Mothers Day Special: For a limited time only you can purchase a Xiaomi Mi Robot Vacuum Cleaner for just $399 with Free Shipping Australia Wide at RoboGuy. Comes with a 1 Year Australian Warranty. The Xiaomi Mi Robot Vacuum Cleaner outperforms robot vacuum cleaners that cost $1000 more. So hurry over to https://www.roboguy.com.au/products/xiaomi-mi-robot-vacuum-c… and place an order before it is to late.
You fail to acknowledge paypal's turnaround times + trip to the post office etc. Point being, it will most likely take longer to sort out than simply waiting for the vacuum to arrive + the additional 'work'. Also I wasn't even telling you above but you chose to jump in. Although that seems to be typical of your myopic problem solving skills. Carry on my good child. Fight the good fight, one day you may even find a worthy cause.
@gimme:
Turnaround will be less than 3-4 weeks of waiting for what's not even a certainty.
Oopdeedoo. A trip to the post office. Big deal…
Yep. All these people wanting a refund are stupid and you're the only sensible person. Pat yourself on the back
[@djc926]@gimme: guys can you both please drop this ridiculous discussion. None of either of your comments are in the least bit helpful.
Not going to say I told you so ;-) , but after Roboguy claimed the first time that the goods were finally shipped and everything out of his control I asked for some "tracking information" / ETA on the 2nds of June- back then I even got negged for the comment by some LOL.
But the point is if you have a shipment of estimated $60-80.000 en route from China YOU DO know where it is- otherwise you should not even think about running a business.
Post from back than (below) and Roboguy did not respond once(surprise) - but at least "gimme" made sure to comment…as he is not involved, bored or pathetic at all….
"RoboGuy- can we please get an update on the current ETA as requested two days ago!!!
I will just go with my gut feeling here and assume that with this deal being liked 264 times you got about 200 orders - so you are currently holding around $80.000 of our money!!
…
PS: Maybe you should post a copy of YOUR order + order confirmation to/from your supplier (just patch up prices,contact details etc.) but at least you could eliminate any possible doubt!!"
"Yep but I have asked for an ETA- so when does HE expect the goods to arrive (in Australia). I assume an order of this volume, there would be some tracking!!! And not just some vague within 30 business days… Fair enough if we get it delivered within 30 days. BUT he should know by now when he will receive them!!!"
Chances are it's coming by sea freight FOB. On payment the seller would have to give Roboguy a colour copy of the Bill of Landing. On that would have the ships name and code. You can use that code to see where the boat is within a few hours.
A PayPal dispute awaits for u roboscam!
The amount of claims is probably going to keep him that busy that he won't be able to respond to any questions on here anymore- oh wait he hardly did that to start with….
I just opened a claim as well. Ordered from the other ebay deal for $367 :Estimated delivery: Tue, 27 Jun–Tue, 04 Jul
Have you escalated claim? I'm thinking wait end of Monday for a response. If none given I'll write a statement to PayPal and escalate the issue.
I have and it's gone into "awaiting response from seller" status for now.
@djc926: what did you write in the claim? I might escalate mine tonight too. Have just bought from the other ebay seller with the cracker code, 400 delivered with accessories.
I have escalated and it says it is up to the seller to respond and that he has until the 5th of July after that they will review. I have written that he had initially quoted 30 days max and that this date get pushed out further without any communication (emails) other than via a public forum.
Guys, I didn't make the purchase but have followed this from the start. Maybe its more a case of a young bloke with no business sense and no communication skills at all rather than a bloke trying to rip off people.
I really think the OP is a kid trying this out and thinking everything will be smooth whilst making a quick buck. It's not easy and Chinese suppliers will always have you by the neck when you don't visit and follow up in person. I remember a few years ago with all the Weber BBQ someone here bulk ordered and made a killing. Worked like a treat but that is because it didn't involve Chinese suppliers and international shipping.
very disappointed in being lied to. I can kind of understand from his perspective though as he had no idea what was going on.
I think it's a very good lesson for him for the future.
