Gearbest.com want me to delete thread here on BLF to get a refund.

> Norway … EU
My oops. Norway is a member of the EEA:

see also: http://www.cmgcorp.net/CE-Marking-Testing-Countries-Require.shtml

And, just connecting a power supply isn’t a sufficient test — questions would include, I think*: is the spacing between the electrical positive and negative conductors adequate, and, does the case flex with handling enough to allow a short circuit.

_

  • remember I”m just some guy on the Internets. Check this opinion with someone knowledgeable about the subject and risk analysis.

Everyone knows GearBest are sharks. As are the other big Chinese sellers.

They try this offer of a percentage as a settlement all the time, Ive red about it countless times here. I dont bother arguing with them, I dont correspond with them any more than PayPal require, I just let PayPal do it. I wouldnt need to remove my thread or post, and if Im entitled to it, chances are Ill get 100% refund.

Your problems start when you try to convince them they are doing the wrong thing. They dont get it, thats why they act that way in the first place, or they dont care. Truth is they have a different value system, different culture and they probably arent sociopaths at all, but it comes across that way as this is how they think business is done. For them, in China, it is how its done. Either way, youre just pissing in the wind.

[quote=brad]

[quote=myhken]

I did not have any issue with them, before they told me to delete the thread here on this forum, also after I tried to tell them that it was not allowed. And that I would not do it. They try to give me more money to do it, but I refused. I told them this would get in a new thread if they did not reply back, they did not reply back, hence the this thread.

I have seen their metodhs, they buy there out of negative reviews, and they buy positive reviews. I will loose $100 on this thread, but see here, what they offered me before all this happened. And then I was happy, so I did it. How many other positive reviews of them has been paid do you think?

See how they get positive reviews, and maybe then you can understand why I’m sceptical to people that talk warmly about them, and think it’s ok that they should be allowed to censor BLF and other forums, and their users (and customers)

You are going way overboard dude.
Why can younot handle your affairs between you and the merchant only?
You are dragging the ( neutral) forum into unneccessary drama.
I’d say you made things worse by putting the vendor on the defensive from the beginning when you
referred them to the BLF link to your post/rant—instead of just describing the issue.
Yes—Chinese vendors can be difficult or even unscrupulous to deal with; but you
escalated the situation quickly—reducing your chances of resolution.

I, for one—hope this thread does get deleted—as it detracts from the positive enjoyment of our Flashaholic Community.

I do not agree that this a campaign thread. At least it is a report of that a company tries to influence what is and what is not written on BLF. That is something that concerns the BLF community or at least something I want to hear about.

The truth, I was bored, lost my job last year, bad times, I wanted to see if there was a marked for stuff like this here in Norway, since I can see some similar products, but not many. So I used off my savings, $3000, bying all sorts of things that used 18650 batteries, that I could try to sell.
First on a place like Ebay (but the Norwegian versions of it, not Ebay), then maybe put up a website, selling this stuff. If there was a marked, and I was starting a company, I of course had got all the rules for sales etc of electrical products. But I did not do it now.
The last month I used to buy stuff, then I had to wait to get the goods (some can take a month more before it’s here), then the plan was to slowly put more and more ads up, see if there was a marked.

But just now, I’m a private person with a HUGE stock of 18650 stuff and batteries. So I’m just a normal customer, that used over $1000 on Gearbest.com last month. And as a private person, I have to trust the seller, Gearbest.com to sell me stuff that works and that is safe to use?

Or do you always ask for lots of paper work on everything you buy as a private person also? Don’t think thats common practice. You look at their site, their ads, their info about the product, and you order from that info.

Don’t let CE mark fool you, it does not have to mean it is safe, it could also mean china export.

I did use that link because it had all the info, all the pictures, all the feedback from people with more knowledge then me. So should I use lots of time writing all this to them, or use the easy way, post the link?
And their BLF representative had seen the thread anyway, so they was aware of it, I’m sure of.

So all I did was to give them the possible to see all the facts, pictures, info about this issue in one thread, then make a decision. I got recommended by several people in that thread to ask for a full refund, so I did. I listen to BLF members, I have respect for them. But Gearbest.com has no respect for this forum and it’s users. They clearly say so in this part of the ticket:

Do you think that is respect for BLF and it’s users?

I wanted that, but they wanted to censor me…I can’t allow them to do that. So I can move on if they don’t censor me. They still have good offers etc.

IMHO This is not censor. This is extortion.

I have to say I think the problem is you get way too excited Ken. I shop with most of the known vendors Banggood, gearbest, DX etc. When I rarely have a problem I take it to PayPal, but it’s rare. One of the big problems is you are buying crap. Ultrafire batteries, power banks that work out more expensive than the Xaomi’s. The reason I have very few problems is because I buy quailty, samsung, Sanyo etc, thus I minimise the risk.

The Chinese vendors work differently to the way we do in europe , so learn to work with them.

