Lost shipment!! -- How was your case handled? :)

After 60 days total PP got your money back? With DD, as it is known, there is no need to walk along the PP route. The shopper doesnt have to fear loss; they work hard to satisfy you and are generous with replacement shipments or refunds – you only have to wait the 60 days and then contact them, for example thru the chat channel. I dont know of any customer case where DD made the customer eat the costs. I almost ordered something from them today, a cannongrey Tank E09 V2.

The aspect of gambling nullifies itself when large sellers with FREE global shipping expect a certain percentage of lost shipment claims (e.g. 0.5%) and accept to cover for the loss without questions asked.

HKE once told me that flashlights selling business is such that not with each and every sales transaction can the dealer (HKE) make a profit. As soon as the buyer returns the torch (repair/warranty/..) or reports a missing shipment, all earned profits are eaten or even actual financial loss is generated. HKE states that this happens, it's the nature of the flashlight business, and is sad .. but frank customer satisfaction be of higher priority. Yeah, kudos to them.

I certainly regret, stingy as i am, not having ordered with them .. their price would have been 5$ higher than the U.S. dealer.

I ordered a large number of parts from CNQG a couple or 3 months ago. I placed the order after my dry was stuck at us customs for a month. At the time unregistered mail was shipping quicker so I figured I'd split my parts order into 2 shipments via unregistered mail instead of just one in case one got lost. As my luck would have it NEITHER ever showed up after 6 weeks.

I contacted Ric and he resent both orders in one registered package and it arrived safely yesterday. Now THAT'S great customer service!!!

Who knows, maybe the others will show up in another month or two but I doubt it.

Normally, all my stuff got to me eventually. Except two times of "supposedly" lost package. And these two just happens to be a "promised" replacement from two ebay seller for wrong/defective parts I received.

Hmmm... what a coincidence...

So in ebay, if you can, don't accept any "resend", just ask for refund/partial :)

I have given the CS chat a try. The Otta_ clone I spoke with appeared to be from the shallow end of the gene pool and didn't get (or pretended not to get) the problem despite me sending pics and describing the issue in simple terms several times (note: this was not the lost order case, but another issue I had with one of my other orders).

Regarding the lost order I opened a ticket through their support system. The response to my ticket was that I should wait. I told them that as a precaution I will open a dispute with Paypal before 45 days and I informed them a couple of days before I had to escalate the dispute to a claim that I had not received the order and I would like a refund. After that I received a refund.

The fact that I was given the runaround by the CS chat and having had issues with all my orders from DD I opened the dispute since I didn't trust DD. After that I have not ordered anything from DD and I'm not going to order again from DD.

/endrant :p

Didnt bother to read all posts, but my brother ordered knife from USA around the same time that you did, Kreisler, and his hasnt arrived yet either.

Perhaps they are all stuck at USA border control?

Okay, since we are having a friendly debate on this, let me clarify. Wink

I have sent Ebay items that I am selling for over $200, I am sending them USPS, I do not insure! Am I gambling? My answer is no.

Let me go deeper, a 1000 to 1 is not gambling even 500 to 1. Almost a sure thing. IMO, that is the chances that you lose something in the mail. Also when I order something, I never take out insurance. If it is lost, or I don't get it, I go to the seller and settle it there. If there is a problem, I go to Ebay and or Paypal. I am like the OP, insurance adds to the price. Now, there are instances where I might take out insurance, but they are very, very small.

Again, we are not gambling when we don't take out insurance on orders, overseas or nationwide..Wink

In the interest of friendly debate, you do understand that gambling is all about playing ODDS, right? And you just gave me your rationale based on ODDS. You even stated that it is *almost* a sure thing, indicating that it's NOT a sure thing. Now aside from wondering where you got your statistics, the term still generally fits. On the other hand, the phrase "it's a gamble" doesn't really mean you're gambling, but instead that some level of risk is involved, which solely based on the fact that the package HASN'T arrived as expected, would seem somewhat without need of mentioning.

woah. that sounds like good news, thanks. i am full of hope that the little package (worth 32$) is still somewhere somehow in transit and i am really willing to wait patiently the 60d total because i never had any lost shipments till now: since Oct 2011 i handled ~60 shipments (incl. 6 outgoing) and every single shipment (most of which without tracking number) got to its destination, eventually. it means that i dont believe in lost shipments: shipping to my address is safe. what bugs me is Flashlights USA's righteous attitude which lets me down and drives me into calling for PP. i will have a bad conscience when i eventually receive the package. Disputing via PP is not nice

Perhaps I'm being simplistic, but it strikes me that if I order something, I expect to receive it.

