GearBest vs BangGood: A (short) customer service story

Buy / Sell Budget Dealer Experiences
1

Hello BLF,

I recently had to deal with both CS at the same time, actually the GB problem was older, but as you know resolving anything with GB takes quite some time :rage: .

GearBest: I placed an order over $40 on December 2015 that was splitted ( as usual ) one package with tracking and the other without ( of course ). I tracked my package regularly, but in the end it couldnā€™t be delivered because ā€œthe recipient couldnā€™t be identifiedā€, since the french post is reliable I decided to check my order on GB and was surprised to see that the package has been sent without name ( had the picture for the untracked package, not the one with tracking, but it was obvious that both were sent without name ).
After contacting GB ( and saving the picture on my computer ) I finally received a refund for the untracked package minus the 198 GB points I used ( $ 3.96 ), as for the package with tracking, I was asked to wait and recontact them within a few days which I did, Iā€™ll make it short, they agree to refund me the package minus the GB points which they already did on the first refund, I gave them the PayPal transaction ID, wasted time with their CS that was using phoney excuses as justification, I sent a final message asking to refund me the due amount and that this was my last answer ( wasting time and numerous message is their irritating CS policy ), naturally I still havenā€™t receive a refund because they always want another message in which I accept to be ripped off but I donā€™t ( even for $ 3.96 ).

BangGood: I placed an order on March 2016, tracking was silent during over a month so I contacted the CS, after a verification with the carrier and a shipping address confirmation, I received a full refund 2 days later.
I finally received the package and contacted the CS in order to refund my refund and no, they did not offer me to keep the money :wink: .

As far as Iā€™m concerned Iā€™m done with GearBest CS, how am I supposed to avoid them if they send package without name and try to find every way possible to reduce or avoid refunds, even when the customer provide proofs like a transaction ID, theyā€™re really pathetic.

Hope this help, thanks for reading.

2

Not long ago I had the same misfortune, as in dealing with both BG and GB CS at the same time.

From Banggood I had ordered 4 XTAR 600mAh High Drain 14500 for the X5, with a claimed 9A discharge rate. They took 9 weeks to arrive, and when I got them they had sent me the wrong batteries (still Xtar 14500, but 800mAh and not high drain). I paid $16.40 minus Discount Points:246 ($-2.46).

From Gearbest I ordered an Enlan EL-01 folding knife with a wooden handle. It took 3 weeks to arrive, and unfortunately there was a crack in the wooden handle.

I contacted both of their customer service, and can you guess what happened?

Gearbest looked at the images I sent in my ticket, and asked me if I wanted them to send me a new knife or be refunded. I decided I didnā€™t want to take a risk to get another one with the same sort of issue, so I asked to be refunded and a few days later I ordered another knife instead.

Banggood looked at the images I had sent in, and then offered me 50 points back. Thatā€™s 50 cents in not-really-store-credit. I refused.

  • They told me that the battery I had ordered was out of production, so they had decided to send me something else that I didnā€™t want instead. They now offered me 300 points back. I asked if they meant 300 points per battery ordered or in total. It was in total. I refused. I also told them that I would accept a 50% refund, to paypal, as the batteries I got did indeed work.
  • They then offered meā€¦ 400 points. I refused. I once again told them that 50% back of $16.40, to paypal, is what I would accept.
  • They then offered me 50% back, except it was of the total after the points had been deducted, so $6.97. I said that half was actually $8.20, but I could no longer be bothered, just refund me $6.97 and get it over with.
  • They then offered me 50% back, $6.97. I replied that what I paid was $16.40, the points they first offered me do have some value even if itā€™s not actual credit. Also, I had already accepted their offer, just refund me already.
  • They then offered me 50% back, $6.97, and told me points can not be restored once an order has been sent (?). I decided that the best way forward was to reply ā€œYes, please send me the refundā€ and nothing else, as they clearly didnā€™t get it. Just a few days later, I actually got my money back. Well, not quite half obviously, but whoā€™s counting.

Iā€™ve had to deal with both of their CS:s a couple of times now, Gearbest has been faster to respond, easier to deal with and they actually seem to understand English.
I finally received my Cometa a little while back. Not quite sure I want to waste my time on Banggoods CS and itā€™s a good looking flashlight. I just donā€™t want to have a battery in it, or use itā€¦ :stuck_out_tongue:

3

LOL I had good CS with banggood and gearbest. But gearbest is prone to missing packages.

4

This is interesting and shows CS is a bit like a lottery one never knows if one wins.
hanging in there and keeping is short and simple will help in any case!
Thanks for sharing.
Would any of you share it on a new site/forum I am working on? It is about exposing alse ads and dealing with customer support to get money back.