Some lessons probably include
- partial payment and checking goods availability confirmation from supplier
- homework on supplier history and perhaps getting an agreement of timeframe from supplier and perhaps putting penalties in place
- offer option of refund to customers rather than force a customer to do something
I think he would have had less paypal disputes and would have been able to sell any outstanding vacuums if he had been more upfront.
All that being said, I'll keep my order and wait it out.
Oh thanks, this is my first ever paypal dispute, had to escalate to (Awaiting other party's response) - Roboguy has til 4 Jul 2017 to reply
Same here. My fingers are firmly crossed. I don't want the item due to the delay. It hasn't arrived, and we can't obtain a refund.
And we're the ones that are supposed to continue to be patient.
I remember selling some shit with PayPal as a method of payment… in the beginning, it would take upwards of 30 days for the money to be 'cleared' for me to actually take it out.
Pure speculation maybe, but I would probably raise the PayPal dispute asap so that the money gets frozen.
I was all for supporting a new business but the new ETA of July is not acceptable to me and I'm not willing to risk waiting on the chance the funds are cleared out of PayPal. Roboguy, Do the right thing and issue the refunds for those requesting it. You've shot yourself in the foot by not reducing the order with the supplier once you realized they had not shipped it. At least you will have the goods to resale which due to the shortage might mean you can break even on this.
I did my first dispute. Not sure if I've done it right. It seems to be just a message to roboguy? Any kind souls can help a fellow roboguy victim out?
This is also my first dispute after >10 years of online purchases. But under the resolution centre in the messages you can "escalate to PayPal". I just selected that "seller indicated shipment would arrive by now", and wrote a brief description as per Bluediesel's comment. https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/306334?page=7#comment-4819…
Good luck to all!
Roboguy victim lol.
In the worst case scenario, since Roboguy wants to stick to his terms and conditions and refuse refunds to people who request it(selective mind you) refund only certain people from the looks of the comments here, you can return the product for a refund and claim the return shipping cost from Paypal (from my understanding, correct me if I am wrong)
looks like that's the way to go, and I'm pretty sure it's not financially wise for roboguy to refuse the refund and proceed to send the vacs out knowing that they are coming back to him for a refund anyway.
Thanks for clarifying. Yeah, not sure why Roboguy is being selective with the requests of refunds and only refunding certain few. He defends that the order is already paid on May so cannot refund then still goes ahead with refunding only certain people.
This inconsistency is mind boggling.
If you paid by credit card then the bank can also help in doing a charge back if PayPal is no use.
Registered on ozbargain to tell everyone that Roboguy returned me the money back. It took more than a week, but the dollars reached my account fine.
when did you request for refund? And did you receive the no-refund email from Roboguy?
Yes, I did received the email 13 Jun 2017 07:07:19 AEST
Money reached my account on 16 Jun.
I did dispute the transaction, Roboguy reply said will refund but nothing happen til now, never had experience with a seller like that before just hold the money as long he can do til the last day.
No replies from my end for requests for refund (email, PayPal dispute, ozbargain) except for the email from 23 June. The way I interpret the email, it looks like he's put the money in for the HK order so he doesn't have the $$ to refund.
One of the worst customer service I've experienced from an online purchase. Below I quote his write up on the main page:
Excellent Customer Service is at the core of our business and we aim to make sure that every customer has a positive experience. If you have any questions at all, please do not hesitate to contact our friendly staff.
What a joke.
I don't know if this will help but I was in similar situation to you where I got a reply saying I'd get a refund and then no responses 4 days.
I noticed an email address in the trip to HK photos so I forwarded my email trail to [email protected] (not that it matters since it's all one guy).
I advised him that I have in writing an agreement to a refund and that if he didn't reply within a certain timeframe, I would raise a PayPal dispute as well as submit a formal complaint to ACCC as he had already agreed to the refund in writing.
Got my refund.
For me, it's not just about the delay nor do I think it's fair to call him a scammer. For me, it's the lack of communication and lack of consistency when it comes to customer service. I am grateful that I got my money back and hoping Roboguy can do the right thing by refunding those who request it.
