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Author Topic: AliExpress Nightmare  (Read 3996 times)

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Haloman800

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AliExpress Nightmare
« on: February 25, 2018, 05:31:34 am »
I placed my first ever order with AliExpress 20 days ago (February 5th), after all of this time & not hearing anything, I contacted one of the sellers. He informed me AliExpress had cancelled my order. I was confused.

I contacted customer service, who explained because I "used the $4 coupon on three orders totaling $20 or more, we cancelled your order). The coupon code is advertised on their site ($4 off $20), and when I inputted the code, it worked. She claimed it's an error in their system.

No email notification. No warning. Just a 20 day delay for a stupid $4 coupon they gave me.

I asked why I didn't receive an email, she said I have to enable notifications. I went to settings and they're already enabled. She then said "sorry for thsi , you don't receive any notice for this", and left it at that.

tl;dr AliExpress sucks. Does anyone recommend a US based (or reliable overseas store) for ordering arcade parts? I just needed some buttons & joysticks.

mickael28

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Re: AliExpress Nightmare
« Reply #1 on: February 25, 2018, 06:24:37 am »
I don't know any other good main site, other than ebay itself, at least the customer service it's pretty good there.

I know your pain if anything goes wrong with Aliexpress, to summary a long story short, I bought a small Video converter, it arrived damn broken in half, took pictures, told the seller (who didn't bother to reply for a few months), started to talk to Aliexpress customer service, and I don't know, I might have talked to like 10 different people there, escalating the case a couple of times, etc... next thing you know, they decide on favour of the seller and give him full payment because I failed to post the broken!!!! item back at my own expense (even though I was asking the seller or themselves to provide me free postage and I would gladly sell it). Fast forward the story, and maybe 6 months later I somehow got my refund....

But it made me think, if this has happened with a mega tiny purchase, if one buys something expensive and it goes wrong, I think one can say goodbye to his money! :(

I've decided to use Aliexpress for emergencies only, when I cannot find whatever anywhere else... otherwise, leave it. Even if I need to pay a little bit more, it's your own peace of mind and sanity what you're paying for :)

I'd be interested if knowing other good shops as well if anyone knows any.

Grasshopper

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Re: AliExpress Nightmare
« Reply #2 on: February 25, 2018, 03:49:11 pm »
Yeah that sounds familiar. I also had a few bad experiences when I first signed up with them.

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,154895.msg1624755.html#msg1624755

Since the voucher fiasco, I've used Aliexpress a few times to purchase cheap trinkets, and so far, everything I've ordered has arrived. However, I wouldn't risk buying anything expensive from Aliexpress. There's no point when you consider that there are plenty of Chinese companies selling stuff on Ebay at similar prices, and Ebay offers much better buyer protection.

As a general rule, communicating with Chinese sellers is really hard work. I get the impression that most of them speak little or no English, and they tend to send you generic cut-n-paste responses for any query. Also, they don't seem to keep track of previous messages. So each time you contact them, you're essentially having to start the conversation from scratch.
"Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel." - Samuel Johnson

Mike A

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Re: AliExpress Nightmare
« Reply #3 on: February 25, 2018, 05:47:28 pm »
I have ordered from AliExpress probably more than 100 times. I have never needed to return anything. Nothing has ever been damaged. I always get what I order. They have always honored discounts and coupons. A couple of times I have had to cancel an order because it just wasn't shipping in a reasonable time frame.

pbj

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Re: AliExpress Nightmare
« Reply #4 on: February 25, 2018, 06:07:22 pm »
So.... you weren’t actually charged.... and never received anything...

Friend, if this constitutes a nightmare in your world, you are truly the most sheltered individual I’ve ever met.


shaolindrunkard

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Re: AliExpress Nightmare
« Reply #5 on: February 25, 2018, 10:41:59 pm »
I'm confused, why did you order from Aliexpress? To save money? Even if you had ordered successfully from them the product could take over a month to get in your hands and even then it could be cheap crap.

 Are you in the US? If so. Ebay always works but also.

https://paradisearcadeshop.com/




Drnick

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Re: AliExpress Nightmare
« Reply #6 on: February 26, 2018, 03:04:01 am »
Never had an issue with Aliexpress. Mind you I always look for sellers who take paypal coz then its all the usual protections. Definitely wouldn't be ordering any arcade stuff from them though.

Schnookums

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Re: AliExpress Nightmare
« Reply #7 on: February 26, 2018, 06:26:55 pm »
Quote
So.... you weren’t actually charged.... and never received anything...

Friend, if this constitutes a nightmare in your world, you are truly the most sheltered individual I’ve ever met.


I assume they left out the part where Aliexpress forced them to give a public speech, and it turns out they were naked, and also they were back in school and OMG it was finals and they hadn't studied or anything...

and then they woke up in a cold sweat.

smass

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Re: AliExpress Nightmare
« Reply #8 on: February 26, 2018, 06:32:10 pm »
tl;dr AliExpress sucks. Does anyone recommend a US based (or reliable overseas store) for ordering arcade parts? I just needed some buttons & joysticks.

I have had great success ordering from AliExpress - but for basic buttons and such don't over think it.  Go with the normal places like, I don't know, ever hear of Amazon? Ebay? Arcade specific sites like Paradise arcade or other vendors on our vendor forum?  I don't order anything from AliExpress that I need to have in less than a months time.   Amazon will have that ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- on your doorstep in two days...
« Last Edit: February 26, 2018, 06:37:55 pm by smass »

Le Chuck

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Re: AliExpress Nightmare
« Reply #9 on: February 26, 2018, 08:38:06 pm »
I order from GGG and from ultimarc mostly, but will also dip into a paradise for stuff too. Don't be ascared to support the mom-n-pop shops!

barrymossel

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Re: AliExpress Nightmare
« Reply #10 on: February 27, 2018, 04:49:03 am »
I've ordered a lot (100's of times) from China and didn't have lot of bad experiences actually. Sure, they have fake stuff, but I always get refunded when disputed. Also so stuff never showed up, but also always refunded. Normally I use AliExpress and eBay for cheaper stuff (I don't want to risk paying import + VAT), but also ordered some bigger stuff like Arcade stuff. But I will never do that again, as it's mainly crap as some other people are saying in the thread. Sure you can use it, but the difference is huge between quality and Chinese stuff.

Haloman800

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Re: AliExpress Nightmare
« Reply #11 on: March 02, 2018, 12:07:49 am »
So.... you weren’t actually charged.... and never received anything...

Friend, if this constitutes a nightmare in your world, you are truly the most sheltered individual I’ve ever met.

I was charged, but they still cancelled my orders. Later my payment was refunded.