5

I have only had one dealing with GearBest CS, I buy from them much less than Banggood though. The solution came quick, I only had to send 2 emails. But only got $5 refund plus 150 points for $40.99 item. I can still use the flashlight I bought, damaged LED.

With Banggood I have a few dealings with their CS. Most recent I bought something then it went on special next day. They already shipped the order so I couldnā€™t cancel it. Started live chat but CS there couldnā€™t help me and instead asked to to send email. Email CS refunded me difference, only had to send initial email and a confirmation email.
Once I got a package that had a hole in it and some items had come out of its blister pack and fallen out. Live chat CS sent me a another pack. ~$10 item.
Canā€™t remember details of other past CS dealings with BG but they all ended being positive outcome with replies in 1-2 days.

Prices between BG and BG are similar but GB sometimes has cheaper specials. GB packages take longer to get to me though, and I think BG CS is better.

6

We all have different experiences and Iā€™ve been dealing with both customer services in the past, BangGood has always been fast ( cancelling, refunding, etcā€¦ ), but my tickets with GearBest are most of the time very long, asking you to recontact later, various confirmations and so on.
The problem here is that there is a PayPal transaction that prove the amount refunded and they continue trying to deduct the points again. Thatā€™s clearly a rip-off and they do it knowingly.

7

I am fully in support of exposing scams!

8

I just gave up ordering from Gearbest,
I can not even access my account, they do send password reset e-mails, but none has been received.
One of my un-tracked orders got lost, I requested a resent, they said they would do, but not received the resent package after 2 months.
e-mails to CS department about account access also not got answered.

Previous lost package problem has been solved by CS with a resent and I have actually received it after 30-40 days.

9

Yeah, Iā€™m pretty sure my stories could just as well have been reversed, but so far I have nothing but positive things to say about Gearbests CS, and some not quite as good with Banggood. But then again, I have loads more orders from BG, so the probability for issues with them is increased a lot. Also, I see long delivery times and bad CS as the trade off for the low prices, so I donā€™t mindā€¦ so much :wink:

Sure, Iā€™ll share any issues I have had with ordering online. I just get really annoyed with people that are rude to the poor bastards in CS departments. Itā€™s rarely (if ever) their fault, they are hired to do a job, and they are told how to do it. My guess is they will lose their job if they are not following protocols, so I bite my tongue and do what they want. If that doesnā€™t work, I would eventually go to paypal, but never had to do that so far.

10

thanks for this thread. it made me aware of how the CS for both companies work.

I am very new to this forum and also with Banggood.

My experience with them so far though has been pleasant and hopefully it will stay that way. My very first order with BG was also my very first Astrolux. I had to to order twice because the first time was cancelled because of some issue with Paypal. After that was cleared up, they shipped it three days later but I was surprised that it actually arrived within 7 days. So for me it was worth the extra I paid for expedited shipping. The only not so good with BG, but I would say it is the courierā€™s fault and not BG itself was that the courier delivered it to my neighbor instead of me. They did not even bother informing me that they delivered it with my neighbor. Good thing, that neighbor was a good friend otherwise I would been screwed. The courier they use also has tracking but unfortunately it is not updated on time because at the time of delivery, the status was like ā€œin pickup hub or somethingā€.

so yeah, I am waiting for my second order with BG right now an Astrolux ao1 and some few minor electronics. This time trying their standard free shipping. Let us see how this goes.

as for Gearbest, hmmmmmā€¦ā€¦

11

Iā€™ve had excellent CS from Banggood for a defective item I received recently, and not so good from Gearbest for a missing item a while back, and now for a defective item. Now that Iā€™ve opened a dispute with paypal, theyā€™re willing to refund my money. Called paypal and they told me not cancel my dispute because I canā€™t reopen it if gearbest doesnā€™t make good on their offer.

12

Very interesting, keep the reports coming.

13

GearBest: 1 order with two tickets

  • 2 items missing from order package was ripped open & taped closed
  • 1 light died after 10 minutes for no apparent reason

BOTH tickets resolved in less than 24 hours with one message for each ticket.

  • 2 missing items reshipped
  • 1 dead light refunded to my GB Wallet at my request , because light was out of stock till 3 July. So I just re-ordered.

My experience with GearBest at this point is 110% positive

It is nice to find a company that does not punish the customer for things that are not the customers fault.
ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”
Banggood: 1 order with ā€œproblemsā€

The light was not as advertised. That could be overlooked, by me anyway. The driver end of the pill was the real problem, that I will not overlook.

Dealing with Banggood has been a total JOKEā€¦ā€¦ā€¦ :person_facepalming:

  • Numerous pictures requested
  • Video requested
  • Endless emails back and forth

ā€œSolutionsā€ supposedly reached, but then ā€œsolutionsā€ are out of stock or seemingly forgotten.
So back to emails and broken promises. :person_facepalming:
This has all finally gotten to the point of being tiring to me instead of entertainingā€¦ā€¦

This has been going on for over 5 weeks, and I have participated this long just because I have had extra time on my hands and actually wanted to see how far the ā€œmadnessā€ would go.