@sparathecat: I'm thinking to reorder the Vacuum from Roboguy if people would start confirming they got the package. So, waiting till August or something.
Oh. Forgot to answer your first question.
Here is what I wrote him on 10-th of Jun.
4 weeks past. No updates, no device.
I'm going to cancel the transaction ASAP.
He expressed disappointment but did refund 3 days later.
Thanks koresar, the only disappointment is Roboguy.
Your request for refund was a little bit earlier than mine, but still if the reason for his refusal of refund because he paid the supplier on May should be applicable to you too and should have been refused.
Anyhow, good on ya to act early to get your refund and get away from this mess.
How do we know you're not affiliated with Roboguy?
I'm just wondering about the PayPal dispute process.
On 23-06-2017, I clicked on report a problem, then "I didn’t receive an item I purchased or the item I received was significantly not as described". I sent a message to Roboguy through this saying it's been too long and I want a refund.
Now, do I have to wait for his response, which I expect won't be coming? Or, can I now "Escalate to PayPal"?
Thanks!
You can escalate as soon as it lets you, sellers still have an opportunity to respond and provide a resolution before PayPal makes its decision.
Right. Escalated. Now I wait.
Dispute lodged. What a joke of an operation. Other than the complete lack of communication, the biggest issue I have is the obvious lie. You confirmed the items were shipped, and for any seller worth his salt, this means a shipping confirmation that can be validated. The items were never shipped. The time between when you realised there was a problem, booked/made your trip, and actually communicated this to your buyers is absurd. Get your sh*t together if want to play in this game. I have zero sympathy raising a paypal dispute for a kid who thought he could make a killing off this, only to get played.
"The shipment is finally making its way through customs before being put on a ship to Australia."
This tells me that it's not on a ship yet. Is it still making its way through customs? How long can customs take?
From hours to a week. If they do a spot inspection and the manifest doesn't match to the goods counted then you get delays.
Its 27/28 days from HK port to Sydney port. Plus customs and freight forwarding to Roboguy. Maybe 3-5 days on top. I import weekly containers from Shainghai to Melb and customs here usually take 2-3 days before it leaves the docks.
Can we verify if those pictures are his and not some off the net?
Is there a count on how many disputes at PayPal? His account is probably suspended right now due to the amount of disputes.
Woah, just went to check the comments here to see the overall status and found this shit-show.
Is anyone else like myself just going to wait it out? The theme seems to be payment disputes…
Yep, waiting it out
Feel sorry for OP.
I 100% believe the OP -
My in law has experience's exactly what the OP is going through almost monthly, but goods are from China. He has been importing from China for almost 10 years and every single container that arrives is almost either 1. Wrong 2. poor QA 3. Lied too on hundreds of occasions. 4. Not shipped, major delays. I could go on and on about the difficulties of dealing with the Chinese and he has over 10 years of experience in importing goods. Specifically steel, fabrication etc.
This is the reality of dealing with importing goods from Asia - specifically China/ HK.
Goods are always paid upfront. No running account.
Obviously, most of the people who are posting don't give a shit about the issues the OP is having to deal with, which I get. However, I just wanted to point out his story is no different to the thousands of others who are trying to make it on their own.
Good luck OP! Hope you get it sorted.
partially agree, i dont think this is a scam. (Or if it is, a pretty stupid one to be using PayPal)
I dont think him deserving of any special consideration though, because of problems with his supplier. he is a business and as such you take risks and deal with such issues as arise and in return you make a profit. If he cant deal with or doesnt have backup plans in case of supplier issues, he shouldnt run an importing business.
As customers these issues are not our concern, but receiving our products in a timely manner is, as well as receiving refunds if promised delivery timeframes cannot be met.
Sure it sucks for him to have supplier issues, but giving refunds to people is hardly the end of his business. The stock will still be there, which he will sell in due time for a profit, making good his investment. If i were him i'd be focusing on customer relations and getting a good name out there, because the way he is going there will likely be a lot of negative reviews
I have been doing the import and resell business for 12 years. I have never been shafted. The trick is to travel and meet the supplier often, very often. You don't visit need to visit the factory and goods, you hang out with your supplies and build a relationship. I guess my travel cost amounts to being shafted…
Besides, OP is not importing raw materials that can come in different quality of mixes for eg steel. He's importing a Xiaomi robot vacuum and there is only one Xiaomi robot vacuum. It's not like there are various quality trims.
