[condor]

Surprisingly, havent seen any push for the year end on Amazon India. any idea if they are not having something this time ?

[ar@v1nd]

Wanted to warn BHPians about this website called 2gud on which they sell refurbished mobile phones (among other stuff). This is owned by Flipkart and heavily promoted on their app and website. They claim to have an elaborate certification process wherein they make sure all defects in the mobile are rectified and made to function like new. They have different grades based on the usage and cosmetic condition.

I ordered a OnePlus 3T mobile in superb. As per their website, this carries a 10 day return/replacement guarantee and a 1 year warranty provided by a 3rd part (F1 Infocomm). As per the definition of superb category, the mobile would have at max 2 scratches and would be lightly used.

With a 10% ICICI discount, I was getting the phone for around 6.8K with 1 year warranty. Sounded decent enough pricing (considering a full 1 year warranty) and I ordered one for my friend.

Well, the mobile got delivered in 4 days' time. But it was very evident that the touchscreen and display was replaced with some low quality counterfeit. Touch response was extremely poor and erratic in many cases, the touch refused to work. Especially after waking from deep sleep, it wouldn't respond for a full 5-6 seconds.

I raised a refund request and got an immediate response that the phone would be verified by a technician and once approved, the amount would be refunded to my credit card. Sounded good enough.

So the so called technican comes and inspects my mobile. He inspects the mobile and agrees that the touchscreen has a problem. Now he calls his manager who sits in Bangalore and handles the return process and informs him about the issue. And then he tells me that even though he has informed his manager that the mobile is defective, usually for issues with touch screen, the company always rejects the return and asks the customer to get it repaired.

Then by evening, I get an update that the return is rejected because the mobile has no issue and the customer is happy with it. Clearly his manager has some arrangement with the seller to reject the return (and probably gets some kickback from the seller). This return drama happens 3 times in a row, with my return rejected every time. In parallel, I had been shooting emails to the 2gud customer care email, but always kept getting meaningless canned replies that we will look into the issue etc.

By the second return, the technician (a very helpful chap) takes pity on me and tells me that this is the case for all such returns and advises me to use the "call me" feature on the app to get the customer care guys to call me (they dont have a published customer contact number - very fishy). And then I should explain the issue, get them to somehow escalate it and then share some videos showing the issue to their customer care email. And then he said 2gud will initiate a return from their end (with no stupid technician visit to validate) and then I should get my money back.

Sure enough, it worked exactly as he described. I got my amount refunded. Maybe it also helped that I'm a long time Flipkart customer with some pretty high value purchases. Sounded like the last return was handled by Flipkart and not 2gud. Not sure how it works when escalated.

Anyway, I had a harrowing experience. I never thought Flipkart would promote a company with such shady practices. Never ever buying from 2gud again.

[Habanero City]

Originally Posted by ar@v1nd

Wanted to warn BHPians about this website called 2gud on which they sell refurbished mobile phones (among other stuff).

I have had similar experience with Flipkart but it was for the purchase of a new phone with an exchange phone.

The exchange process and the consequent suffering in the hands of Flipkart was almost the same as your experience.

After this bad experience I have stopped using Flipkart regardless of how attractive the offers are.

Flipkart has become unreliable and untrustworthy for transactions especially involving exchange items.

[civic-sense]

Funny question: Is it safe to accept parcels from China now that the coronavirus is spreading? I ordered something from Aliexpress a week ago and it will probably land here in another week's time.

The item is showing as shipped but I am not able to track as there is no status available. I don't see a way to cancel the item.

Now, if it lands at my doorstep is there some precaution that I could take?

[Red Liner]

Originally Posted by civic-sense

Funny question: Is it safe to accept parcels from China now that the coronavirus is spreading? I ordered something from Aliexpress a week ago and it will probably land here in another week's time.

The item is showing as shipped but I am not able to track as there is no status available. I don't see a way to cancel the item.

Now, if it lands at my doorstep is there some precaution that I could take?

Even I was worried about this. I saw on one of the channels, some expert saying that the Virus can lock itself on 2.5micron particles in the air.

Some woman rejected a parcel from China and posted it somewhere on youtube. haha.

How long can these viruses survive outside a host body? That will be good to know. If they can survive long, we are doomed.

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by civic-sense

Funny question: Is it safe to accept parcels from China now that the coronavirus is spreading?
Now, if it lands at my doorstep is there some precaution that I could take?

