I noticed tonight that when I purchase items in AUD it costs more than purchasing in USD then converting it to AUD via PAYPAL who rip me off anyway. Try using your own currency and then compare.
I figured it would. You get charged for two conversions. In effect DD is also ripping you off. 
Seems like there is not much help available from OnLine help center.
I´ve sent several pictures as they wanted them (probably just a way to piss off most buyers without camera or ability to upload them).
Got those unprotected Trustfires when ordered Protected ones.
I cannot recommend this place if you want perfectly hassle-free customer care in problematic cases...
Hi everyone, some users think we should lift the "AVOID" rating. I'm not sure yet. Do you think they really turned the page? What about the fake reviews and the inflated prices before a "Discount"?
Well I don't like being taken. And I feel that they tried to at least. That right there says it all to me. I could see a mistake being made once, but not repeatedly. So I will think twice before buying from them again.
I think the "AVOID" rating should stand. Especially in light of the ongoing Trustfire Flames debacle(someone could have been seriously injured because of this). This isn't the first time I've had major problems with DD. They've been doing this type of thing for years - whether its on purpose or its just because they don't understand what they're selling - it really makes little difference in the end. The deals are tempting, but its more often miss than hit. I decided a long time ago (3 years) not to buy from them again. I was drawn in by the tempting deals and good initial reviews here(which later turned bad), but I can say now I will not purchase from them again.
Let's see:
Fake reviews
Stolen pics, and mislabeled at that
Unprotected batteries being sold as Protected
Etc...
And those are just the recent issues that have been discussed on this board. I don't see how they've turned the page at all. BLF is just a very small piece of the sales pie for DD so they only need to tell us what we want to hear. They'll keep doing what works for them. AVOID until they truly change.
I have been having good luck with them lately but their website is still full of misleading wrong information. Their discount/coupons/giftcards/points are perplexing at times, most of the time. I would leave it where it is at. That rating was well earned and lifting it must also be earned. I dont think it should be lifted right in the middle of the battery debate for sure. Maybe a Buyer Beware or Caution label.
I'd say keep the 'Avoid ' rating in place. There's enough ongoing issues here (and elsewhere) to justify the rating.
I've been critcal of Dino Direct for a long time .... I think they've done exceedingly well in the last few months and have served up super deals here on BLF . I'm starting to agree with gcbryan when he said how can you have an "avoid" and a group buy at the same time .I guess it depends on how well dino direct handles these customer issues .I'm certain not everyone will be happy But I'm not judging them according to what I'd want a vendor to be ..i'm comparing them to other chinese vendors ..Apples to apples and don't think they deserve an AVOID..maybe a caution or an explaination of their weaknesses .
Their products are good ,selection is good , shipping is fast , we have an advocate in summer to assist with problems , group buys ,Some sensational prices sunwayman V10A/12$xml 504b/2100 uniquefire/E21 fenix/jetbeam/Klarus etc .. I think there are too many positives to say they deserve an AVOID..i certainly haven't been avoiding them as of late and won't ..they have gotten hundreds of dollars worth of business from me in the last few months ..About 80% of what I've bought lately has been from Dino D. There are plenty of companies that I actively avoid ..DD isn't one of them .
+1 agree. AVOID is a lil harsh.
Everyone make mistakes but as long they are going to take care of the problems they deserved a second chance.
But Summer, please, can you send this link to your boss or someone in website management. If you guys get that fake reviews taken care of, your flashlight sales are going to sky rocket. Shoot, i spend at least $300 on DD alone last month on lights and battery and crap.
If everybody is using them anyway, it's kind of hard for us to tell everyone else to AVOID. Personally, I can't say avoid them since I am using them. I will say I am extremely cautious and have been letting other people get stuff and try it out before I place an order.
I have written a couple of reviews of products I have bought there and they posted them, so I think they will post real reviews when they have them, at least. And the V10A had no reviews at all until I posted mine, so maybe they are working it out?
