Excellent Customer Service from Gearbest!

I have 2 Utorch S1 Mini with Aspheric lens, purchased from Gearbest in May, when the price was $27 each.

One of them has a problem with a loose ground, and sometimes it loses the Highest mode, even on a fresh battery.

I contacted Gearbest and we began a series of email exchanges.

they asked for a video, and my order number, and I complied

they offered me a partial refund, of $7, and I could keep the light, or they would send me a replacement for $20, and I could still keep the defective light

I explained that I would prefer them to send me a Klarus Mi1C, and that I would pay the difference, $22, from the 27 I paid, to the current list price of the Klarus, $48.95

they did not want to do that, but increased their refund offer to $14.

I replied that I had paid $27, and would like to apply that to the Klarus.

They did not want to trade for a Klarus, but they increased their offer to 26.99, which I accepted.

At first they refunded to my Gearbest Wallet. I then discovered that the Klarus are sold out, so I asked for the refund to be sent to my paypal.

Gearbest refunded my paypal!

I am very impressed with the Gearbest commitment to Customer Satisfaction.

All it took was several persistent rounds of negotiation, and a video.

With the refund I was able to almost completely offset the cost of a Klarus Mi1C from Banggood, using a discount code from https://m4dm4x.com/m4d-m4x-deals/

So far so Happy!

Wow! Good for you.
They never answer my mail or ticket eventhough they akways send me their advertisment. Some times they cancel my order without any expaining. Sometimes I got DOA and now likely to having problem with partial shipping. Oh! and their lucky draw is just bullshits.lol Just complain a bit because of jealous.

Yes, Ive had other nightmares, but this was a dream with a Happy Ending.

Part of what made it possible for me to stay calm, is that I have a mindset that the customer service person has to follow a script, and they are just doing their job.

So if they ask for a video, I give them one. Im pretty sure they never watch the video, I think its just one of the requirements for the conversation to progress to follow up emails that contain different offers.

It was almost like they had a list of emails that are standard offers. they start out offering 25% of what I paid, in reply to a first contact, starting AFTER they get the requested Video (no Video, no progress, give the Wookie What it Wants).

Then if I reply, courteously, they use the next standard offer, which is still below the actual cost of the item, by 50%.

If Im still talking to them after that, and I dont insult anybody along the way by losing my temper, they finally offer 100% full refund.

I think some smart Consumer Psychologists designed the communications protocols. Its designed to lowball the customer into submission, but if you dont settle, then another aspect of the process kicks in.

Their system Hates unresolved tickets that are still Open. They have a strong motivation to reach a settlement, up to the full refund, as long as the customer is persistent and continues to make clear, and courteous requests.

Thats what I think really happened anyway. This is after years of shouting at and hating customer service people… that did not work as well for me… it was a lot more stressful… lol

Yeah. At least, your successful story inspired me well.

I’ve run into the same lately. Received a broken item due to poor packaging, sent an RMA ticket 2 weeks ago, no response. Tried to open another ticket and system says ticket already open. Write a poor review based on design weakness, no response and not published. Luckily it was not an expensive item. GB used to be better for me as well, but not anymore.

KuoH

I feel your pain

suggestion
if you paid by Paypal, go to Paypal and create a dispute, and follow their directions to contact the vendor, at the email that Paypal provides

I get results that way

If instead I input to a form on the Vendor site, for some reason, they never answer.

In the past I would get confirmation emails after using the vendors website form, but when I would reply, nothing would happen

I have now learned that I was replying to a notification robot, that does not accept replies

I do not know if your situation is similar, but the bottom line is, communicating with the vendor web form does not work well, otoh, communicating with PayPal, produces results, plus on Paypal they give a contact address for the vendor, that a real person replies to

I hope that helps, let us know if you solve the problem

Complain too much, like I did with Gearbest, and they cut you off…permanently. Will no longer sell to you. I found out I was cut off when I tried to get in on the Zanflare T1 Deal.

Most of my complaints were not on big ticket items. They were 1, 2, and 3 dollar items that didn’t past muster IMO.
I bought wayyyyyy more than I ever thought about returning for credit from Gearbest.

My final fiasco with them was when they sent me out, during 2017 Holiday period, a LiitoKala 402 battery charger that was totally defective and I raised so much hell that they told me to keep it. But they didn’t tell me they were cutting me off permanently, that is, til I tried to order the T1 Lantern Deal. Ordered it twice and they refunded immediately both times. Kicked out…LOL guess I unknowingly earned it.

sorry you could not stay cool calm and collected, I know dealing with customer service can be very frustrating

however, the people on the other end are just employees, they are not paid enough to take abuse. Ive had a number of customer service reps, in different industries, simply hang up on me when I cant resist the urge to vent my anger on them.

