Need Help with Interpreting Emails from GeekBuying

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Geekbuying

• 

  MeesusEff on 18/10/2016 - 19:05

  +1

  Wow, i would be demanding an immediate full refund, if thats possible.. what did they say when you asked to cancel the order?

  • 

    [Deactivated] on 18/10/2016 - 20:18

    That was exactly my first thought. I'm still waiting for their reply.

    They seem to be very slow at responding to queries, which is not a good sign.

• 

  mskeggs on 18/10/2016 - 19:06

  +2

  Poor service from Geek Buying isn't isolated. I had to hound them for weeks for a warranty return.
  I think they are literally 3 or 4 people sitting in a HK apartment drop shipping things and trying to keep it all together.
  The result is that when things go smoothly they are good and cheap, but when they go poorly they don't handle it well at all.

  In your case, my interpretation is:
  - you paid extra for expedited shipping
  - they made a mistake saying TNT was available and redirected it to DHL
  - they said something I think applies to li-ion batteries, and in any case is backward, as DHL will accept Li-ion but normal post won't. (or did you buy an extra battery or power bank at the same time?)
  - They lost track of your order and did nothing
  - When confronted with their oversights they decided the best form of defence is attack and tried it on for $32

  What I would do:
  - tell them to ship your item immediately via fast courier, and supply tracking info straight away
  - refuse to pay any extra for this, you already paid for expedited shipping
  - do a credit card chargeback/Paypal complaint if they are not immediately responsive.

  • 

    AssociatedClear @ Geekbuying on 18/10/2016 - 19:43

    I think they are literally 3 or 4 people sitting in a HK apartment drop shipping things and trying to keep it all together.

    I'm happy to share video tours of the Shenzhen Office and one of the warehouses if you want.

    • 

      mskeggs on 18/10/2016 - 20:45

      I would be interested in seeing their operation. I have great curiosity about what happens in the places we are supplied from.

      • 

        AssociatedClear @ Geekbuying on 18/10/2016 - 23:08

        +1

        This video will show you some of it, but it's all in Spanish and a lot of the office has changed since then. The first part is about 1/3 of their office with people including marketing and sales. The rest shows a portion of the Shenzhen warehouse with unpacking, device testing and storage.

        In OP's case it was in Hong Kong and a separate place to this.

      • 

        mskeggs on 18/10/2016 - 23:13

        @Clear:
        BTW, I think it is greatly to their credit they have relationships with people such as yourself (although I don't know the details or if they have similar on sites like XDA or whirlpool or whatever).
        I continue to use them from time to time, even after some service hassles, because they offer good prices for latest tech and I know what I am getting (occasional hassles and all), while some other competing sites are a lucky dip.

        I hope in time to come I make a comment that says 'in the early days they sometimes had issues, but they have become very proactive at giving good service".
        Cheers for the link.

      • 

        AssociatedClear @ Geekbuying on 19/10/2016 - 15:23

        @mskeggs: That's the thing with online Chinese stores. The usual business ethics here in Australia don't apply there.

        Geekbuying's customer service has improved significantly since my partnership first started but there has been some issues recently and I'm hoping to have those sorted out.

      • 

        [Deactivated] on 19/10/2016 - 22:33

        @Clear:
        I really appreciate your honest opinion about the customer service at companies like GB, and that you responded to my post very quickly. One of the reasons that I decided to buy from GB was because associates like you on OZB. Unfortunately it doesn't work for me this time. Thanks again!

  • 

    [Deactivated] on 18/10/2016 - 20:23

    Thanks, mskeggs.

    I ordered the phone only. Your interpretation is the same with mine, except that I thought they sent the phone and the phone battery separately, which sounded silly but their email didn't make much sense to me anyway.

    Your experience with their warranty makes me wanting to cancel the order.

    I'll wait for their reply and push to get my money back.

• 

  AssociatedClear @ Geekbuying on 18/10/2016 - 19:42

  +2

  Shoot me a PM with your order number and I'll find out exactly what's going on.

  There is obviously an ongoing issue with processing and shipping from the Hong Kong warehouse. I'm going to talk to management regarding the issue and see what can be done about it.

  • 

    [Deactivated] on 18/10/2016 - 20:25

    Thanks, Clear. I will send you a PM.

