wouldnt try and take down a 100 billion dollar company based on a bad seller.

 

All my purchase through aliexpress have a limited amount of days to file a dispute. I havent had the need to nor do i know if they are even handed.

 

Amazon fully backs orders placed with their associated companies (Not directly sold by Amazon itself).

I remember at least two occasions when I used their services. Once a pond UV filter arrived broken in the package - the seller had to have known because it looked like a badly used piece. I informed Amazon, who immediately gave me a pick-up voucher, and UPS picked it up the next day at my home.

End of story.

I do not know who AliExpress is. If it is a Chinese company, well, the less said the better.

[jacko 8,578]

Sounds like an Ebay scenario a friend went through some years back.

I see Paypal have gone to great lengths to prevent that happening now, with deferred payment.

 

Sorry to hear of this Gary, sort of thing that really gets under your skin!

Edited July 27, 2014 by jacko

[Nightrider 340]

Never heard of AliExpress , but i use e-bay quite a lot and have had a couple of disputes with sellers to which e-bay have sorted it out and i have received my refund within a month of complaining ....!

[Gary 4,066]

Several years ago I bought a phone off eBay. I received the phone and it was locked to a Canadian company. The seller apologized and told me to send it back. That was also the end of the story. No exchange and no refund. That was the last time I bought anything off eBay. Shortly after he ripped me off he was banned from selling through eBay. That did me no good. I lost my money.

[Nightrider 340]

Several years ago I bought a phone off eBay. I received the phone and it was locked to a Canadian company. The seller apologized and told me to send it back. That was also the end of the story. No exchange and no refund. That was the last time I bought anything off eBay. Shortly after he ripped me off he was banned from selling through eBay. That did me no good. I lost my money.

 

I know a few mates that also got scammed in this manner through e-bay , but as Jacko pointed out they have vastly improved the way they make payments and also they handle disputes very quickly and fairly , basicly they guarantee that you will never lose your money if you buy through e-bay....

[graymatter 153]

The retail world is changing and on line shopping is growing rapidly. When we take the Amazon,com and Ebay of the world we are all hoping to get a small price advantage and we pat ourselves on the back when it happens. This has some negative effects on our society with small retail operations getting squeezed out of the market and profits are heading overseas A few years ago, one in ten people were employed in retail and now the figures are less than 7% and falling.

 

As consumers we chase the best deal but we need to understand that there are risks. You don’t get the consumer protection that your own government has legislated and we quickly find out that warranties differ all over the world.

 

AliExpress is a consumer division of the Alibaba group. This is a resource enterprise making business to business connections. I don’t believe they actually sell products them selves but they put trade customers in touch with trade clients. AliExpress does the same but they connect retail businesses with retail clients. You save some money but lose some protection, If you buy a product your recourse is with the supplier not the referral point.

 

I must admit that I like to go to a store to talk to the salesman rather than shoot off a few emails.

[Trvlr 50]

Several years ago I bought a phone off eBay. I received the phone and it was locked to a Canadian company. The seller apologized and told me to send it back. That was also the end of the story. No exchange and no refund. That was the last time I bought anything off eBay. Shortly after he ripped me off he was banned from selling through eBay. That did me no good. I lost my money.

 

Ebay is a facilitator, that's where its roots are and that's what it does. So I would expect crap like this to happen.

One reason I have never used them. I did buy a phone once, but I asked a friend who did a lot of business through them to get it for me. (No credit to Ebay, but that HTC phone is the best I have ever had, for its time. After 8/9 years it will still work if I need it to, and the battery has been changed only once!)

Direct sellers like Amazon are a whole other story and we should expect a much higher degree of service from them.

 

Again, I don't know where AliExpress falls, but Gary should take Graymatter's suggestion - he had several good deals, but one went sour. That's what we all get for playing the market.

[js007 795]

The credit card company should be able to help you out. And don't forget to check the additional warranties BofA might offer with all credit card purchases, in addition to whoever federal law provides. I never took them up on any of their warranties, but as I recall hey have a whole booklet explaining their warranties, etc.

[Gary 4,066]

Update - I checked my credit card balance today and was happy to see The amount of $321.56 credited to my account. I have heard nothing from AliExpress or their crooked seller. Thank you BoA!

[Trvlr 50]

Update - I checked my credit card balance today and was happy to see The amount of $321.56 credited to my account. I have heard nothing from AliExpress or their crooked seller. Thank you BoA!

 

Did the sellers credit the amount, or did BOA do it?

I think it should be possible to tell by looking at the account.

[Gary 4,066]

I'm not sure. The transaction is called a bank transaction. I would bet it was BoA because I was on active chat three times with AliExpress and they claimed that they could not help me because the seller already had the money.

 

It damn sure wasn't the seller because I did get a recent message from them. They said to be patient and they would ship the phone soon. That was after I told them that I was going to dispute the charge with BoA. Of course I have no tracking number.

Edited August 1, 2014 by Gary

[Gary 4,066]

it was BoA that got my money back. I got an email from AliExpress that they have frozen my account until they investigate. I had three live chat sessions with them ASKING them to investigate. I had ten unanswered messages to the seller asking what was going on. After the seller has the money, it appears that you are out of luck if you have any problems. The seller has his phone back and I have my money back, NO thanks to AliExpress.