Author Topic: The Bad Shopping Experience Thread  (Read 398976 times)

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Offline Neganur

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Re: The Bad Shopping Experience Thread
« Reply #75 on: February 05, 2015, 08:14:36 pm »
Yeah, regarding USA..
http://www.ebay.com/itm/151441967747

Bought this book (lost mine years ago), and the dhl tracking i got says it's shipped from India.. wonder what I'm going to get.. damn.

I wouldn't worry about it, it's the same publisher (Prentice-Hall India). The US printed version is not a hard cover either and except for the cover everything is black and white anyway.
 

Offline neslekkim

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Re: The Bad Shopping Experience Thread
« Reply #76 on: February 05, 2015, 10:20:06 pm »
Yeah, regarding USA..
http://www.ebay.com/itm/151441967747

Bought this book (lost mine years ago), and the dhl tracking i got says it's shipped from India.. wonder what I'm going to get.. damn.

I wouldn't worry about it, it's the same publisher (Prentice-Hall India). The US printed version is not a hard cover either and except for the cover everything is black and white anyway.

Yes, I didn't now that there was hardcover, the one I have lost was also softcover, but I was more wondering if I actually are going to get a book, and not stapled papercopies.
We'll see what happens.. But 1) I hate DHL when I didn't plan for it, 2) why do they write it's in US when it's in India.. :)
 

Offline jamesd168

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Re: The Bad Shopping Experience Thread
« Reply #77 on: February 15, 2015, 01:48:10 am »
DHL is terrible. If you see shipping method is DHL International, that's a good sign that the item is coming from international location. I have never encountered a seller in US that uses DHL.

nowadays a lot of items on Amazon are sold and shipped by international sellers, they sometimes will give you the impression that they are in US while they are not.

« Last Edit: February 15, 2015, 10:32:36 pm by jamesd168 »
 

Offline Neganur

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Re: The Bad Shopping Experience Thread
« Reply #78 on: February 15, 2015, 11:13:12 am »
DHL is terrible. If you see shipping method is DHL International, that's a good sign that the item is coming from international location. I have never encountered a seller in US that uses DHL.

nowadays a lot of items on Amazon are sold and shipped by international sellers, they sometimes will give you the impression that they are in US while they are not.

Not to start a fight :P but does that make DHL terrible or the seller ?

I have no idea how well DHL works inside the US, they are like USPS inside Germany and additionally an international courier service. I sometimes use DHL express for shipments from Oregon to Finland, it tends to cost less than USPS or TNT/UPS (when taking speed, weight and insurance into account).

I'd probably agree that DHL is a sign of an international shipment in the US?
« Last Edit: February 15, 2015, 11:16:37 am by Neganur »
 

Offline SeanB

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Re: The Bad Shopping Experience Thread
« Reply #79 on: February 15, 2015, 11:18:53 am »
DHL is good in country, if expensive. As to international they are very keen to get fees both ends, as the local divisions in each country have to pay their way, and they will charge for both sides of the delivery. They will also do customs payments ( even if it is actually customs free) and add charges for this service, even if not requested.

But for next day delivery in a single country they are good, especially for those more out of the way places without a regular daily courier service. You cannot however in ZA beat the SAPO speed services, they are cheap and have a 3-5 day delivery throughout the country to the local post office of the recipient for the same price.
 

Offline jamesd168

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Re: The Bad Shopping Experience Thread
« Reply #80 on: February 15, 2015, 10:38:38 pm »
DHL is terrible. If you see shipping method is DHL International, that's a good sign that the item is coming from international location. I have never encountered a seller in US that uses DHL.

nowadays a lot of items on Amazon are sold and shipped by international sellers, they sometimes will give you the impression that they are in US while they are not.

Not to start a fight :P but does that make DHL terrible or the seller ?

I have no idea how well DHL works inside the US, they are like USPS inside Germany and additionally an international courier service. I sometimes use DHL express for shipments from Oregon to Finland, it tends to cost less than USPS or TNT/UPS (when taking speed, weight and insurance into account).

I'd probably agree that DHL is a sign of an international shipment in the US?

