Gearbest shipping problem waiting for 1 month

[Houki]

Okay, so another update.

I've been communicating with Gearbest through a support ticket for a while now. The shipping delay seems to be all sorted out now, and the National Chinese Holiday has past.
It has now been exactly 1 month since I completed my order and my tracking number still hasn't updated since Sept. 15th. The last reply from Gearbest I received said that they are going to start a claim with DHL to trace my package and to wait another 3-5 business days.

I really don't know what to do now. This is not what I expected with the fastest express shipping. I've ordered screen protectors online on the same day I ordered the phone, which were shipped with the standard free shipping from Hong Kong and even those arrived already. Gearbest offered a 6% discount coupon for compensation, but that doesn't help me. I have tried to be patient, but I just feel like everything that could go wrong has gone wrong.

What would you guys do in my position? I'm wondering if I should just request a refund soon. If there isn't any sort of good news regarding this issue by next week, I probably will. The fact that it's still in China after a whole month since my order just seems a bit ridiculous. I normally am a patient person, but I know some of you have to agree with me that waiting like this week after week is frustrating.

Sorry for ranting.

[GizBeat]

Okay, so another update.

I've been communicating with Gearbest through a support ticket for a while now. The shipping delay seems to be all sorted out now, and the National Chinese Holiday has past.
It has now been exactly 1 month since I completed my order and my tracking number still hasn't updated since Sept. 15th. The last reply from Gearbest I received said that they are going to start a claim with DHL to trace my package and to wait another 3-5 business days.

I really don't know what to do now. This is not what I expected with the fastest express shipping. I've ordered screen protectors online on the same day I ordered the phone, which were shipped with the standard free shipping from Hong Kong and even those arrived already. Gearbest offered a 6% discount coupon for compensation, but that doesn't help me. I have tried to be patient, but I just feel like everything that could go wrong has gone wrong.

What would you guys do in my position? I'm wondering if I should just request a refund soon. If there isn't any sort of good news regarding this issue by next week, I probably will. The fact that it's still in China after a whole month since my order just seems a bit ridiculous. I normally am a patient person, but I know some of you have to agree with me that waiting like this week after week is frustrating.

Sorry for ranting.

Hi Houki,
I wish you had contacted me sooner to let me know this still hasn't been ironed out. I will contact them today. Apparently there was a fire in the DHL warehouse during all this time. Not sure your package has been affected or not. I know, it sounds lame. I'm just reporting what I've heard. This info was given by a Westerner, not Gearbest. You will be compensated more than 6% coupon. I will guarantee that.

[Houki]

Thank you Gizbeat for offering to help me out. I hope you can find out more about what's going on with my delays.
I wanted to contact you earlier, but I just assumed it was all due to the customs hold up, and then the National holiday where they were off from Oct 1-7.
Thanks for reporting about the fire news. It's the first time I've heard of it. Not sure if I completely believe it, but I guess that might explain the further delay with my package.

[GizBeat]

Thank you Gizbeat for offering to help me out. I hope you can find out more about what's going on with my delays.
I wanted to contact you earlier, but I just assumed it was all due to the customs hold up, and then the National holiday where they were off from Oct 1-7.
Thanks for reporting about the fire news. It's the first time I've heard of it. Not sure if I completely believe it, but I guess that might explain the further delay with my package.

We will get it taken care of. Generally Gearbest is very good. There have been a few short delays here and there with them, but that's with any shop.

The fire thing was posted on the GizBeat post I made regarding the delay situation. It wasn't info that came from Gearbest or directly from another China shop. A subscriber posted it.

I've contacted them already and now waiting for return communication. Will do my best to get it ironed out today.

[GizBeat]

Update. Gearbest is adamant that the phone has shipped. I 100% believe, that they believe it's been shipped, or it has been shipped and there's some other problem everyone is unaware of. (eg, stuck in customs).

They are running a trace on it as you've been informed.

After some "communication", they have told me it will be shipping again today. This is on your honor that they're shipping prior to trace being completed. In other words, if you end up getting 2 phones, you should ship one back, for which you will be reimbursed. I don't see that scenerio happening, but just need to lay it out for you.

After the trace has been completed, and assuming its lost or back to Gearbest, they will reimburse you for the trouble of waiting. This will be minimum of DHL fee refunded, and perhaps more, but can't guarantee that.

We should have tracking today or tomorrow at latest assuming DHL shipping on weekend. (Already 6pm in China).

I want to take the opportunity to say sorry for the hassle, but also that Gearbest has been easily one of the kindest, communicative, friendly, honest shops I've ever dealt with. Our contact is extremely busy and its awesome she's taken the time to take care of this for us.

I'm not belittling your frustration or the issue, just wanted to let everyone know I have 100% faith in Gearbest to not purposely lie, steal or cheat us and this situation was a very rare one.

Thank you very much for your patience and kindness as well. I'm not sure I would have been so polite if the shoe was on my foot.

Regards,
Gizbeat

[Houki]

Update. Gearbest is adamant that the phone has shipped. I 100% believe, that they believe it's been shipped, or it has been shipped and there's some other problem everyone is unaware of. (eg, stuck in customs).

