DealExtreme (DX) warning - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: RCMR
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 11, 2012, 10:09:27 am
content: Just a note about DX.Like probably many here, I've bought quite a bit of stuff from DX over the years and have generally had quite a good experience. Sometimes they're a little slow but generally you get your stuff and the price is right.However, things have changed dramatically.Over the Chinese New Year, DX installed some major new systems and they simply are not working.Why on earth they chose the busiest time of the year to commission a bunch of new processing systems beggars belief -- but that's what they did.As a result, *lots* of people (including myself I might add) are getting *very* fed up with the total lack of progress of their orders, the unavailability of customer support and the apparent inability (or unwillingness) to process refunds for canceled orders. Others have reported getting the wrong orders (ie: someone else's order instead of their own).A browse through their support forums gives just a hint of the magnitude of this problem because (as I discovered last night), they are also deleting posts from those forums, possibly as a form of "damage control".I was also threatened with a defamation suit by forum moderator "Celtic Warrior" if I mentioned any of this anywhere on the Net. Someone should teach that boy about waving a red rag at a bull.Clearly DX is very badly broken right now so I'd advise that folks give it a wide berth until they get the bugs out of their systems -- which could take quite a while by the look of it.Whoever has been (ir)responsible for implementing these changes really ought to have their backside booted very hard. They've destroyed an awful lot of DX's reputation and left thousands of angry customers in their wake.

author: PeterG
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 11, 2012, 10:25:16 am
content: A year or so ago DX was a great place to buy from china. Now it seems to be the slowest online store out there and in some cases they are no longer the cheapest. Some eBay stores are selling the same items for less.There shipping delays seem to be getting longer rather than shorter.My last order took 6 weeks.Regards

author: PeterG
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 11, 2012, 10:41:31 am
content: Sorry ,my mistake......HongKong....not China.....Regards

author: cybergibbons
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 11, 2012, 10:45:05 am
content: DealExtreme have become too large really. I've never lost an order, but have had something turn up over a year later - I'd just forgotten it entirely.Now I try to track down a supplier closer to the source. There are much more specialist suppliers that are normally cheaper and based in China. I tend to get stuff in under 10 days from them and they give decent product advice.

author: Psi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 11, 2012, 12:13:52 pm
content: Quote from: cybergibbons on March 11, 2012, 10:45:05 amhaha that's insane. Max i've ever had was 2 months from order to delivery.

author: metalphreak
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 11, 2012, 01:02:00 pm
content: I haven't bought anything from DX in a while now. There are plenty of other places that are less popular, but ship stuff much faster. GoodLuckBuy, FocalPrice, UxCell, ManaFont (LED flashlights), and of course ebay.

author: Bored@Work
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 11, 2012, 02:15:36 pm
content: The Hong Kong consumer council (consumer protection) can be found athttp://www.consumer.org.hk/website/ws_en/The Hong Kong police can be found athttp://www.police.gov.hk/ppp_en/02_er_room/

author: Spawn
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 11, 2012, 02:17:15 pm
content: RCMR, same problem here, i am customer for couple years now and everything went good till my last 2 orders.Like you guys said i am bit more on Ebay lately and it seems a lot cheaper than those Honkong/China stores, and you have at least Ebay's protection system, which never let me down in last 8 years, had several issues and i always got my money back.

author: kripton2035
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 11, 2012, 02:55:42 pm
content: I made 2 orders of some 5 items each early january, just before chinese new year ...they are all here except one item not yet arrived but leaved from there, and another not shipped...2 months after... and they all came one by one, sometimes two packets leaved dx the same day ?!?yes I'm really not used to it with dx but they offered me somemoney back.

author: nukie
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 12, 2012, 12:49:41 am
content: It's always good to look & shop around. If your online shopping revolves around DX then you are living in a very small world. DX is the last place I'll order my items.

author: kaz911
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 12, 2012, 04:32:14 am
content: Watch out for AliExpress - if you need a refund and does not have a US$ based account - Ali Express will refund you as a separate transaction - and NOT do a credit card refund. The difference is you loose on the currency exchange. With a normal credit card refund there are no charges. That lost me $80 around Christmas.