All very well for the seller to try to pass the risk of non-delivery onto the buyer via an insurance company (for which, presumably,he receives a hefty commission ). OK, it isn't the seller's fault, but it sure as hell ain't mine if it doesn't arrive. Seems to me that the seller should build in to his price the very small risk of stuff getting lost in the post without trying to pass the cost of doing so onto the buyer through "insurance".

And really, do you suppose many of these companies take out a genuine insurance policy, or just take the risk themselves?

+ 1

we're on the same page Woody ;)

+1 for Woody too ;)

No argument there. But if the seller does everything on their part to ensure it gets there, then what's the beef with them?

Huh? Who receives the commission, the seller? I've insured many a package when shipping via UPS and I've never received a 'commission' from it.

So there's absolutely no responsibility on the part of the buyer to even verify that the one with whom they've contracted insures their shipments? If that's actually a concern of the buyer, I would think that the buyer would check that out BEFORE he buys. Surely everyone understands that there's a possibility that a shipment could get lost/stolen in transit--even MORE so when the shipper offers the OPTION of insuring the shipment. If having the seller insure the shipment is important, and if the buyer thinks that it should be the seller's responsibility, then why didn't the buyer simply cancel the order before clicking 'confirm' on the order page. Because he thought he could beat the odds, that's why. And when he didn't, he blamed the seller for his own failure to apply foresight to his situation or his unwillingness to accept the consequences.

I suppose the seller should be able to read the mind of the buyer and should click 'cancel order' automatically if the buyer doesn't choose the insurance option?

So? What's it matter if they are taking all the risk themselves or if they are allowing a third party to remove or dilute their risk? I don't see what that has any bearing on the issue at all.

I'll let you know on Tuesday.

The point is absolutely mute since insurance isn't an option on international ... so whatever way you morally or ethicly feel doesn't matter a bit ..if you want insurance it costs 20$ not 2$ not 5$ and add to that the fact you have to ship via a hugely expensive route too so your 32$ flashlight deal turns into 32 +20+23+75$...easy answer .. there is no insurance unless you want to pay for it ...and when you think about it ..it's a pretty reasonable question to ask a buyer ..one I always ask when I sell a light ..(do you want insurance ) << that means .....do you accept the loss if this light shows up ...never ?? Because I'll have proof I sent it ...I think too much abusing poor ebay sellers and chinese sellers has made everyone soft .. Do you really want a blf member hitting you with a paypal dispute .??

I see both sides to this arguement ....I think youhave to hit the paypal button to get some attention from them ..there is still a lot of time after you do so ...Waiting is the hardest part

I think Woody put it very nicely for all of us!! ;)

+100000000 for Woody... ;)

It is no BEEF with them, be we are looking at them for accountability!! It is the seller's responsibility to see that we get what we ordered, not the buyer's!!

You are putting the blame on the buyer if the item is not received, and even putting the buyer down for not taking out insurance. That is not one wrong, but two wrongs. Everybody seem to understand it that way except you.. Again, we can go to the odds. If 500 people think ONE WAY, and 1 person thinks ANOTHER WAY, in a friendly way, who you think is right!! Laughing

Well, not ALL of us exactly…

An awful lot of bad things have happened over the years by playing the majority/minority game, so you're not going to get a concession there.

I will certainly admit some surprise on my behalf when I consider the following:

  • Buyer admits that insurance was offered.
  • Buyer admits intentionally not accepting insurance for $5.
  • Buyer could have canceled the order prior to placing it if he didn't like the terms.
  • Order was possibly lost and wasn't insured and the buyer can't prove that he didn't receive the item.
  • Buyer (and most/all here) still desire to hold seller accountable for items 'not received'.

Yep. Still doesn't add up to me. Never will I don't reckon.

BTW, I'm not 'putting the buyer down' in any way, shape, manner or form. He's probably quite the upstanding individual. I simply don't see it as practical to put the accountability/responsibility on the seller that the item is lost in this particular case. Had insurance not been offered, I'd have absolutely no problem with putting this on the seller. But since it WAS offered, and since it was refused and the order could have easily been stopped at that point, then I say it's on the seller at this point.

It's a bit surprising that not another person's willing to admit they agree, or even more so if not another person actually does agree, but I'm pretty firm in my convictions, so no sweating here.

The way I see insurance is like this. Ten people pay it and one package gets lost then the seller can send another package without loss. If you don't take insurance you accept the risk. It is like gambling. For expensive items I will take it if available. There are some dishonest people working for the postal service. Hopefully the light will turn up and its just delayed somewhere.

To pay extra insurance is supporting theft since nobody will do anything about it.

Lennart