They are running a trace on it as you've been informed.

After some "communication", they have told me it will be shipping again today. This is on your honor that they're shipping prior to trace being completed. In other words, if you end up getting 2 phones, you should ship one back, for which you will be reimbursed. I don't see that scenerio happening, but just need to lay it out for you.

After the trace has been completed, and assuming its lost or back to Gearbest, they will reimburse you for the trouble of waiting. This will be minimum of DHL fee refunded, and perhaps more, but can't guarantee that.

We should have tracking today or tomorrow at latest assuming DHL shipping on weekend. (Already 6pm in China).

I want to take the opportunity to say sorry for the hassle, but also that Gearbest has been easily one of the kindest, communicative, friendly, honest shops I've ever dealt with. Our contact is extremely busy and its awesome she's taken the time to take care of this for us.

I'm not belittling your frustration or the issue, just wanted to let everyone know I have 100% faith in Gearbest to not purposely lie, steal or cheat us and this situation was a very rare one.

Thank you very much for your patience and kindness as well. I'm not sure I would have been so polite if the shoe was on my foot.

Regards,
Gizbeat

Wow thank you so much for all of your help. I really appreciate it. I'm very glad to have found this forum and met all of you helpful people. I would be totally lost if I didn't have you to help me.

I know that Gearbest is a great seller, and they have been nice enough to communicate with me through the support ticket. I will not let this rare experience ruin my view of them, and I will continue to shop with them. The whole customs shipping delay just threw everyone off, and DHL insisted that the fault was with the seller, yet they didn't even mention the customs hold up situation they were having.

Would that mean that I will be receiving a new tracking number for the new shipment? or would they just update my old one?

[GizBeat]

Update. Gearbest is adamant that the phone has shipped. I 100% believe, that they believe it's been shipped, or it has been shipped and there's some other problem everyone is unaware of. (eg, stuck in customs).

They are running a trace on it as you've been informed.

After some "communication", they have told me it will be shipping again today. This is on your honor that they're shipping prior to trace being completed. In other words, if you end up getting 2 phones, you should ship one back, for which you will be reimbursed. I don't see that scenerio happening, but just need to lay it out for you.

After the trace has been completed, and assuming its lost or back to Gearbest, they will reimburse you for the trouble of waiting. This will be minimum of DHL fee refunded, and perhaps more, but can't guarantee that.

We should have tracking today or tomorrow at latest assuming DHL shipping on weekend. (Already 6pm in China).

I want to take the opportunity to say sorry for the hassle, but also that Gearbest has been easily one of the kindest, communicative, friendly, honest shops I've ever dealt with. Our contact is extremely busy and its awesome she's taken the time to take care of this for us.

I'm not belittling your frustration or the issue, just wanted to let everyone know I have 100% faith in Gearbest to not purposely lie, steal or cheat us and this situation was a very rare one.

Thank you very much for your patience and kindness as well. I'm not sure I would have been so polite if the shoe was on my foot.

Regards,
Gizbeat

Wow thank you so much for all of your help. I really appreciate it. I'm very glad to have found this forum and met all of you helpful people. I would be totally lost if I didn't have you to help me.

I know that Gearbest is a great seller, and they have been nice enough to communicate with me through the support ticket. I will not let this rare experience ruin my view of them, and I will continue to shop with them. The whole customs shipping delay just threw everyone off, and DHL insisted that the fault was with the seller, yet they didn't even mention the customs hold up situation they were having.

Would that mean that I will be receiving a new tracking number for the new shipment? or would they just update my old one?

Yes, you should receive a new tracking #. This is on your honor. So if you receive 2 phones, please send one back. They will pay for the shipping return.

When the trace is finished and they have a result, you should get some sort of compensation for your waiting a month's time after you paid for DHL.

I am 100% sure there was no intent to cheat you here. Just fell through the cracks so to speak. It's a rare occurrence. I am grateful you have remained calm and considerate.

[Houki]

Okay, that sounds good to me. Hopefully I'll have better luck with the second phone they ship out. If I do end up receiving 2 phones, they'll pay for the shipping return of the phone, but would they cover the import charge I'd have to pay when receiving it too?

[mirandam]

Not to mingle in any way, but if you do not except the second shipment (be it the first or second phone they shipped out) it gets send back to the origin which has to bear the costs for both way shipment.
It only requires you to refuse the shipment when the dhl delivery-agent gets to your front door.
Since no real import has taken place, no charges should apply (although I'm not sure about that as I've never been in that situation, however I did refuse shipments from couriers within my own country).

[aus9]

but if you do not except the second shipment

to stop me doing silly private messages, me thinks she means "accept" not except?

however I did refuse shipments from couriers

You must NOT sign for any goods that you see have been attempted to be delivered "in bad order"

IF YOU DO WANT A SHIPMENT,
if you sign for it, and its dead on arrival, it may be difficult to prove. Much better to not sign for it and ask driver that you want an inspection with the courier company to prove....you did not damage it....so any damage is either the fault of Customs, courier company or sender.

Unfortunately we all learn from our mistakes. You may be keen to get that new phone and not look critically at the packaging.

good luck