I catch more flies with honey… and I get more help when I am couteous, than when I act like a Pissed Off Customer form Hell.

Sometimes I still write really nasty letters, just to vent, but the trick is not to send those :slight_smile:

Hmmm… persistence, negotiating skill and luck. What else do we need?

Reasonable expectations, as opposed to acting like we just bought a Porsche, when we paid for a Yugo. :wink:

sometimes Im amazed how flawed some products are that make it to market
a replacement Yugo, is still just a Yugo
go for the refund, and buy a different Car, I mean, light… or whatever the thing is that you desire

"You can get more of what you want with a kind word and a gun ...than you can with just a kind word."

I didn’t get the sense that he was abusive to the CSRs from his response. Just that he might’ve made too many complaints, from GB’s point of view. I might be in the same boat with maybe 6 to 8 cases resulting in resend or refund of mostly under $10 items and most of these cases were actually caused by inadequate packaging on their part. They sent 2 pairs of 4’ long light sabers in a plastic bag instead of a box. Naturally it arrived with all of them completely bent and unsuitable for gifting.

I have made probably over 100 orders with them ranging from $20 to $250. This is not the way to respond or rather not respond if they want to continue receiving my business. Like I said, they used to be good for me, but it seems not anymore.

KuoH

you might be right that its just after a certain number of returns, they cancel your account

I hope you figure out how to communicate with them to solve your problem. You did not answer when I asked if you have used Paypal Dispute to find an effective email communication… that worked for me. They did not ignore my email

I did get the impression there may have been some more highly charged emotional content in the interaction with Streamer, but regardless of our opinions about his situation, I totally agree that it is incredibly frustrating to get no response to email.

I suggest you not use the vendors website contact form, use Paypal, follow their instructions, they provide an email that seems to get Priority Response, because Paypal is watching, and the vendor desperately wants to keep their Paypal account in good standing.

Plus Paypal is very motivated to have us keep using them to pay money for goods and services, they make a commission on every transaction. Their priority is to keep the consumer clicking the buy buttons, so they want to make sure the consumer gives a High Customer Service Satisfaction Rating to the vendor. Thats all just explanation, it may be off here and there. The bottom line is, dont use the webform, use the email that Paypal says to use.

good luck, share what you learn

At only around $5, it’s not worth wasting a Paypal dispute on and I’ve expended enough effort contacting GB support, it’s up to them at this point. It’s not like there aren’t a bunch of other cheap sites I can spend my money at or heaven forbid go on a savings spree! :money_mouth_face:

KuoH

ok, thanks for your comments
I respect your decision not to use the contact address that Paypal provides…

Im curious to know what email address or method you used to contact GB, so that others can learn from your experience, what does not work.

I definitely agree that life is too short for too much online drama. Sometimes it is best to step away from the keyboard and enjoy life offline for a few minutes, before getting back to shopping!

enjoy your lights :slight_smile:

I have never had a bad experience with GearBest about anything. That said, it always pays to be persistent, courteous, & POLITE. Even if you have to “play the game”.
No need to do it any other way IF one wants a harmonious outcome. :+1:
If a person rants, raves, & acts like a fool…. good luck. You’ll most likely need it. :wink:

I have also have had good interaction with GB CS on several occasions.

No complaints so far.

In my experience Gearbest systematically denies customer service when there is a problem.The ticket process is a time consuming and often fruitless process.The problem I have had repeatedly is shipping related. If you do not receive an item they appear to be unable to actually track packages that are missing and claim an item not received is not their problem.Even after paying for Registered Mail on lithium batteries I was denied compensation.They do not seem to be capable of actually tracking the package and just deny responsibility for undelivered items.Then comes the time consuming PayPal dispute process where if you do not receive the item you do eventually a receive a PayPal refund.If you do not use PayPal you will just lose your money after much time and trouble.I beg to differ with the OPs characterization of Gearbest Service.Without PayPal payment you will eventually lose your money at Gearbest.I would rank Gearbest as having the worst service of any Internet seller I have used.

Congrats on getting a Refund!
You played the game well, and you Won!

.

Sorry to hear your batteries were lost. I agree communicating with the System can be very frustrating and time consuming.

And I totally agree that the way to win at the Internet Shopping Game, is to involve Paypal.

Glad you got your money back,

The few times I’ve had to contact GB customer service all went well. One were some AAA nimh batteries (I think EBL??) that came no where near capacity when I tested them. GB refunded to my paypal account. The other was when a Zanflare AAA flashlight never showed up. When I first opened a case they told me I had to wait 90 days from the order date to get a refund, and they issued a refund after 90 days.