Well, no more extra time on my hands and the ā€œmadnessā€ has gone far enoughā€¦ā€¦ :wink:
That email was sent last night, Iā€™m waiting on the reply.

I might also add that each and every contact with both GearBest & Banggood has been completely cordial and non-threatening in any way.

With Banggood there has been no threat of PayPal claimā€¦ no threatening language of any type what so ever.
Heck, Iā€™m on a first name basis with a couple of the Banggood CS people. :smiley:

But enough is enoughā€¦ā€¦

All this to say my experience with Banggood is far, far, farā€¦. less than stellar. :frowning: ā€¦ :cry: ā€¦ā€¦ :weary:

Oh, yeahā€¦ā€¦ just today had another small claim with Banggood. This one will be handled differently by me however. Oh, I will still be completely cordialā€¦. I just wonā€™t put up with the ā€œmadnessā€ this time.
I donā€™t need to see how far it will go, I already knowā€¦ it is endless. :wink:

14

Gearbest CS is not too bad, but it's true - at first they try to refund as low as possible. Still what counts in the end is that they will refund the full amount in the end.

For instance once I received faulty watch from them, and one digit of the minutes section wasn't working... When I opened an dispute, I got hilarious propositions from the CS like "you can still use it". In the end I got full refund, but I admit it is vexing that they try to lowball you with crap like 50% refund, and retarded propositions (who in their right mind would gift an defective digital watch).

I have never purchased from BangGood, but I do plan to order Astrolux A01 from them. (BTW are A01 still OK to buy, since Manker is not making them for BG anymore?)

A small oftopic, but I will also add AliExpress here and I must say that AliExpress are very customer friendly and the CS is good. Every dispute I had with sellers on AliExpress went very smoothly for me. Just make sure you have video and photo's, watch your shipment deadlines and there is no way a seller can lowball you in any way.

15

Gearbest:
Never had any problems with ordering and shipping therefore no customer contact experience.

Banggood:
Never had problems ordering and with shipping. A few customer service encounters and all were positive.

Aliexpress:
I would say the CS, ordering and payment is miles above the two above.

All of my orders are shipped with tracking.

16

Why you said its miles above the other two, i thought you had only good experience with GB and BG? Whats so bad about the payment and ordering regarding GB and BG? I always get a tracking number by the way

The CS of GB is excellent, they refund money if the product is faulty which is super fair.

17

For me it has been six of one and half a dozen of the other. Banggood is better at getting stuff to your door and Gearbest is better if something is wrong with the item (Banggood donā€™t really do guarantees). You pays your money and makes your choice as they say.

18

Gearbest has pretty fast shipping as well, it depends on your desired shipping method, i always select germany express

19

As ā€œThe Millerā€ said itā€™s like the lottery. And both are variable with shipping and CS. But lately GB seems to be the better one :slight_smile: which could change tomorrow :open_mouth:

Donā€™t buy expensive items from either- the risk is too high that something will go sour. Donā€™t have expectations on shipping times- it will get there eventually. Donā€™t expect warranty or CS to be smooth- youā€™re going to have a fight of some size on your hands.

I havenā€™t had problems with either one yet but if I get a dud object Iā€™ll probably just forget about it if itā€™s cheap enough and order another one. Same for un-received. I know the risks with these kinds of sellers and I am accepting those risks when I place my order. And I donā€™t have time or patience to deal with negotiations on matters of a few dollars, so I limit the items I but to ones costing little until they get their standards high enough to make me feel safe spending more.

With the money Iā€™ve saved versus better sellers so far I can take a small loss and still be ahead of the game. I just keep watching what others report and when things look bad I go elsewhere, same as for items costing more. Anyone who expects more than that from these mega-stores will eventually be disappointed.

Phil

20

When I said miles above I am actually referring to my overall impression of those 3 sites. Aliexpress has a very useful feature packed mobile app. I can monitor everything in regards to my purchases, ticket and even the tracking status in the app alone. Banggood and Gearbest both have mobile apps but it isnā€™t nearly as developed, feature packed and stable as the one Aliexpress has. Aliexpress also has most items with free tracked shipping, unlike Banggood and Gearbest. EDIT: Aliexpress also has their own 60 day buyer protection program, which both Banggood & Gearbest do not have. Perhaps it is related to how they manage payments through Alipay which is similar to how PayPal works.

Ifā€™ we are are talking about customer service factors alone, then through my personal experience so far all have very good customer service. Apologies if my post caused some misunderstanding :smiley: