I thought I would post this as I received a faulty DX80 and ordered a new head from Imalent. New head with shipping cost me $120 USD which I was fine with. Problem is that there is a person there who answers all emails and her name is Shellen. That is her english name. I had asked her very clearly and she agreed, not to send the head via a courier company as I told here they charge insanely high custom brokerage clearance fees, sometimes as much as $100. Shellen agreed to send it via post and I thought all was fine. I even emailed her to refund my paypal account if she can't send it by regular post, but she said no problem to send it by mail.
Today I get an email from her assistant that the new head was shipped yesterday with DHL from Hong Kong. I might as well have been talking to a brick wall. Now I have to refuse shipment and open a paypal dispute. What a waist of time and effort. Yes, I was warned about Imalent here at BLF, and yes, I did take the risk and purchase a light from them, and yes it was faulty. But I can see past all that as it can happen, especially with such a high powered light, but I can't see past their complete disregard for our agreed upon shipping method. I wouldn't trust them enough to purchase another flashlight and I did cancel my order for a DN70. Lesson learned with Imalent.
$120 USD is crazy, that is paying for the head and shipping (and more) imho. As said, they should have sent a free head to you without question(other than maybe asking for proof its failed, which of course is understandable as expensive). Imalent are one of the brands i avoid, no matter how many lumens or what they offer. If i do want a light that comes in my “risk” category(armytek would be another), and i had my mind made up. I would source local in case of any potential return . If i can not source local…………i dont risk. Thats me though ………
$120 USD is crazy, that is paying for the head and shipping (and more) imho. As said, they should have sent a free head to you without question(other than maybe asking for proof its failed, which of course is understandable is expensive). Imalent are one of the brands i avoid, no matter how many lumens or what they offer. If i do want a light that comes in my “risk” category(armytek would be another), and i had my mind made up. I would source local in case of any potential return . If i can not source local…………i dont risk. Thats me though ………
If a company is large enough (think Nitecore, Olight, Imalent, …) they could have a local support center (could be a 1 man show) in the US and potentially 1 in Europe. They can be subcontractors or 3rd parties, but unless the company is very small this should be possible?
At the very least they could have a regional logistics company handling RMA avoiding the shipping/customs problem.
Off my list as well. I’m not going to buy anything from a company that will not replace a faulty part for free.
Not my kind of customer service. :rage:
That sucks…I have a couple Imalents and really like them. We own a lighting company and do a ton of business with Chinese companies, and I know first hand how difficult they can be regarding warranty issues and not doing what they agree to do.
2 years ago I purchased from Alibaba 2 x 12,000 lumen garage light leds, they still work, and 3 x 5000 lumen work lights. One failed with minor use within a few months. When I purchased them all, I got a very nice and glossy 36 month warranty card for all the lights. Long story short, they bs'ed me to no end and pretended they did not understand my messages until I finally gave up lol. Warranties are about as good as the paper they are written on.
That’s a good reason to tell your story and let others know that there is no warranty with that particular seller.
We gotta get the word out to help others.
Every time I order from a new company, I do a google search looking for a review or someone telling there experience with customer service.
If I come across a few bad reports, I don’t buy from them. If no one tells their story, no one will know. You gotta love the power of the internet community.
Yes. After I got their email that they sent it by DHL, I sent a few emails to Shellen and said I opened a paypal dispute. This morning I got an email from her assistant Jasmine to please not reject the package when it arrives at my house and to tell them the custom and brokerage fees and they will refund me that. I have to think about it as I am not really sure they will do that, especially if I get one of those $100 BS fees from the courier company. I will follow the tracking and when it passes customs, I will call DHL and ask them the total amount they want to charge me and go from there.
I would just reject it and get my money back. Some companies give money back in store credits. Which is stupid, meaning you have to spend money at their store.
The store I will avoid is Gearbest. Read lots of negative review about them.
There is another reason I believe this might be a good idea. I believe once you’ve closed a dispute you cannot re-open it. So you cannot use Paypal dispute for warranty purpose should your light fail in the first couple of days or couple of weeks of use after you’ve closed it.