If you want to be successful in this you have lots to learn. It not just some simple communications and click click bang bang behind the computer.
The OP bit off more than he could chew. He's not a victim, he was not forced into this. Doing business in Australia is not easy. People would happy pay 100Ks for luxury sports car and wait for months to be built and it depreciates immediately upon receiving but not with Roboguy.
If this item catch fire and burn down some property he will have a lot of liability due to selling a non Australia compliance electrical goods. Something for the OP to think about…
Having said that, I have a Xiaomi robot vacuum and I highly recommend it.
Would put money on this being a scam.
I tend to agree with you vapingwinnieblues. I have only ever been scammed once before and don't think this is a scam. In that deal it was simply too good to be true and the person did not respond at all. I think this is a young bloke trying to make something of himself and having a crack at something. There are bound to be some issues when it is your first crack. I have purchased and whilst annoyed with the wait time I am giving him every chance to deliver.
If it is a scam of some sort I have paid by PayPal and have up to 180 days to dispute it. PayPal will pay out on the dispute regardless of whether a scam merchant has run out with the money (which I absolutely do not think is the case in this one) so I have no concerns that I will get my money back if it comes to that.
I've just read through everything (having received the email from RoboGuy this morning). Personally, I don't think I am getting scammed. I have been through several Kickstarter/Indiegogo campaigns that ended up not putting out any product, but this I feel is a person still learning his feet in dealing with China.
I won't be putting through a PayPal dispute until the 29th of July. We have 180 days and his shipping time falls well within that time frame.
I think the OP isn't refunding all is because he doesn't have enough funds.
He would have paid majority of the money to the supplier already. He probably has a full time job and can only refund a few at a time.
I wonder what happens when PayPal can't redeem enough funds for all the refunds? Cause atm I think all the money is tied to the physical stock.
He would have his profit to work with even when the supplier and logistics has been fully paid. Not enough to refund everyone though.
I think he is still under 18, so the Paypal would be the parents, once funds all taken out they would send it off to debt collection.
roboguy is a business, managing cashflow is one of the challenges in business. He may need to get a loan to pay back the people requesting one, which i think is the right thing to do.
In the end, he still has his stock, which he will be able to sell in due time and make good his investment. All this feeling sorry for him is ignoring the fact that he is just another business trying to make a profit, and that his amateurish practice (and some bad luck with a supplier) has lead to this bad situation.
I was happy to support this guy who is brave enough to have a go at a new business, but his recent practice has been appalling and i feel him to be undeserving of any special treatment or support any longer
I put through an email to the OP, as I ordered the purifier instead of the vacuum. Given the large batch was with the vacuums… I'd have thought the purifiers might be done differently
Still haven't heard anything as yet and hoping for response before I do a dispute claim
Yeah, I have both so I guess we will see. Hoping to get both delivered together.
Reno, I completely forgot about other items Ordererd. I wonder has anyone received any thing from this seller.
I got a response only after posting on here… interesting huh
"Unfortunately the purifier is on the same shipment as the vacuums, with the same delivery date of 26th July.
We are extremely sorry about the delay in delivery, however as we have processed and paid for your order we are unable to issue you a refund. Also under our terms and conditions we are not obligated to provide you with a refund until after the 26th of July 2017. If you are interested we can offer you a store credit."
Part of me says to push for dispute given the time delays, other says give him the chance. I was happy enough to buy "locally" given the price diff (it's still cheaper to buy from say gearbest and have it delivered in a week…)
I don't believe it's a scam, but it's more of… lack of experience and lack of comms makes it a bad overall customer experience.
With paypal - assuming they process the refund, the OP would just have a very big negative paypal balance and wouldn't be able to do anything more on that account until it goes back into positive
I'm happy to wait it out - ultimately I want a local store on the ground with Xiaomi products. Would be nice to pay a good price for wall adapters, power boards, other stuff and not have to wait a month plus for delivery (this is of course assuming he will eventually hold stock locally).