The fight is on!  :D, just kidding

You are right, I mixed two ideas in one paragraph. I think DHL is terrible, but the second sentence was not to support this idea. we tried to ship an item to Italy via DHL, and made arrangement for them to come to pick it up from us. they told us that they will come between 1-3 pm, we waited till 5 pm and there was no show. the second day we called them up, they told us that the driver was here and cannot find us. so we made a second attempt, waited until 4 pm with our door wide open. no show again. we called them up, they said the driver cannot find us! I challenged them because we did not even hear the truck, then they told us maybe we can drop it off at their location half an hour away!
 

Offline miguelvp

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Re: The Bad Shopping Experience Thread
« Reply #81 on: February 16, 2015, 04:17:11 am »
DHL trucks seem to be owned by the drivers, not sure how their business model is but I always felt like they were hired couriers with trucks that are about to fall apart.

To me,my preference goes like this:

USPS
FedEx/UPS (FedEx slightly better most of the time)
DHL

But UPS is the most consistent of the bunch, the rest depend on who is going to deliver your package. USPS usually is great but sometimes is a nightmare.
 

Offline macbreak

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Re: The Bad Shopping Experience Thread
« Reply #82 on: February 17, 2015, 09:03:14 pm »
Bad shopping?

Tesco.



The end, and I bid you good night.
 

Offline electrophiliate

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Re: The Bad Shopping Experience Thread
« Reply #83 on: February 19, 2015, 02:00:54 am »
I've never had much trouble with international orders to Australia that used DHL, FedEx, or UPS.

All my negative experiences with shipping taking much longer than expected were domestic inside Australia and involve the delivery company StarTrack.

Here is a biased sample of several hundred dissatisfied customers:

http://www.productreview.com.au/p/star-track-express.html

Many Australian companies use StarTrack and it is owned by Australia Post so it is difficult to avoid them. Some of the drivers at StarTrack are apparently liars, claiming an "unsuccessful delivery" but not bothering to knock on the door. So-called "express" packages can take several weeks to receive. I've received orders using economy shipping from China which arrived faster!

Coincidently, the worst problems I've had over the years were all clustered around ordering interstate from Jaycar Electronics. Next day delivery for metro areas Australia-wide never once arrived on time and is more like up to a week at best for this "premium" service. However, on one occasion I strongly suspect that Jaycar were lying about which service they used i.e. I ordered the premium service but when given details about the shipment in order to track it down when it was clearly late it became apparent that they used the cheaper and slower express service. If this was a common occurrence, it would help to explain why all previous orders with Jaycar were also slow.
« Last Edit: February 19, 2015, 03:07:09 am by electrophiliate »
Nothing is quite like a great humming power-station.
 

Offline PsychoMaster

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Re: The Bad Shopping Experience Thread
« Reply #84 on: February 24, 2015, 02:05:29 pm »
I want to buy a Hakko 888D here in England ,I have the money but I am not going to buy one and I hope the importers realize this, that charging double what it costs in the States  and every where else isn't going to cut it in this present economic crisis.This is the reason why people here are buying dodgy knock offs because they are so greedy.There is this unwritten law here that the "stupid English will pay". Well I won’t  I'll buy else where.The greedy sods have n,t got the brains to work out that success comes from high turn over . Yes I'm pissed!
 

Offline Kjelt

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Re: The Bad Shopping Experience Thread
« Reply #85 on: February 24, 2015, 06:44:20 pm »
You might want to understand that in the US they have (almost) no sales tax. In the EU this is 21%.
Then US is not EU so you get duty and importtax.
I was angry about this multiple times but a 1US$ product is gonna cost you at least $1,80 at a distributor in the EU.
Don't blame the salesbusinesses they just make their same % on US products as they will make on an english made brand.
 

Offline PsychoMaster

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Re: The Bad Shopping Experience Thread
« Reply #86 on: February 26, 2015, 03:04:57 pm »
I won't go on about much but I will tell you they are taking the piss."I KNOW THIS". I have a large goods importer in the family.(Not irons)
 

Offline macbreak

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Re: The Bad Shopping Experience Thread
« Reply #87 on: March 03, 2015, 02:00:21 am »
I won't go on about much but I will tell you they are taking the piss."I KNOW THIS". I have a large goods importer in the family.(Not irons)

You don't use quotes for emphasis; you use quotes to QUOTE people (hence the name), you use **asterisks** or bold text to draw attention or to emphasise things.



