Just a little rant really. And a little service to cause some more awareness.
Recently I had an email from GearBest.com. While it looks like a setup that could be based in the USA, they actually trade from Shenzhen in China. In fact, their Contact Us page also gives a USA hotline number. Anyway, that really isn’t a problem. The fact that they sell cheaper alternatives to product, is in fact, not too bad. Hey, you get what you pay for, right.
However, what really bothered me was that I wanted to try something, we agreed on an item, and then I heard nothing for a little while. However, I got a text from DHL, about 3 weeks after our last email, saying that I had to pay Duty/VAT on a package that was waiting for me. Curious, I looked up the shipment and traced it back to Shenzhen. Since I wasn’t expecting anything from there, but was waiting on this item from GearBest, I did email my contact there, mentioning that they needed to sort it out.
What followed was a trace of very frustrating emails.
They asked me why did I ask them to pay, when they had already sent me the item.
I told them they had to pay because they had obviously filled in the paperwork incorrectly.
They then said I should pay it, and they’ll pay me later.
I was so annoyed by then that I said I won’t till they have paid me.
They asked me to pay again. I then threatened to write this very post. The tone changed, and they said they will definitely pay it.
They did, in 24 hours, of that last email.
However, the experience itself, left a lot to be desired.
I’ll be honest. I have bought my fair share of cheap goods. I have paid 1p for items in Ebay, and then paid 6 pounds for delivery. Then I have discovered that the item was not even worth the 1p I paid. While the item from GearBest, which I shall be reviewing soon, was actually very reasonable, and impressive, the service wasn’t great.
So yeah, that is all. I thought it was my duty to share this experience with you. If you trade with them, be prepared for this experience, and the chance that you may have to pay some Duty on the delivery of your items.
Extremely unpleasant experience with GearBest
Even though there were many warnings and bad experiences with Gearbest all over the Internet, three months ago I bought some products from them. There were several problems, but describing these on forums and sending couple of messages helped solving these problems.
They even gave me some points as compensation and, at that time, I thought they are good sellers and we should accept that everybody make mistakes. I corrected my negative reviews, and for me everything was fine. I placed a fourth order and the order arrived perfectly couple of weeks later.
Today is “the Grand Finale”, having all the reasons to say that you shouldn’t buy from GearBest because they are liars and cannot be trusted. Their lies and their unethical methods, don’t only affect the buyers but also, the other sellers (so no one wins, excepting GearBest).
This conclusion comes after they cancelled my last 3 orders I placed on their website. The payment was made using my verified PayPal account. The old orders on GearBest were also paid using the same PayPal account.
After inquiring about this problem on their website, I found that: “Due to the previous business is not unpleasant,so we don’t want to coperate with you.” (original GearBest’s answer).
I did my best to solve this problem and in 10 days I opened 5 tickets on their website, had 9 chat sessions (during 5 different days) and sending 2 emails to them. I wanted to find the clear reason of why my orders were cancelled (i.e., how they define “unpleasant businesses”).
Here you have one of my last discussion with them which proves I’m right:
Welcome to Gearbest.com. Please wait for a site operator to respond.
You are now chatting with ‘GearBest’
Customer: Hello
Customer: I already paid for 3 dascahms and the payment was accepted. Yesterday I find that “Our Risk control department are unable to confirm security of the payment” and you have cancelled my new orders.
>>GearBest: Have you choosed a shippingmethod?
Customer: Yes, of course
>>GearBest: Could you tell me the shipping cost?
Customer: it was free
Customer: I chose free shipping 🙂
>>GearBest: so sorry for my mistake
Customer: don’t worry, everyone makes mistakes
Customer: Now, the question is: how can I solve this problem ?
>>GearBest: Do you have write review about gearbest on forum
>>GearBest: ?
Customer: Yes I do; not for the last days. I don’t want to accuse someone for nothing.
Customer: That’s why I do my best to fix this problem
Customer: Also, you cheated on resellerratings.com. Most of the reviews are bogus. But, then again, some forums are more important
>>GearBest: I’m so sorry for hearing that
>>GearBest: it may caused by the review
>>GearBest: our company will cannot accept your order now
Customer: why ?
Customer: my PayPal account is verified and OK
>>GearBest: yes,your payment is ok
Customer: so ? I thought we solved the problems between us some time ago
>>GearBest: so sorry
Customer: I understand: you’re sorry. I’d like to know why my orders aren’t accepted ?
>>GearBest: it may caused by you have write review on forum and the content of review is not very good.
Customer: The reviews were corrected long time ago. I also had my part of blame
>>GearBest: so sorry for hearing that
>>GearBest: if you have some problem we will try our best to solve it for you
Customer: Yes, there is a problem: my orders were cancelled. Now, the question is: how can I solve this problem ?
>>GearBest: so sorry
>>GearBest: we cannot accept your order for the time being
Customer: Why not ? As long as I did everything right, why you can’t accept my orders ?
>>GearBest: because you have a not good experience on gearbest,the financial department just want to make sure the interest of company,I hope you can understand that
Customer: I don’t understand. What do I have to do in order to have “a good experience” ? As long as the payment is not at risk, then I see no problem in accepting my orders.
>>GearBest: we nee protecting the reputation of our company.
Customer: Yes, I understand that, and as I wrote: I corrected my reviews. I even recommended your website (I can prove that).
Customer: Don’t get me wrong: if I recommended your website it wasn’t because I was afraid you’ll cancel my orders, but because I thought you’re an honest seller.
Customer: Now I’d like to know: are you ? or are you not ?
>>GearBest: if you write a good review on forum,we will send 500points to you however,
>>GearBest: I’m so sorry for inconvenience we caused
Chat session has ended.Thanks for your chatting.
You are not currently in a chat session.
The conclusions on my experience with GearBest:
1. Hopping the customer will drop the case, they will ask you wrong questions and repeat them all over again. Also, they will not answer for minutes or close the chat sessions.
2. They fake the reviews with the help of some customers who prostitutes for couple of dollars. For example, in 2 months their ratting on Resellerratings jumped from 3.XX/10 to 8.XX/10. Many customers who positively reviewed GearBest have only that review. That’s strange, because there are more chances the customers explicitly search on internet where to write their negative experiences rather than praising the sellers.
3. Under Gearbest politics, “protecting the reputation of our company” is to hide the problems (rather than solving them) and to lie the customer. Any customer who’s not happy with their bad services becomes undesirable.
4. If you have a problem with them, keep your mouth shut. Otherwise if you have some fidelity points, you’ll become undesirable and lose them completely. For example I had 377 Points=$7.54 Credits and this is their answer:
Customer: I’m asking about my 377 Points = $7.54 Credits
>>GearBest: could you tell me which order you have used points?
Customer: I haven’t used the points
Customer: you gave them to me
Customer: I’d like to know how I could use these points (or get the money from you) ?
>>GearBest: SORRY
>>GearBest: you cannot use it now
Customer: so, they are lost, correct ?
>>GearBest: yes
Customer: Ok, that’s a fair deal 🙂