• 

  Baebs on 18/10/2016 - 20:24

  They accidentally sent a cancelled order to me and pretty much forced me to keep it, I asked multiple times whether I could send it back via standard postage "it's too expensive, please can you just keep it there is nothing wrong with the product."

  Proceeded asked if I could send it back via Economy express, "can you just keep it there is nothing wrong with the product."

  It's been 3 weeks of meaningless exchanges with them. Now i'm stuck with a piece of tech junk that i'll never use. Chances are they'd report it as being broken if I forcefully sent it back to them.

  E: In your case, i'd immediately ask for a full refund and make sure they haven't "sent it out by accident."

  • 

    merivetio on 18/10/2016 - 20:38

    I've had a case like this with the other GB, the actually infamous one (GearBest) - after over a month of my phone not shipping after repeatedly being told 'it will ship in 5-7 business' days by support, I ended up getting an Xperia Z5 compact in the meantime and started a chargeback process, as I wasn't bothered to have to deal with GearBest any further (at this point, it had been a little over 5 weeks from the time I paid for the phone - and no sign of it being shipped to me).

    Almost immediately after the chargeback started and I told them as such, they said they'd suddenly magically shipped the phone - but obviously, I wasn't going to accept it. They said too bad, and in the end I let it sit at the post office for two weeks when it was automatically returned to sender. Two weeks later, the chargeback was confirmed (there's a period of 3(?) weeks allowing the merchant to dispute it).

    The twist is that two weeks later, I get a message from GearBest saying my delivery failed, and that if I wanted it delivered, I'd have to pay $10USD for shipping. I figure why not - at this point it may have been a ploy to just get $10 out of me, but I was curious anyway. One month later, and the phone which I had already gotten the chargeback for, was sent back to me for a grand total of $10 in delivery fees.

    Edit: I forgot the last part of the story - the phone died on me and I sent it back for repairs - was told it would take 2 weeks, and I said that would be fine - but for some reason they refused to let me wait for the two weeks and kept offering a different (higher-specced/cost) phone as a replacement. It was a refurbished one, but quite the journey nonetheless.

    • 

      Baebs on 18/10/2016 - 20:56

      Wow your situation is like a blown up version of mine. So.. you paid $10 for it to be delivered to them but it was instead delivered to you + in the end you bought a refurbished phone??

      I didn't even get a chance to automatically send it back, they just skipped the entire signature process and put it in my letterbox + have been ignoring the word "return" ever since.

      It's been so bloody long that I decided to give up and take a tiny refund. If I managed to even send it back, i'd be another $10-20 out of pocket in delivery costs for god knows how long.

      • 

        merivetio on 19/10/2016 - 00:55

        Yes and no - I paid $10 for it to be delivered, but that was after receiving a full chargeback via my bank for the original item, and the replacement refurbishment only cost as much as the delivery to send the original phone (which I technically didn't end up paying for) back haha.

        Did they charge you for item you cancelled that they then forced upon you? If they skipped the signature though (and the item does require signing), that's on them, really, not you - you could claim with your bank (in a chargeback) that the item wasn't received, then if you're feeling like a good person you could pay to deliver the item back out of your own pocket, or - it would equally be as reasonable (IMO) to just pocket it as you tried to resolve what was entirely their mistake and they refused to budge.

      • 

        Baebs on 19/10/2016 - 10:26

        @nymerion:
        Darn I wish I could have gotten this advice sooner, I think i'm too far past that stage to chargeback. It isn't an expensive item by any means but i'll remember this for the future thanks.

      • 

        [Deactivated] on 19/10/2016 - 22:26

        @Baebs:

        Sorry to hear about your experience, Baebs. Luckily it isn't an expensive item.

        They have agreed to cancel the order and will give me a refund.

        I'm quite keen on having a Yotaphone to play with but it's not worth the hassles.

      • 

        Baebs on 19/10/2016 - 22:46

        @l1403l:
        That's good to hear and I agree.

      • 

        AssociatedClear @ Geekbuying on 20/10/2016 - 09:22

        +1

        @l1403l: I didn't want it to be stuffed around any further either so I made sure they refunded.

        These kind of things go down in price fairly quickly. It'll probably be in a deal even cheaper.

    • 

      [Deactivated] on 19/10/2016 - 22:24

      It is an interesting story with twists and turns but is also one that no one should experience.

      I'll keep in my the chargeback option from now on.

      Thanks for sharing :)