 

Offline PsychoMaster

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Re: The Bad Shopping Experience Thread
« Reply #88 on: March 03, 2015, 04:49:22 pm »
Sorry ,learn something every Day.
 

Offline KE4PWE

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Re: The Bad Shopping Experience Thread
« Reply #89 on: April 28, 2015, 06:24:10 pm »
I'm interested in the Alliexpress issue, I have not had any issues with them, but I also use Paypal to protect my purchases, I hardly use the china nonsense sites but sometimes you find something that you need for a project that comes from them.
 

Offline edavid

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Re: The Bad Shopping Experience Thread
« Reply #90 on: April 28, 2015, 09:19:30 pm »
I'm interested in the Alliexpress issue, I have not had any issues with them, but I also use Paypal to protect my purchases, I hardly use the china nonsense sites but sometimes you find something that you need for a project that comes from them.

AliExpress doesn't accept PayPal  :-//  (But they will probably start after the PayPal/eBay split.)
 

Offline camallison

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Re: The Bad Shopping Experience Thread
« Reply #91 on: May 06, 2015, 08:20:40 am »
I got caught too, raised a dispute with ebay, and was given a "complimentary" refund by them once they had read my attempts to reach the seller.  I completed the transaction then by giving a one star feedback with the word "Avoid".

Colin
Retired Hardware & Software Systems Engineer.

Still learning!
 

Offline Richard Crowley

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42nd Street Photo (New York City)
« Reply #92 on: May 11, 2015, 05:35:54 pm »
I almost got screwed by placing a big order with a vendor that I should have known better.

I keep seeing ads from 42nd Street Photo for Sony HXR-NX5U cameras at a very low price, presumably because it is a discontinued model.  I had a nagging suspicion in the back of my mind that 42nd Street Photo was a sleazy vendor, but the deal was so good....

So I place an order for two of them, and they call me back asking about whether I wanted to specify signature required for delivery. I told them it depended on what day it was being delivered (since I work normal hours at the office). 

Then the guy says: Oh, by the way, you know this is a discontinued model.  Yes. I knew that. 

And These are "demonstrators which have not left the showroom".  Well, OK, but why do you have multiple units for "demonstration in the showroom"?   

Oh, he added, they don't include any accessories.  Well, reputable vendors keep the boxes, paperwork (including warranty), accessories, etc. for their "showroom demonstrator" gear.  I was prepared to buy the cameras even without the accessories because I don't need them anyway (except for the proprietary power connector which is also missing).

Then he said, Oh, and they don't come with warranty because they are discontinued.  Well, no. That is not true, even discontinued models are covered by full Sony warranty as I know from multiple first-hand experience.  Like from who?, they said.  Like from B&H, for example.  Oh, they said, B&H is an authorized dealer, and we aren't.  So who knows what these things are, and why they seem to have as many "demonstrators" as I want to buy?

Well, that was the last straw.  Sleazy vendor, questionable provenance, missing accessories un-authorized vendor, and no warranty.  It all added up to NO SALE, no matter how good the deal sounds.

Then, just now I got an email questionaire from Bizrate and I am letting them have it with both barrels.  Yes, Bizrate, feel free to share my feedback with 42nd Street Photo.
 

Offline Neganur

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Re: The Bad Shopping Experience Thread
« Reply #93 on: May 16, 2015, 10:03:18 am »
I don't see it state the word "atmega" anywhere nor anything about the used components. Did he edit the description?
 