Store credit? …to buy what? He has no stock!?
A vacuum…it will be here in 30 business days.
Didn't buy a Vacuum but bought the Qicycle from Roboguy (https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/306566)
All I've received in regards to an update has been about delays of a Vacuum. Not once did he mention the bikes in the generic emails he sent to everyone.
He hasn't responded to my emails too when I ask specifically about my order.
Has the shortage of Vacuums delayed the shipping of the bikes?
Is there a shortage of bikes too that you have not mentioned?
I am so close to opening a dispute after giving Roboguy the benefit of the doubt these past weeks.
I got the scooter and sent a message asking about it - got a reply saying that it will come with the same shipment as the vacuums. Really sucks for people who didn't even buy the vacuums.
Technically, this item is classified as a vaccum cleaner and that means that the importer needs to have it tested by the authorities before he sells any in Australia else he could be up for a big fine.http://www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/mobile0c9a66/biz_res/ftweb/pdfs/Businesses/Explanatory_notes_and_declaring_order.pdf
AS/NZS 60335.1VACUUM CLEANER – an electrical appliance
which –
(a) is a household type;
(b) is portable; and
(c) removes dust, dirt or moisture and the like from
floor coverings by suction; or
(d) removes garden refuse from lawns or paths and the
like by suction.
Class specification:
Hand held garden type –
AS/NZS 60335.1 and
AS/NZS 60335.2.100:2003.
Other –
AS/NZS 60335.1 and
AS/NZS 60335.2.2:2010+A1-2
Where does this leave Roboguy? Does this mean that the item is not fit for usage in Australia, so paypal dispute should be rather straightforward from here due to item non compliance?
Yeah this looks like an easy case where Roboguy has no way of countering it. Might raise my paypal dispute with this reason instead of the 30 days which I am sure RoboGuy was going to put up a fight against it with his whole 30 day spiel.
too bad I've already escalated with the (additional) 30 day comments, if only i can add this bit in to further justify the dispute. And if only roboguy would respond to the dispute so we can have PayPal sort this mess out quickly that would be great. For now, just gotta wait until the 5th..
Ssshhhh… might delay it even more.
The maximum penalty for selling, importing, hiring or exchanging ‘declared articles’ without ‘electrical safety approval marks’ and an Australian Certificate of Approval is $82,500 and/or 2 years jail for individuals or $825,000 for corporations.
This might not be an issue, if anyone else has commercially imported the unit before and done this testing its on record with the AU gov already. If not you can request the test report from the manufacturer and submit it for about $2.5k, takes about 3 business days to complete.
Interesting. Thanks for that..
This is not available via Aussie retailers so I would suspect that this has not been done.
Can anyone find evidence of compliance to AS 60335 for robot vacuums of any other make available in Aus?
To be fair he may have already done it (unlikely) but he should have given that he dispatched some.
It is not connected to the mains when in operation but I think he will still need to adhere to these rules.
Hmm, I am only reading NSW laws but that can take up to 20 days to approve and should be done before selling any…
No idea on national legislation.
Got this response when I asked for a refund.
We are sorry about the delay and any inconvenience this has caused you.
But as stated in the previous email, we are unable to issue a refund at this time and under our terms and conditions we are not obligated to provide you with a refund until after the 26th of July 2017.
Yeah but you're covered by PayPal
S10.1 You should wait a reasonable amount of time - at least 7 days - to receive the item before filing a dispute for an item not received.
Waiting an extra month is not 'reasonable'.
Yea, I tried to reason with him direct to no avail.
Will press escalate on paypal
As I said earlier (and others), there is no way he can refund everybody.
He will have paid up the supplier.
Paypal won't want this to go wrong either as any claims will come out of their pocket until RoboGuy could sell the rest and pay Paypal back.
I hope he did check the legislation though.. He legally has to honour warranty for 12 months etc too and, like I said previously, any failures will be a real pain for him. Other threads have users stating that they have failures after a few months (but others seem ok so far).
