How to take money back from iChinaMall scam without returning package
I ordered 5 DM500's from a seller on iChinaMall.com, 4 out of 5 units were DOA, (They had a tuner fault which if you search for appears to be all too common recently) After a bit of an argument from the seller (I couldn't see why I should have to pay freight to return the units when 80% of them are faulty - one or two maybe, but not 80% - especially when that freight is going to cost me $140NZ) I eventually got the seller to agree for me to return the boards by themselves.
After another couple of weeks, the replacement boards arrived, I initially found one of the boards to exhibit the same fault and went back to the seller. He accused me of faulting the boards. At that point time was running out so I lodged a refund request for the price he suggested to me in previous correspondence one board was worth. (I had already paid $49 NZ to return the previous faulty boards and it was going to cost me a similar price to return this one) He immediately rejected it saying the boards were tested at the factory and were not faulty. I have since noticed a fault on a second one of the units which I didn't notice when I initially tested them (I didn't check the sound on them when I got them back)
I have refused to return the board to the seller as the amount it would cost me in freight is approximately the same as what I have requested in refund and the sell will not cover return freight. Plus I am not confident that if I was to go to the expense of returning the board(s) that what I get back would be any better than what I have already got (another $46 down the drain for more crap.)
Obviously doing business with these people is somewhat different to how most businesses work in our part of the world.
First of all, if you are trying to start a business relationship with somebody, you do everything you can to assist when something goes wrong (especially if you want repeat business) I asked him to send out an extra board whit the 4 replacements, which he refused, I didn't think it was an unreasonable request considering the high failure rate of the original product (it certainly wouldn't cost him as much as the freight) I don't know if it's because people are always trying it on, or whether he just shouldn't be selling anything as when it comes to customer service some people really have alot to learn.
Now onto the escrow service.
When you lodge your complaint, you get an automated response stating that they will be in contact within 2 days. Why then do I not hear anything for over an month? then only after I make a complaint. Then they put short timeframes on you to provide evidence and don't follow up for what is now in excess of 6 weeks? You can't tell me that any case would be so difficult as to take 6 weeks without so much as a contact to say they are having difficulty.
Perhaps in your case the vendor was willing and just provided a refund, or perhaps your goods did exactly as they should have. I have found in dealing with these people that things are fine until you have problems. But once you do, they become strangely silent. When you have people who just won't play ball, the "mediation service" is just a joke - What are they just hoping it will just go away? Surely the Vendor would be pushing for his money if he didn't already have it something should have happened by now.
I ordered 5 DM500's from a seller on iChinaMall.com, 4 out of 5 units were DOA, (They had a tuner fault which if you search for appears to be all too common recently) After a bit of an argument from the seller (I couldn't see why I should have to pay freight to return the units when 80% of them are faulty - one or two maybe, but not 80% - especially when that freight is going to cost me $140NZ) I eventually got the seller to agree for me to return the boards by themselves.
After another couple of weeks, the replacement boards arrived, I initially found one of the boards to exhibit the same fault and went back to the seller. He accused me of faulting the boards. At that point time was running out so I lodged a refund request for the price he suggested to me in previous correspondence one board was worth. (I had already paid $49 NZ to return the previous faulty boards and it was going to cost me a similar price to return this one) He immediately rejected it saying the boards were tested at the factory and were not faulty. I have since noticed a fault on a second one of the units which I didn't notice when I initially tested them (I didn't check the sound on them when I got them back)
I have refused to return the board to the seller as the amount it would cost me in freight is approximately the same as what I have requested in refund and the sell will not cover return freight. Plus I am not confident that if I was to go to the expense of returning the board(s) that what I get back would be any better than what I have already got (another $46 down the drain for more crap.)
Obviously doing business with these people is somewhat different to how most businesses work in our part of the world.
First of all, if you are trying to start a business relationship with somebody, you do everything you can to assist when something goes wrong (especially if you want repeat business) I asked him to send out an extra board whit the 4 replacements, which he refused, I didn't think it was an unreasonable request considering the high failure rate of the original product (it certainly wouldn't cost him as much as the freight) I don't know if it's because people are always trying it on, or whether he just shouldn't be selling anything as when it comes to customer service some people really have alot to learn.
Now onto the escrow service.
When you lodge your complaint, you get an automated response stating that they will be in contact within 2 days. Why then do I not hear anything for over an month? then only after I make a complaint. Then they put short timeframes on you to provide evidence and don't follow up for what is now in excess of 6 weeks? You can't tell me that any case would be so difficult as to take 6 weeks without so much as a contact to say they are having difficulty.
Perhaps in your case the vendor was willing and just provided a refund, or perhaps your goods did exactly as they should have. I have found in dealing with these people that things are fine until you have problems. But once you do, they become strangely silent. When you have people who just won't play ball, the "mediation service" is just a joke - What are they just hoping it will just go away? Surely the Vendor would be pushing for his money if he didn't already have it something should have happened by now.