Scammed!

A "new fashioned" televisor, using an Arduino to drive the motor and display.

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Scammed!

Postby Andrew Davie » Fri Jun 02, 2017 11:19 pm

AliExpress has proven extremely reliable to date - I have had few problems, and those that I have had, have been resolved. In one case, a $200 mobile phone came as an empty box. AliExpress refunded/replaced, in that case, based on my word. I have another issue right now - I ordered 8x AtMega32U4 "Arduino Micro" from a supplier who was advertising 2 units for US$7.50, or thereabouts. They arrived today - I had ordered 4 "lots" - but delivered were actually just three individual micros. Five short. As we say here in Oz... "not happy, Jan!". I've filed a dispute, so we shall see how that goes.
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Re: Scammed!

Postby Steve Anderson » Sat Jun 03, 2017 11:50 am

It's possible that someone, probably in a rush, misread your 8 as a 3. Being China they have their own numbers and a large percentage of the workforce are not quite as familiar with our numbers. I know you ordered '4 lots' but that may have been changed to 8 on the company internal paperwork to the packing department. It's possible.

Steve A.
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Re: Scammed!

Postby gary » Sat Jun 03, 2017 2:00 pm

I have had a couple of issues, one a no show, and the other a board that blew on power up.
In both cases the problem was resolved to my satisfaction quickly and reasonably expediently - a "no show" is always a difficult one as "it might show up next week" and the fact that 9 out of 10 times it's probably Australia Post's problem.

However, I always think it's a good idea to go back to them directly as a first iteration, they seem to appreciate that as I think raising a dispute is seen as "a loss of face".

Annoying as it is, these firms would be processing thousands of items a week (if not a day) so something will go wrong eventually. However, if you are like me, you will think "yeah, but why me?" ;-).

The movie "Brazil" has a good example of how a 'B' becoming a 'T' causes chaos. ;-)
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Re: Scammed!

Postby Steve Anderson » Sat Jun 03, 2017 2:13 pm

The most incredible example of things being mistaken was one of the Mars Orbiters, I don't recall which one. It was something like - thrust calculations were performed in metric by one sub-contractor but programmed by another sub-contractor in imperial. Needless to say the craft was lost. How was that never caught in ground-testing? Shouldn't contracts specify the all units will be in one standard or the other? Presumably these days metric, even in the US. Unbelievable!

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Re: Scammed!

Postby gary » Sat Jun 03, 2017 2:42 pm

Steve Anderson wrote:The most incredible example of things being mistaken was one of the Mars Orbiters, I don't recall which one. It was something like - thrust calculations were performed in metric by one sub-contractor but programmed by another sub-contractor in imperial. Needless to say the craft was lost. How was that never caught in ground-testing? Shouldn't contracts specify the all units will be in one standard or the other? Presumably these days metric, even in the US. Unbelievable!

Steve A.


I remember that incident - I often refer to it when I argue with the yanks that they should go fully metric ;-)
https://www.wired.com/2010/11/1110mars- ... er-report/
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Re: Scammed!

Postby Andrew Davie » Sat Jun 03, 2017 3:40 pm

Steve Anderson wrote:It's possible that someone, probably in a rush, misread your 8 as a 3. Being China they have their own numbers and a large percentage of the workforce are not quite as familiar with our numbers. I know you ordered '4 lots' but that may have been changed to 8 on the company internal paperwork to the packing department. It's possible.

Steve A.


The package has "quantity 4x" on the front, and is valued at $15. I ordered 4x 2 and value $30. Mind you, they always ALWAYS mis-value packages, supposedly to get around customs. It's going to bite them this time because of the discrepancy between my order ($30) and their valuation ($15). And in any case the contents were 3x not 4x. I think it's just a seller who has priced something too cheaply and is trying to get out of it.
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Re: Scammed!

Postby Steve Anderson » Sat Jun 03, 2017 4:14 pm

Well, in that case it does look somewhat suspicious, whatever mistakes they made, deliberate or otherwise, it's tough luck. You entered into a contract with them (even if through an intermediary) and it should be honoured . Good luck.

Is their ad still running with the same details?

Customs here seem to ignore anything valued under US$50...they're after the bigger fish.

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Re: Scammed!

Postby Andrew Davie » Sat Jun 03, 2017 4:36 pm

Steve Anderson wrote:Well, in that case it does look somewhat suspicious, whatever mistakes they made, deliberate or otherwise, it's tough luck. You entered into a contract with them (even if through an intermediary) and it should be honoured . Good luck.

Is their ad still running with the same details?

Customs here seem to ignore anything valued under US$50...they're after the bigger fish.

Steve A.


Yes the ad is still up. FYI, customs here in Oz won't worry about anything where the duty collectable is under $50. This equates to an item value (including shipping) of $1000. There's more financial risk in having misdeclarations of value than in doing it right. You could cop a fine.
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Re: Scammed!

Postby Steve Anderson » Sat Jun 03, 2017 6:38 pm

Andrew Davie wrote:...customs here in Oz won't worry about anything where the duty collectable is under $50. This equates to an item value (including shipping) of $1000...

It's rare that I import anything over a US$50 value here, the threshold could well be higher than that, one day I may get to find out. Also they seem to ignore smaller packages whatever the declared value though I have had no experience of that.

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Re: Scammed!

Postby Andrew Davie » Sun Jun 04, 2017 9:37 pm

My dispute with the seller has been arbitrated in my favour; I proposed a pro-rata refund for 5/8, considering only 3/8 items were delivered. That's US$19.12 refund. The complaint has been adjudicated "valid", and my proposed solution was accepted by AliExpress. Now it's up to the seller to either accept, or face the fiery wrath of hellbeasts forevermore. Actually I think I just need to wait patiently and I'll have store credit. Not much the seller can do, I think. We shall see.
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Re: Scammed!

Postby Andrew Davie » Mon Jun 05, 2017 3:28 pm

Seller offered alternate solution - refund of $5. Rejected, of course! Laughable. AliExpress agreed with and proposed my $19.12 refund as solution. Now it will be interesting to see how the process works, with buyer (me) accepting arbitration and seller rejecting. Kind of enjoying "the game" actually.
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Re: Scammed!

Postby Andrew Davie » Mon Jun 05, 2017 4:08 pm

gary wrote:The movie "Brazil" has a good example of how a 'B' becoming a 'T' causes chaos. ;-)


Funny, was jus† discussing Brazil with a co-worker - specifically the restaurant scene where the terrorist attack happens. And they are all so used to it that they keep on eating their meal while the staff clean up the blood and bodies and put a privacy barrier up to mask off the carnage. We're not far off that now, but I remember back when it was released thinking how unrealistic it was.
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Re: Scammed!

Postby gary » Wed Jun 07, 2017 8:32 pm

Andrew Davie wrote:
gary wrote:The movie "Brazil" has a good example of how a 'B' becoming a 'T' causes chaos. ;-)


Funny, was jus† discussing Brazil with a co-worker - specifically the restaurant scene where the terrorist attack happens. And they are all so used to it that they keep on eating their meal while the staff clean up the blood and bodies and put a privacy barrier up to mask off the carnage. We're not far off that now, but I remember back when it was released thinking how unrealistic it was.


There are many criticisms of Brazil, but it remains on of my top 5 movies - it has so many interesting concepts - and yes the computer monitors appeal to me ;-)

I would like to shove "just a part of living in a major city" right up where the sun doesn't shine to be honest.
gary
 


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