author: RCMR
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 12, 2012, 07:37:02 am
content: Well, with just a few days to go before the option expires, I've had to file a PayPal case against DX.My customer support ticket (now three and a half weeks old) wasn't answered, a forum moderator decided to delete my posts and ban me from their customer forums because I dared to suggest that there were some systemic problems perhaps causing the current melt-down -- and some weird disconnect between my last order and my account meant that I could no longer access the support service (ie: contact DX in any way) so a PayPal dispute was all that was left.DX claim they have refunded my payment -- but it doesn't show on my PP account and that stuff is pretty-much realtime.I guess it's just more proof that their systems are badly broken. Hopefully PP will manage to recover my $200 eventually but in the meantime, you're playing Russian Roulette if you place an order (IMHO). Their YouTube channel is also filled with placating videos and reassurances but also littered with comments from disgruntled customers:Read theComments

author: metalphreak
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 12, 2012, 09:33:31 am
content: I've never had any problems with GLB, and I've bought a few $100+ items from them before. If your order is of any value, just pay the extra $1 or so to get registered mail.I've not used aliexpress much, but a recent $70 order of OLED screens arrived within a few weeks with no issues at all. They don't offer paypal because they do their own escrow/mediation service for payment - I have no idea how well it works when things go wrong though.All of them seem to have issues with a few customers every now and then. Hard to avoid with international shipments and the language barrier. I would certainly not base an opinion about a company based on one or two vocal (and rightly so) customers who have had issues while the silent majority have none. The sheer number of complaints against Dealextreme at the moment indicates a systematic issue that seems to be affecting a large majority of orders.In any case, YMMV. I can only say i've had no issues personally with any of the places I mentioned. If you don't feel comfortable using them (despite all the Paypal protections) then stick to buying off ebay from reputable sellers: high feedback ratings, power sellers etc. It's really only the obscure stuff you can't get on there anyway

author: markus_b
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 12, 2012, 09:41:26 am
content: I placed two order with DE on Feb 25 (2.5 weeks ago). One of them was partially shipped last week. It took them usually about a week to ship, so something seems up.However, when I place an order with DX then I know it will take about a month to get to me. I had an issue in the past with a broken product and customer service did work. They sent me a replacement first, when the replacement had the same defect they provided a refund. Turn around time for customer service was 1-2 days, not very fast, but usable.It looks very much like they know very well that they are in deep shit, judging from the video they sent talking about the problems last week.

author: Psi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 12, 2012, 11:52:46 am
content: Looks like they decide to make a video about the issues they are having and apologize.And this isn't just a sales video made by actors, its the real people who work at DX doing the videohttp://blog.dealextreme.com/what-happened-to-your-orders/

author: markus_b
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 12, 2012, 12:00:04 pm
content: I got a mail last week from them with the video as main content. So I think they are very aware of the issues and working their ass off to catch up and fix the mess.For myself I've decided to be patient and give them some time.

author: kaz911
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 13, 2012, 03:40:25 am
content: Quote from: Dave.S on March 12, 2012, 12:15:14 pmNo - Paypal removed AliExpresshttps://www.thepaypalblog.com/2011/06/update-on-aliexpress/It seems like AliExpress promised Paypal it was mostly business transactions - but in reality a huge portion was from personal accounts. So the rates they had agreed did not hold up. There might have been other problems as well since AliExpress had "problems" conforming to Paypal refund policies.

author: PeterG
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 13, 2012, 06:55:25 am
content: I placed an order with DX 12/03/2012, lets see how long it takes to get to me here in Sydney, Australia.Regards

author: wkb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 13, 2012, 07:09:13 am
content: Well, different datapoint here: I complained to DX support that a refund for a cancelled order hadn't happened.Within 12 hours (while I was asleep :-) I have received a response with an apology and the confirmation the money will be back with Paypal within 2 days.Sofar OK I think

author: wkb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 13, 2012, 07:47:34 am
content: Quote from: Dave.S on March 13, 2012, 07:12:42 am<bleep> Email just in, Paypal notifying me the DX refund has arrived. Can't complain here!

author: Spawn
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 13, 2012, 08:11:33 am
content: Okay they start to pick up things I am happy to see that, I received next mail yesterday:QuoteAfter some research on HK Post and Dutch postal services it was true, the package bounched 2 times back and no one seems to know why, order is placed 4 months ago and DX cant do anything about this ofc, there is nothing fancy in the package some leads and thats all.

author: Bored@Work
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 13, 2012, 10:09:09 am
content: Quote from: kaz911 on March 13, 2012, 03:40:25 amAnd the parent company just had a big scandal a few month earlier.http://www.economist.com/blogs/newsbook/2011/02/online-fraud_scandal_chinaOne hundred of their stuff took bribe to sign on more than 2000 fraudulent companies as verified "gold sellers". That could have contributed to PayPal's decision.