Originally Posted by Red Liner

Even I was worried about this. I saw on one of the channels, some expert saying that the Virus can lock itself on 2.5micron particles in the air.
How long can these viruses survive outside a host body? That will be good to know. If they can survive long, we are doomed.

I am in the same boat guys. Though I dont have any pending orders off late, I am very much in need of a roll of PPF which is essentially plastic material. I was thinking of ordering it from a long time but had postponed. Now that this virus has struck, I am wondering what to do. First of all I am not sure what is the state of logistics and whether they will ship items. If they do, then I am worried if its safe to accept and use it or will it need to be put on hold.

[saket77]

^^ guys, go through this article. Scroll down a bit and it answers the exact same question.

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsan...virus-answered

Also, virus may not make it for more than 7 days even in most favourable conditions without a host. I have used the word ‘make’ because they aren’t living things!! They would be ineffective sitting on stuffs like a phone, plastic or packing material in less than 24 hours. Given the time these packages would spend at customs, I *think * It should be safe to accept the parcel.

Bonus, if custom offices clear without letting their hands on it.

[Red Liner]

Haha. Imagine the terror our local customs guys must be facing looking at a parcel from China. They wont touch it with a barge pole. I think everything will be cleared instantly, and no duty LOL!

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by saket77

^^ guys, go through this article. Scroll down a bit and it answers the exact same question.

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsan...virus-answered

Bonus, if custom offices clear without letting their hands on it.

Thanks for this Saket, it makes sense. As long as the virus cannot survive without a living host, we can consider it safe to get a shipment from China.

Originally Posted by Red Liner

Haha. Imagine the terror our local customs guys must be facing looking at a parcel from China. They wont touch it with a barge pole. I think everything will be cleared instantly, and no duty LOL!

This is the optimistic side of it. The other story would be they will just stack up all parcels from China and bury them underground for safety purposes

[mukeshgoel]

Originally Posted by civic-sense

Funny question: Is it safe to accept parcels from China now that the coronavirus is spreading?

World Health Organization (WHO) says it is safe.

https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1223532656778010624

[digitalnirvana]

About 13-14 of my parcels are stuck somewhere (including high value ones like LED headlight bulbs) and not yet delivered. No idea what is going on. Aliexpress is refusing to honor the disputes stating parcels have arrived at destination country.

Is there any recourse for getting refund?

[vjoy3]

Originally Posted by mukeshgoel

World Health Organization (WHO) says it is safe.

https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1223532656778010624

Would take it with a pinch of salt given how WHO is in Chinese pocket as of now - look at how they lauded handling of corona by Chinese govt

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by digitalnirvana

About 13-14 of my parcels are stuck somewhere (including high value ones like LED headlight bulbs) and not yet delivered. No idea what is going on. Aliexpress is refusing to honor the disputes stating parcels have arrived at destination country.

Is there any recourse for getting refund?

Most probably stuck in customs due to the clampdown from the last few months. You have two options. One is to raise a query in twitter or pgportal or your local post office, track the item location and if its indeed stuck in customs then you can visit the customs officer, show proof of purchase and agree to pay up duty. It will then be processed and forwarded(not handed over to you) and you receive it through your local postman along with the receipt for the payable duty. The second option is to wait patiently. It will arrive some day but you won't be charged duty most of the times. Parcels which I ordered in November are arriving now which didnt have tracking number. So you can imagine the turn around time.

In other news, most of Aliexpress is in vacation holiday which the Chinese govt is extending due to the coronavirus. Which means no order will be shipped out and there will be a huge backlog of orders to process and ship. Hence, it might take a few weeks for these things to settle down based on the control of the virus. Until then, think twice before you order from any chinese website. Even if you do, dont order expensive stuff anywhere.

[digitalnirvana]

Thanks for the reply. I understand that these are extraordinary circumstances so I will patiently wait. The problem is that Aliexpress seems to be closing the disputes unilaterally, at least that's what I have seen for a couple of orders.

Note that disputes were raised after the order is marked Completed ie when the purchase protection has run out. I always make it a point to contact the seller to extend the purchase protection as much as possible. Most sellers comply. Some don't and when the purchase protection eventually runs out, there is no other way apart from raising a dispute to cover my skin.

I am in no rush for the items so will wait.

[Jaguar]

What does it mean by shipment is under Adjudication?

I had ordered an item worth $150 from eBay. The idiot seller marked it as a gift of value $30 and obviously it was flagged by the customs. Now DHL says the matter is under Adjudication process and could take over a month for clearance along with the additional penalty. Does anyone have prior experience with a similar situation?