DHGate.com review: refund and returns 4

BEWARE! BEWARE! BEWARE! DHgate.com

I ordered (#[protected]) an item on DHgate.com [敦煌网, 8F Bldg A, U-Center, 28 Chengfu Road, Haidian District, Beijing, China. 100083] from Seller "du13" Paid in full by credit card. The Seller "du13" had 100% satisfaction rating (seems bogus, now), but sent the WRONG item. To add insult to injury, that wrong item DID NOT WORK. There was no manual in Chinese or English. No warranty. And very disturbing, there are no UL approval or FCC compliance rating.

DHgate.com [in US: AVS. International INC./DhGate.US. in Chino Hills, CA] is a business to business sourcing site. Businesses listed on the web site are independent of DHgate. Most sellers are in China and through subscriptions and transaction fees are the main source of DHgate's income. Whether the seller is reputable or not, DHgate cannot be expected to bite the hand that feeds them. The consumer is expected to research the individual company for themselves but a "positive feedback" rating cannot always be trusted.

DHgate handles the sales transaction and are a portal for buyer-seller communication. DHgate trumpets their buyer protection escrow policy, but as some customers have experienced and posted, shipper notice of delivery of merchandise can trigger release of their funds.

DHgate is not the scammer! But DHgate enables and is an advocate for businesses that scam.

Warning: Returns and refunds can be difficult, expensive (shipping and customs fees), or denied by the seller. Before placing an order, a potential buyer should click the contact seller option. Brand name merchandise are often cheap counterfeits. Some consumers might deal with a reputable company, looks like a lot of consumers do not. Purchasing electronic items, any item with moving parts, jewelry and clothing from DHgate sellers is not recommended because the buyer cannot estimate quality or safety of material and manufacture or know whether merchandise even functions as intended until received.

I promptly contacted DHgate customer service about the wrong item received ... got "Tang Tang" the robot ... (wonder if the name translates to "Blah Blah") ... save time and clicked live chat. I chatted with "Chell" and explained the problem. She was nice, but said I would need to chat with a supervisor. Silence. No supervisor. Chat ended.

Note: It is very likely many DHgate Customer Service Representatives are moonlighting students attending nearby Tsinghua University. Their messages are very polite and have enough in common to indicate a basic scripted form reply. Most messages direct buyer to communicate with seller, a form to complete, policy pages to read, or to chat again with "Tang Tang". I have learned that the "Customer" in Customer Service is DHgate's seller.
I sent a message through the DHgate internal message port and received a polite reply from "Barbie" who wrote, "you were disconnected before (Chell) could asked you the photos of the item that you have received that is why our supervisor was not able to open the dispute outlining the steps to complete a "Return and Refund" PROPOSAL form and upload photo/video of evidence." I am to believe a supervisor does not know how to contact me? "Barbie" added, "DHgate.com customer satisfaction is something that we take very seriously and would never compromise under any circumstances." Wish DHgate would take it more urgently. "Barbie" sent a page long list of all the hoops I would need to clear to successfully complete a PROPOSAL to the seller for a return and refund! So, I did, even uploading photos. You might see an example if DHgate replies to this post.

Ultimately "Ellie", a Customer (Seller) Service Representative for DHgate claimed it is not their mistake, I need to contact Seller 北京市朝阳区十八里店乡周庄 (Shi Ba Li Dian Xiang Zhou Zhuang, Bei Jing Shi Chao Yang Qu ):100122 doing business as "du13" directly to get the correct item shipped and their permission required to return wrong item ... shipment and customs probably at my expense. I had already sent a message to the Seller, but "du13" has made no reply, nor are they required to reply. It is "du13" error to correct; wrong to make right; insult to me to recompense. "du 13" helps undermine the reputation and credibility DHgate and other businesses DHgate represents. But DHgate's system generated process and timeframe policy works to the advantage of their sellers. Customer (Seller) Service Representative is ultimately stripped of any ability to service the buyer except to politely issue orders to comply with the rigors demanded by their authoritarian system.

"Ellie" wrote, "If you and the seller will not reach an agreement on the given timeframe, then we will move on to the next step in requesting for DHgate Mediation so that an analyst can step in and resolve the case the soonest time possible. Since this is a system generated process we do follow specific timeframes regarding with the dispute process. We don't have the option to expedite the refund."

DHgate will determine in up to 90 days whether to mediate or not. 90 days! Seems like DHgate and the seller is counting on the customer to forget about the scam while the deadlines expire and their money disappears.