However I also think there are a few members getting a little excited as well here, Ken is venting his frustrations which he, in my opinion has probably brought on himself, but I like to think we are a pretty tollerent place and the thread won’t be deleted.

Marc.

+1

The “crap” buying has been up before, yes before I joined this forum and a couple of other, I did buy some Ultrafire batteries and some low quality flashlights from Ebay (type 3000lm on a single XML emitter) for my self, changing out my 8 years old batteries and flashlights (that still worked, but wanted to have some new ones). But when I joined this forum, I was recommended Gearbest.com very fast, and many people recommended them here on this forum. So I believed that they would be a better store then using Ebay. After that I have not got lots of crap, I have purchased lots of good stuff, etc I only have real battery brands now, good ones. New ones. I have ordered flashlights highly recommended by members here, or from threads I found.

So the stuff i have is not crap. Maybe this power bank is not crap, I don’t know. The first one I tested was crap. Thats for sure.

The reason why I have many threads about crappy products, was because I started to getting them when I joined this forum, but they was ordered around one month before. But just because I did do a mistake before I joined this forum, it do not mean that I don’t listens to your members I try to buy good stuff.

But since my plan was to start selling some of the stuff, I can’t pay $200 for a empty power charger just because high price = high quality. If I’m going to do this as a business, I have to make money, and my prices can’t be to high.

But there is no point explaining my self, since i once buy Ultrafire, all I ever buy after is crap. Regardless of what store I buy from. (of course, that means that every store I buy from sells only crap)

That is just a bit of nonsense. Anything that looks like the CE mark is either the CE mark or illegal in EU.

Even companies inside EU do sometimes use a CE mark with wrong proportions.

I think this is a good idea, but it is an advantage to know a bit about the product you are dealing with.

Usual you do not have to register a company to be responsible, but you are correct. Very few people/companies ask for the paper work and it is rather dumb.

If the government get suspicious about one of your products, you have to produce the paperwork in about two weeks. This means prove that it passes the CE test (Norway may be different) by showing your test results.

With the CE mark you are self certifying, this does not mean you can just throw anything on the market (You can, but there might be consequences), any time the government are in doubt they can ask for the testing documents that shows why you mean your product can carry the CE mark. If you cannot show the document they can ask you to recall the stuff.

In real life the government is very lazy and do usual only ask for papers if there has been some reported cases with a product.

The repercussion will depend on country, I believe that in German you might face a jail sentence for ignoring CE.

Der Mr. Kenneth Myhre,

Lets see if we can see the big picture clearly.

First you bought a bunch of (low end) stuff from “China” looking for low cost products. Personally I would say that part of the cost savings is “risk” in that you may find some of the item to be substandard (the classic example are Fire batteries)

Second I am sure that GB (or any other Chinese company) is not taking this personally. Consider that they (like all of us) are defaulting to use our subjective “preferred’ techniques to address and resolve issues in life (aka coping mechanism / survival strategies). When any company is confronted with an issue they seek ways to address it. The fact that a high volume low cost Chinese distributor wants to negotiate and is concerned about their reputation I believe should come as no surprise. The fact that they are negotiating with you to change/remove your earlier posting actually supports your right to free speech. Because if you were not free to post they would have simply removed your postings and told you to pound sand. as they can not do this they are ”incentivized” to negotiate a settlement with you.

Second if you have the PayPal option then that might be a good way for you to “negotiate” the issues to conclusion. Or follow more closely the “reviewed” products so that you have fewer surprises in the future.

Third all things considered I think from an economic standpoint you have the upper hand (in the sense that I am confident that you can “cost” them) a value greater then their profit made on the transaction in total, is a “loss” for them.

Fourth consider that as soon as your voiced opinion(s) drifts from factually backed content and appears to move into an emotional based “rant”, to neutral third parties (the rest of us) you loose some credibility in making your point(s).

Fifth while GB may/does have at least one representative on this forum I think you have done yourself a disservice by implying that somehow we all/many/most/ more then are fairly obvious, have some financial incentive to protect GB. On this point I think you are WAY off base. You may want to consider the tone and tack you take in the future on these various points of consideration.

^ +1…

Freedom of speech is one thing, but this is becoming defamation.

If all this was about the OP starting a business selling these items, then I wonder who was going to handle his complaint department and customer relations?

I don’t think that I would ever want to buy from him, or complain to him about anything.

I agree that this is a proper forum for discussing problems with vendors. I certainly want to know the experiences of other buyers. However, it seems bad transactions are often accompanied by bad feelings and I don’t understand that at all. It’s a business transaction, no need for the drama.

I have had a couple of issues with Gearbest transactions, but I’m happy to report that they have all been worked out to my satisfaction, so far. Part of that good experience was due to discovering, here at BLF, how to use basic, translatable english in my communications and to specify exactly what I want to happen to become a satisfied customer (even if I have to accept some losses because that is often a part of business).