I believe much of it is cultural. Happened to me when ordering 200 custom flashlights to resell. Several promises were broken, including over 6 wks late shipping. Breaking verbal contracts is more like amending to them, and late shipping was more like saving face, even though it was one broken promise after another. Sofirn is very interested in serving westerners, and gets it right most of the time according to western standards.
Here’s a short article that might explain some, and maybe help understand ways to communicate better.
One question: did your orders have a delivery guarantee?
Mine did and if I don’t receive my order by the original deadline (today) I will likely file a dispute. It might seem harsh especially since my order has now reached customs, but if a contract is not respected, it is misleading and dishonest. The seller was under no obligation to offer such a guarantee.
Very interesting article. Most of it rings true, but I am surprised by the section on contracts. In my experience Chinese are extremely rigid on punctuality and contract terms. It’s something I quite appreciate in my Chinese friends; they are reliable. They usually expect those who breach contracts to admit fault and compensate.
The bits on communication are very relevant. I found patience, politeness, and repeated attempts are especially helpful. Otherwise, the different styles of communication (Western: direct and detailed; Chinese: very concise and sometimes not addressing all questions raised or the intentions of the questions) can result in lots of frustration.
Yes, Robert, this is very cultural. It is difficult for a person used to western ways to remember the huge differences. Good article, too. Thanks. I need to take my own advice and just Chill.
Their products are fine, but if folks keep letting stuff like this slide or making excuses for em they will think nothing is wrong and keep these shady practices
The folks in china dont know how to say NO until u point out they lied about shipping in time, used fake tracking numbers and u ask to CANCEL the order
Then they sure know how to say NO
As a note making fake numbers and falsely marking stuff as shipped prevents the buyer from cancelling the order (which should have been auto cancelled at that point)
I just wanted to let you know what I decided to do (since I am the one who started the thread). Sofirn still hasnt shipped my ordes and I requested a refund. They promissed my quite some time ago to ship it “tomorrow” and never did. They also stopped responding to my messages. At this point I now longer care how good the flashlights I ordered are. They lied to me several times and their behavior can be best described by the word fraudulent. They have very dishonest business practices and I will avoid them in the future.
By seeing this thread I realized that I was in the same boat. Placed an order on 11.11, got a fake tracking number. Later they’ve send me a new tracking number, which is starting to show some progress. Really wonder if this number can be trusted this time…
I don’t know what they are thinking. I doubt they would lose much if they just told people to wait.
I ordered a Xiaomi phone once from their store. They told me right away it was out of stock and offered to either extend the waiting period or cancel and were honest that they could not tell me when they can send it. So it’s definitely not all Chinese. And that’s also how you “subvert” the aliexpress system.
In the meantime, with all the misconduct of flashoholics-workshop-Sofirm, including fake tracking number and less than ideal CS communication, I stayed :sunglasses: and today I received my 11-11 Sofirn order, within a month of ordering.
Btw, the DF10 is a fun flashlight, nice little addition to the workshop
Just wanted to add that my orders from 11/29 has all shipped. Tracking seems to indicate correct info. Only negative was that my msgs to the store took 5 days for a response lol. I mean I forgot that I even sent them a msg.
And what could they say? “Yeah, we are sorry guys we gave you fake tracking numbers to avoid automatic refunds of unshipped items by AliExpress. We are also sorry for listing 20+ items in stock when we even didnt start production of the next batch and have 0 pieces. We are also sorry for only responding to pre sale inquiries and once you buy items we dont ship we start all but ignoring you. We are sorry that we lie about when we will ship your order if you do manage to get some response from us weeks after purchase. Just order stuff pay for it and be happy you reveive it eventually one day.”
Got a new tracking number on the 5th, today it arrived in the country. Quite fast. (5 working days)
Still not at all satisfied with Sofirn and their behavior, this was my first buy from them, and probably the last. Never have I ever had this bad of an experience shopping chinese stuff. Yeah yeah they’re cheap, doesn’t mean you are allowed to pull these kind of stunts.
Kinda interesting how they opened up a new store too, wondering if its so they don’t get punished (like f.ex on AliExpress) for failing to ship in time.
Just my two cents. I bought a couple smaller items directly from them via email recently, and they were very responsive and the items came exactly when they said they would. This was just before the holiday rush so that can be a factor but really I think the political situation is getting out of hand. They even mentioned it could cause a shipping issue at the time, which it luckily did not.
Myself and many others have good experience and great CS from Sofirn. I have almost 20 Sofirn lights. Until lately with the 11.11, busiest time of the year, and with the 3000 orders for BLF LT1, etc… And I anticipated hiccup for this period which happened to me as well.
My guess is they are short handed and can’t cope with all the orders or even mess up with orders.
Well, for those who bought during 11.11 for the first time, you have chosen the worst time to buy and of cos the CHEAPEST time too.
To be fair… Want it fast, don’t buy the cheapest price and during festive season. Buy during low season and pay the highest price. 99.9% you will have no issue.