All these budget dealers have caveats that go along with using them and Dino is no different. But they seem to usually deliver. This business with the batteries is a real problem and I hope they can resolve it, but it won't be easy since it seems like a lot of people jumped on the deal with the 18650's before anyone could realize they weren't keeping their protected and unprotected stocks separated.
With the exception of group buys in my opinion they still deserve an avoid. To many fake reviews, stolen pictures and shipping different products than what we order. With the flurry of activity we are seeing lately, I am sure they will decide there own fate.
Having group buys and an "AVOID" label simultaneously strikes me as rather odd... Mixed messages much? I would still very much like to see the fake reviews go away though. I've had no problems with DD (out of 11 orders) thus far.
Stating the obvious, "Avoid, unless there's a really cool group buy!"
Seriously, I've had good results last 4 purchases from them.
Here's hoping they get their Bozo's Big Top website in order soon.
It should be an embarrassment to their marketing department.
I don't know how they stay in business? Come on, DD...clean-up your act!
Hey, I have made several orders off DD. Some of them recently.
They have messed up some of my orders. Like not telling me something is out of stock but after I inquire them about it they offer me a gift card of the same value or a bit more to compensate.
My last order I received a dead Romison RC-A2. I asked them to send a replacement, they offered a $5 USD giftcard. Now I paid $11.83 AUD for this flashlight. I then asked them to offer me the actual price I paid for the flashlight. They then offered me $13 USD, I thought this was fair so I accepted. I have not yet got the gift card yet but they usually send them to me within 24 hours. ( I have had situations which they ended sending me giftcards before)
Here's how the RMA request went:
The product SKU:A08320000B was DOA and needs to be replaced. I have tried different AA batteries which all work on other flashlights.
Reply
- Customer Service Emily,Nov 07,2011Thanks for contacting us. We are sorry for the inconvenience. Could you please find someone to fix the problem and we could offer you a $5 gift card as a compensation? Looking forward to your reply.
- Patrick Nov 07,2011The flashlight cost $11.83 AU if you could give me that much then I would accept it, because the one that I received does not work
- Customer Service Emily,Nov 07,2011Thank you for contacting us.We are wrtiting to inform you that we would like to offer you a USD$ 13 giftcard.Will that be OK?Your earlier reply will be highly appreciated!
- Patrick Nov 07,2011Yes that will be fine. Thank you for your support.
My shipping times vary from 7-14 days (via EMS express) and 14-20 days (standard air mail). These are pretty average shipping times for China/HK to Australia.
I reckon DD are ok with dealing with their stuff ups. This is based on what my experiences with them are. Apart from their fake reviews, photos, dodgy descriptions and lack of customer communication sometimes (eg. you have to tell them that they never sent you something which you then find out it was out of stock) DD is a somewhat legit seller.
EDIT: I have recieved the giftcard. It took around 10-20 mins after I agreed to them, instantly after they replied and agreed to send the $13 giftcard.
I have personally managed to “avoid” them but since the “group buys” and all the threads by Summer are allowed if this were a voting issue I’d vote to remove the “avoid” label. Although if it were my site I wouldn’t be allowing group buys from DD or allowing all the threads by Summer. I guess my point is that I would vote for a policy of consistency regardless of which way one wants to go with that. In another thread it mentions that BLF is not here to judge or promote an existing business. The policy regarding DD is not consistent with that.
I agree that it seems strange to have an "AVOID" label and group buys. However, I don't participate in the group buys at all and I don't buy from DD for all of the negative reasons that have been mentioned. So, I feel justified in maintaining the "AVOID" label. I also agree that DD is creating too many threads for their promotions, and I have several times warned them to limit themselves to one or two deal threads. We'll see if they respect this in the future.
Keep the Avoid on as it takes time. Just because we get 1 or 2 good group buys, does not mean they have changed.
Also the Sunwayman deal was superseded bythe Thanksgiving coupon code.So that Groupbuy was not that good. Those who bought it lost out.
-Those who bought it lost out.-
Not entirely accurate. A product bought now you can already use as opposed to buying it later. And there's depreciation. But I give more weight to the former.