Offline ez24

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Re: The Bad Shopping Experience Thread
« Reply #94 on: May 19, 2015, 02:19:25 am »
My only (so far) bad experiences with eBay has been with:
Quote
I only buy from sellers that take Paypal and are located in the United States.
YouTube and Website Electronic Resources ------>  https://www.eevblog.com/forum/other-blog-specific/a/msg1341166/#msg1341166
 

Offline PsychoMaster

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Re: The Bad Shopping Experience Thread
« Reply #95 on: May 20, 2015, 09:50:56 am »
Hi Folk
I suppose the idea of this thread is so we can watch out for one another whilst trying to be fair to the vender we are not happy with so here goes.
I bought two PSU boards from Moutoulos .They work out quite expensive ,I don't mind that as they are nice quality.You just fill in the boards directed by the screen silk and all should be well. With the information provided the circuit made no sense so I emailed with what I thought missing and he sent me a link to where he got the circuit from . From this I saw I had been correct but would not have known if I hadn,t chased it up.So far still happy and now with the full schematic from a magazine article. Any how after looking at it I found some faults in wrong resistor placement and so I sent him a email letting him know and did he agree as it would catch out other folk maybe.
 Ater doing his circuit debugging for him he was not exactly grateful pointing out he,d already sent me his files even though he,s made a mess of profiting from some one elses design and does not
want to be bothered.
   No one is perfect ,the boards are well made and a small note in  with the boards would put it right
till he orders a fresh batch and would have been so easy not to have pissed me off.Can I recomend this to some one like myself who is learning by building his own gear? Not really.
« Last Edit: May 20, 2015, 09:58:07 am by PsychoMaster »
 

Offline Richard Crowley

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Re: The Bad Shopping Experience Thread
« Reply #96 on: May 20, 2015, 02:18:07 pm »
Yes, there seem to be several of those people/companies selling boards like that (some quite nice, even), with ZERO supporting information. No documentation included, not even a URL to online information.  Dunno what they think their customers are going to do with the boards?  Even if you could get enough information from the board screen printing to determine what components go where, what are you supposed to do if it doesn't work? How do you debug it without a schematic diagram?  If you have to go back and reverse-engineer the thing just to get a schematic diagram, how much "value-added" did you actually buy from them? 
BAH!  HUMBUG!    :--
 

Offline PsychoMaster

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Re: The Bad Shopping Experience Thread
« Reply #97 on: May 20, 2015, 07:37:02 pm »
Hi Folk
After a bit of research I found this circuit to be a copy of a Velleman product or a copy of what someone has had a poke at and got it wrong ,the information with it is wrong which is worse than having none.I thought I was buying off someone reputable like Dave who can engineer his own products and benefit from his own skill. All part of the learning experience I suppose.
 

Offline Jon_D

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Re: The Bad Shopping Experience Thread
« Reply #98 on: June 04, 2015, 01:45:28 am »
Had this posted on another thread but this location seems better...

rigoloscilloscope.com.au

I have just spent the last month trying to get refunded for a faulty scope I purchased from them.

I stupidly assumed I was dealing with an Australian Business, I even emailed them and got responses from a guy calling himself Stefan (later found out his actual name is Zhu Jun) but as we all know .com.au doesn't mean you have anything to do with Australia, just that you have "borrowed" someones ACN, in this case a company called Golden Triumph Pty Ltd.

So after waiting for 2 weeks the unit arrived on my doorstep, with a bashed up box. Opened it up and plugged it in Gray Screen!  :-BROKE

Contacted the seller, he requested I post it back claiming he will refund the unit cost and my postage costs. Sent it back, he then ignores my emails, but luckily I used PayPal to purchase it so started a claim and that got a refund but only for the unit cost, I'm still down $95 on the postage. Sent numerous emails and Paypal invoces - all ignored.

Its a shame that the .com.au TLD is not better policed to ensure only legitimate businesses can own this domain - but you live an learn.

Note: since found that you can claim money back on postage costs via https://www.paypal.com/au/webapps/mpp/returns so now only $50 down!
 

Offline Arlen Moulton2

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Re: The Bad Shopping Experience Thread
« Reply #99 on: June 05, 2015, 06:27:54 pm »
i bought a mosquito repeller from the pound shop and payed a pound for it ofcourse. today it was on in my shed and there was a big cloud of white smoke gathering above it and i ripped it out of the two pin adapter breaking off one of the pins and threw it on the floor whilst i went to get a bucket of water. it turned out to just be flux residue on the main heater resistor but none the less i wasnt pleased seeing as it scared the life out of me!
 


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