I doubt he will be in a position to provide a refund if yours breaks after 10 months…
I also got the same response even though I had touched base with him about ETA and a refund if the 30 days deadline was not met. We shall see how this back and forth goes.
I asked for my refund.
We are extremely sorry about the delay in delivery, however as we have processed and paid for your order we are unable to issue you a refund. Also under our terms and conditions we are not obligated to provide you with a refund until after the 26th of July 2017. If you are interested we can offer you a store credit.
We look forward to delivering your order as soon as possible.
I just got an email from Amazon about GST on imported goods being applied from July 1st so this is prompted by that.
I know that as I'm buying it from an Australian business I'll be paying GST and that's fine. But is there any additional charge that this guy will be hit with that he may not have taken into account if the goods arrive in the country in July?
I'm on the fence about cancelling my order and getting a refund but if he goes under because he can't pay his outgoings and if paypal have a bunch of disputes and freeze his account then it just gets beyond annoying.
This is all wild speculation. It'll probably be fine but I'm a Richmond supporter so my optimism that it will all work out is tempered by experience.
Does anyone have a good response to Roboguy's standard "very sorry but cant issue a refund, bla, bla" email when asking for a refund?
I think it needs a bit about the consumer law, but i have no idea what im talking about when it comes to legal stuff..
What I wrote
"I disagree with what you have stated in your email regarding a refund and it is not in line with Australian Consumer Law. I strongly urge you to refer to the content under "Failure to supply product" and the statement regarding providing the item within the agreed timeframe. Let me assist you by providing the link: https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/sales-delivery/non-deliver… "
we understand its outside your control Roboguy but what you should have done is let us all know before confirming your order with your supplier so we could get a refund nice and easy right then and there because of the delay rather then stringing us along as that kind of thing IS in YOUR CONTROL.
The part that you are quoting comes from a specific subsection Accepting payment without intending to supply… not the part that the purchaser has quoted..
Accepting payment without intending to supply
Under the Australian Consumer Law, businesses must not accept payment for products or services if:
they do not intend to supply them
they intend to supply materially different products or services
they know, or should have known, they would not be able to supply the products or services within the timeframe indicated or if no timeframe was provided, within a reasonable time.
This part of the law is not intended to cover businesses who genuinely try to meet supply agreements, for example, if:
the failure to supply was due to something beyond their control, including the act or omission by another person
they exercised due diligence and took reasonable precautions.
@taurenpally: This is what I came here to write.
Instead of offering people the option for a refund (and keeping the money of those who wished to wait) when you found out there were issues, you have strung us all along for the ride due to your own greed.
You won’t have a business for very long if you keep the attitude you have toward customers.
@RoboGuy, May I suggest you read up on the concept of Headers, Content under headers and Relevancy of the content per header!
@smashed has articulated this well a couple of comments below my original comment.
We have not strung you along for a ride and definitely not for our own greed.
We have already paid for your products and we have updated you as soon as we had information to give you.
@RoboGuy: I'm sorry, but without getting too personal here, how on Earth do you figure you haven't strung us along?
I'm on mobile so can't link directly to the comment but go to this other post about the vacuum https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/315035 and look for the comment by [@ascorbic]
so from what I can gather he isn't responding to any paypal disputes? just letting the clock tick and in the final minutes will post his already written generic response.
mate, bad luck on the deal going sour but you've shown a lot of immaturity in dealing with this mess.
Received a full refund after emailing [email protected]. This was their response to my inquiry:
We are disappointed that you have requested a refund, your order has been processed and we are awaiting the shipping information from our supplier. You needed to have allowed at least 30 Business Days for delivery as noted on our shipping information page in the checkout when you purchased your order.
However sadly you have decided to walk away from this great deal, we will look into providing you with a full refund.
Kindest Regards,
RoboGuy
when did you email and what did you say? It's weird that he's selectively honoring some refunds. Also not that he's mentioned "we will look into providing you with a full refund". Have you actually gotten a refund confirmation on PayPal?
Users are reminded to discuss deals respectfully without the need to attack others.