"Ellie" thoughtfully sent instructions of how they wanted me to complete the "Return and Refund" PROPOSAL form. I replied that I had already performed all the steps "Barbie" listed BEFORE "Ellie" wrongly concluded I had not. Even more ridiculous, "Ellie" told to click "Request DHgate Mediation". When I did I received the following offensive automated reply: "You cannot request DHgate mediation for your dispute yet."

"Sil", yet another DHgate Customer (Seller) Service Representative messaged, "All your correspondence with our Chat Team are recorded, checked and evaluated every day. Any misinformation given will result in appropriate actions from our management." I sincerely hope "Sil" was NOT intending to threaten me or any prospective Buyer. If so, it evidences doing business through DHgate could mean sellers who send the wrong or defective merchandise can count on DHgate to frustrate and intimidate victimized Buyers. A prospective buyer should be seriously asking themselves if their enticing low price is worth getting entangled into DHgate's labyrinth of obfuscation.

This is the world of "China Scam" identified by
1 - sending wrong merchandise or no merchandise,
2 - sending defective merchandise (especially electronics, anything with moving parts, jewelry or clothing),
3 - sending false shipment tracking numbers,
4 - bureaucratic delays (90 days!) in processing orders or refunds,
5 - no returns, prohibitively expensive refunds,
6 - partial or no refund,
7 - no communication or blocked communication.

Indeed, DHgate.com Blocked my message communication:
"ACCESS DENIED: You don't have permission to access "http://dg.dhgate.com/myaccount/csmsg/leavemsg.do?" on this server. Reference #18.4d94dc17.[protected].4e87a469" I posted this development on a scam alert website and the block was removed the next day. Coincidence?

IMPORTANT: On the day I received the wrong merchandise I promptly contacted my Credit Card company to dispute and remove the DHgate charge. It is a very good thing I did. DHgate had just issued a payment demand for "du13". The credit card company will do a scam investigation and hold payment. Paypal does the same, but I'm not sure DHgate accepts Paypal. Your credit card company may be the ONLY advocate you have dealing with dishonest Sellers represented by DHgate. If a consumer pays by check, money order, wired funds or money-gram they won't have that help.

DHgate's deception continues: "This is Amy from DHgate Customer Service Center ... For this order, we have contacted seller by email, please pay attention to the recent reply." I checked, Amy is mistaken, there is NO reply from Seller "du13". I think their continued silence incriminates "du13".

I wonder if it may be lawful in China to ship a buyer an item of equal or greater value if the merchant is out of stock? Even so, it is not lawful to send an item that does not work. In my case the scam appears to be "du13" selected a different item of equal or greater value from their malfunctioning returned merchandise shelf and disposed of it by shipping it to me hoping to collect my payment.

And I've noticed employees invest considerable time and resources protecting DHgate's public image.
Posts like this on some scam alert web sites were promptly avalanched by brief but incredibly favorable "five star" DHgate.com posts (my guess posted by rewarded or coerced DHgate employees). A potential buyer checking DHgate on some scam alert sites will read numerous favorable DHgate reviews before coming to a negative one. It speaks volumes to me about DHgate integrity. DHgate efforts would be better served by expelling their dishonest sellers.

One would think DHgate management (are you listening Diane Wang Shutong, CEO?) will figure it would be more cost effective to quickly refund customer's money than to risk losing more buyers. At the June, 2018, Global E-Commerce Summit in Barcelona, Wang said, "Trust is the first step for brand building, " and "It's also something we can contribute to." There are a lot of online posts warning buyers not to trust DHgate. Seems to me there is a breakdown in communication between Wang, DHgate 90 day refund delay tactics (that Wang, no doubt, approved) and her Customer (Seller) Service Representatives.

"Ellie", or some other Customer (Seller) Service Representative, politely removed or erased all messages in my file between myself and DHgate. DHgate should know that I kept a record of all of the messages. I messaged DHgate to restore the removed/erased messages. So far, no response.

I filed a complaint at www.eConsumer.gov who, when enough complaints are received, will do something better than collect complaints. If you have been scammed by a DHgate seller, then please file a complaint with eConsumer.gov.

I hope readers of this post find enough evidence to at least BEWARE doing business with DHgate because Sellers who do scam customers have a partner in DHgate who will advocate for their dishonest actions. "Forewarned is forearmed".

I filed a complaint with the FTC. Though AVS. International INC./DhGate.US. (Shawn Li) in Chino Hills, CA, the headquarters DHgate is in Beijing, so the FTC can offer limited help ... but ultimately in any dispute between a customer or DHgate, the consumer is on their own!

Hence the warning: BEWARE! BEWARE! BEWARE! DHgate.com

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