I've never used my blog to criticize a company. But this time, I need to express my complete disappointment with Gearbest. The last days, I have had the worst shipping experience, and I do have extensively worked with companies in and outside of the EU. In a nutshell, I ordered a home appliance on Feb. 21, and I'm still waiting to receive it. They've extended the shipping deadline twice (each time for one month), and now the tracking number has expired.
2020-05-07 15:00:09 Hungary, Customs clearance processing complete. 2020-03-04 10:00:03 Hungary, Parcel is in clearance. 2020-02-28 17:00:36 Hungary, Parcel arrived at the airport. 2020-02-28 03:00:23 Hongkong, Departed Hongkong Sorting Centre. 2020-02-27 17:00:23 Hongkong, Arrived at Hongkong Sorting Centre. 2020-02-26 23:00:17 ShenZhen, Sent to HongKong Sorting Centre. 2020-02-21 10:46:12 Departure in Location Warehouse Sorting Centre. 2020-02-21 09:51:50 Shipping Label Printed. 2020-02-21 04:33:15 Order Created.
Update 2020-06-02: After 67 days (102 days from the order), 16 contacts with the after-sale support (manager and senior manager), and 5 contacts with the affiliate program manager, I finally got a full refund on PayPal. It seems I was not the only one affected by Gearbest in the last months:
If you bought your article and paid it using Paypal, you can open a dispute (max. 180 days after purchase) and then escalate it to a PayPal claim.
To start/escalate your dispute to a PayPal claim:- Go to the Resolution Centre.
- Click View next to the dispute you want to escalate.
- Click Escalate this dispute to a PayPal claim near the bottom of the page.
- Follow the onscreen instructions.
- Click the Escalate to a Claim.
Credit cards also have this possibility, but you need to check that with your bank.Update 2020-06-02: You shouldn't accept a partial/full refund on the GB wallet, even if offered at the beginning of your talks with the after-sale support. Sure, if the product arrives, you get a discount, but if it doesn't, they'll try to consider the credits as a partial refund, and they don't want to transfer them back to PayPal. I accepted the credits, but I didn't use them, so I managed to get them back to PayPal. But, it could be another headache for you.The quality of after-sale support is really inferior (including the support managers). The employees answer with almost the same message every time I contact them. Obviously, they use standard answers, as this one:
Thank you for your note. We apologize for the inconvenience. We are working on the reshipment now. We kindly ask you to wait for another 3-5 days for the latest information. Thanks again for your kind patience.
I also contacted the affiliate contact that I have, and the answer was better than from support, not neccessarily lead to a different result. My contact person contacted Gearbest's order department and was informed that the package could be delivered this week because they were handling the shipment in batches. As you know, today is Saturday and I am still waiting. After three months, they still refuse to refund. The next deadline is again pushed back to 05/31/2020. If the article eventually arrives, I would be happy to receive and keep it. But, I don't think I would be so lucky!
I do understand that the current unusual circumstance puts enormous pressure on and a good test for all systems. However, it is interesting to see that some company's operations are more resilient and remain effective than others. Having said that, in the past corona-weeks, I have got items from Aliexpress, M5Stack, Banggood, and others without any problem in a maximal of 20 shipping-days.
Therefore, I've removed every link that I had to Gearbest, and the cooperation with Gearbest is suspended until further notice. I hope that none of you should have to endure this unfortunate experience. Thus, think twice or ten times before you place an order at Gearbest. There are always other options: Amazon, Banggood, Aliexpress, etc.
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