I’ve had enough. I just failed to get an order of toggle switches, and AliExpress tells me “tough luck”.
It’s a bad website, hard to find anything; doesn’t work with my password manager; doesn’t work with LibreWolf browser; throws popups at you when you’re just trying to find something. And so on.
Order something and… a day later they cancel the order.
Or the order doesn’t show up, or it’s the wrong item, or it’s defective. I’ve had those things happen in the past, and gotten refunds.
But not this time.
This time I got a message saying “your package was delivered” — on Christmas day. Of course it wasn’t.
I complained. I was told “Your package was delivered, if there is a problem, contact the shipping company”. I contacted the shipping company, was told “Your package was delivered, if there is a problem, contact the seller.” (Shipping company is called OnTrac. There’s no indication whether the actual delivery was to be by USPS or by some other carrier; the only tracking information is a number OnTrac recognizes and USPS doesn’t.)
I contacted AliExpress again and was told “Your appeal is rejected, it was delivered, if there is a problem, contact USPS and get official documentation of non delivery”. But I’m not even sure whether or not USPS was involved. Anyway, there is no USPS tracking information. Hello, post office, could you please prove you did not deliver this package I can’t give you any information about? Right.
I have to agree, customer support from AliExpress is confusing, difficult and a pain in the arse. I have had 3 issues where I’ve lost money with fake or faulty goods, but not on delivery, that has usually been very good. But customer issue resolution is hit and miss.
Locally most of my AliExpress orders deliver using a company called “UniUni”. AliExpress is the only company I’ve ever seen associated with this delivery company. My last THREE orders have resulted in their driver literally THROWING my package at my front door. In fact, I knew immediately that my package arrived because I heard the box hit my door at velocity. I got all three on video and submitted them to their customer service people and received assurances it would be stopped …
… three times.
I honestly just wish Tayda had a larger inventory.
Once upon a time, Tayda didnt have alpha pots. I talked with some folks there, and they agreed to stock some. They may not always do this, but if you ask nicely, ive only gotten wonderful back and forth with them.
Did you explain? I mentioned that we are a part of a large community of DiY modular synthesizers that would buy a lot of knobs for example. You could explain much the same, and explain why the 0.1% matters for our use case.
If you make it appear like you are alone, they are less likely to take on the cost and i think thats reasonable. If there is a legit reason to stock some resistors, esp if you can tell them values that are common, it will show that you know what you are asking, and that its valid.
You dont even always have to do this. This is an old example, but the turnaround was less than a day:
Yes I did. I also explained that it’s the most common reason I am forced to create a mouser/digikey order - which inevitably results in me buying things tayda DOES stock from someone else in order to consolidate shipping charges
Latest one with cheap shipping took a long time to get here but they do warn you (I’ve had the cheap shipping arrive just about as fast as the “2–3 day” too). And at least it arrives via USPS so I get fairly authoritative notification of its progress once in the US.
do you have a “consumer Credit” protection levislation in the US?
in the UK I would invoke the “Consumer Credit Act 1974” with my Credit card company. They would refund the loss , they would also look into the “merchants” behaviour and if there are grounds, remove their ability to trade. Now as ALI are big, use varoius payment methods including PayPal which as a intemediary Merchant makes them somewhat immune. But the data and metrics all stack up…
A simple “I will take it to my Credit Card Issuer to Resolve” can often lead to a more favourable outcome. Merchants don’t want to risk their ability to operate.
You shouldn’t have to threaten them to get them to do the right thing. I have always considered Ali Express a last resort, and I expect an 80% success rate - then im not too annoyed when it doesnt work
For a $5 order it’s not worthwhile for me to expend any further effort. Call it tuition. I included switches in my recent Tayda order; more expensive, but still cheap, maybe better quality, almost certainly will arrive much faster, and if not I have an actual UPS tracking number. Even with their cheap slow shipping I get tracking from USPS once it hits the US. And Tayda’s never arbitrarily canceled an order on me.
I haven’t had many issues with AliX, but for some many years ago when I was tracking a packet to us. When it finally arrived, it arrived to a place 200km away and when I called the postoffice, I learned that the package had been picked up.
After a talk with AliX’s customer support I got my money back.
There was also another issue where I was sent the wrong version of some electronic device. I got a very rude reply from the seller, and I was rather honest when giving feedback. That note was immediately deleted.
I order switches, connectors, cables, potentiometers and electronic modules (timers, psus, amps …) because the stuff are cheap and so far I have gotten good stuff.
Normally, when I have a new board (got 5 boards from Barton Musical Circuits, one for free) I want to finish, I buy exactly what I need from a local supplier in Sweden, a bit more expensive but extremely fast delivery. Panel components are picked from my stock of Chinese stuff, though I need reliable 3.5mm connector (Thonk!!).
A final note on AliX. Watched a video how people receive really awful stuff (fashion) and kids’ stuff with forbidden “ingredients” - lead, formaldehyde….
I’ve just started using AliExpress and, frankly, it’s better than I expected. l’m currently stocking up on microcontroller boards, and they’re pretty hard to get wrong.
A nice!nano v2 cost me nearly £27 including VAT and shipping from an official distributor. I got a compatible board from a merchant on eBay for about £9.50, which still made me wince. I got one on AliExpress for £6.50 without trying. With discounts and bulk purchase I could get 4 for £12, including VAT and shipping.
Keyboard makers (the kind of keyboard you type on) building a cordless bluetooth low energy split keyboard typically use one board in each side. They’re also very handy for other tasks.
