Tbest- good and not so good

Buy / Sell Budget Dealer Experiences
1

When I first entered the LED light journey I began with Tbest. They were in my inbox; no other reason. I started with some inexpensive zoomies and some real garbage “gazillion”maH batteries for them. The lights worked. The batteries were garbage as I later found out. In the meantime I bought some C8s. As it turned out they were counterfeit “Convoy C8s”. They were NOT Convoy brand. Some worked for a time then pooped the bed, others were DOA. Tmart made good on them, but free shipping from China takes time and life is short and finite. Plus, who needs the aggravation? I paid money; I expected working goods.

Finally I came here and the lights were diagnosed as being counterfeits. The batteries were dangerous garbage and have since been recycled. The lights now work thanks to TheDude.

Frankly, Tmart made good on the garbage counterfeit C8s, but life is just too short for that. I give Tmart a huge thumbs down for selling junk in the first place. Their support was good as was their replacement of defective goods, but I wanted and paid for working goods that wouldn’t require replacement over MANY months. They reshipped at least 3 times. Is that a screwed up business model or what!?

They continue to send me email fliers, but I haven’t done business with them since and probably never will again. I don’t even open their fliers; I just delete them. As I wrote, life is just too short for that crap. But there are billions more “marks” on the planet who haven’t been screwed over with counterfeit goods yet. I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night.

This not an indictment against all Chinese vendors, just Tmart. Will I ever do business with them again? Only when hell freezes over.

The good vendors? Aliexpress, Banggood, Gearbest (so far and in no order). Would I do business with them again? In a heartbeat and with no mental hesitation. Some offer shipping choices and it’s up to you to pick what you want. I suggest that one picks wisely :slight_smile: . I have yet to not receive something but the time in shipping can vary depending on ones choice.

If I didn’t include a manufacturer that’s known to be good it’s only because I haven’t done business with them. Those 4 I have. 3 are excellent, one not so much as far as quality of merchandise (Tmart). (Why ship counterfeit garbage around the globe? Then do it again and again? I just don’t understand that and never will. Eat the crap (or return to the manufacturer) if the QC is that terrible, and ship the good gear to the paying customers.) One only gets one chance for a first impression. I feel sorry for the other end users that Tmart will sell their garbage to. And the price of good quality vs TMart garbage is similar.

I love Aliexpress, banggood and gearbest. Good gear, good quality, and no reason to reship anything that was paid for multiple times. Gotta love getting working gear the first time so that one can move on in life.

2

Never dealt with tmart, but sounds like there customer service is good if they reshipped 3 times on one purchase. They could have told you to kick rocks. I know you paid for a legit convoy. Some of the clones aren’t bad and make a good host. You gut the driver put in a top notch one. And a new led if you wish cost about $10 and have top notch fully built c8. I’ve seen a built ultrafire c8 and was just fine.

Sometimes suppliers get supplied with bad products. If you ever question a product from convoy you can ask Simon (owner of convoy) which vendors he sells to.
Even GB has been burned with fake batteries and lights before there are threads on here about it. When a supplier does huge amounts of business it’s always possible a bad lot hits the pipeline.
Just like when the l6 came out on GB BG etc people asked Simon if he sold to them to make sure they were legit. Doesn’t hurt to ask questions

Edit some vendors like GB want you to make a video showing the problem and then will tell you that’s normal operation etc. Some people have no problems with GB customer service others are given hell. I still order for them. Last order and this order have been issues though. Last order my package was lost in the mail. They wanted me to wait 3 months for a reship when I had insurance. This order was shipped two weeks ago and still not shipped.

3

T mart is a different bird … they are just clueless and are buying and selling soley on prices paid . they don’t know lights and don’t care .90+% of all their lights are junk because they have no idea what to buy ….gearbest as much as people hate on them are like 7000% better and their products are a million times better .

You’re right …At one point T-Marts customer service was damn good … butall the lights sold were junk …Customer service on vendors can change almost over night ….but tmart has been selling the worst of the worst for a long time .
i felt sorry for them a few months ago and PM’d their rep here on the forum and said the lights he was offering us were junk no one was interested in … i offered to go look thru their site and pick out some lights people here might be interested in at some ki9nd of a discount …After a half hour or so on their site i couldn’t find one light i didn’t think was pure trash … i think it’s just a bad buyer or a buyer who is looking for larger mark up ?? i dunno // Avoid them they are clueless

4

Speed4goal,

Correct, I absolutely can’t fault Tmarts customer service. They did what they were supposed to do, but getting that last light was like pulling teeth because of the shoddy goods that didn’t work, one right after another and a month between each. I just don’t want to put myself through that again.

5

Well now you have 4 c8 host for the price of one. Wouldn’t cost much maybe $10 per light and you can have 4 built c8s 1400-1800 lumens each depending on led. Up to 180k lux

6

Yes, correct. But I didn’t need the aggravation or the time spent that I will never get back. It just wasn’t worth it. I didn’t want to be quality control, just a customer.

But what you suggest is precisely the way I made myself feel better after being forced into the situation.

7

That’s the only way to look at it now. I don’t know to mod I’d be sending them to dale or DJ Burke. I know it’s a head ache but in your favor.

But I get it completley you pay for a finish product listed as sold not have to mod a light to get it to work and be a clone.

You know what they say patience is a virtue

I do agree with other statements about life being to short for waiting on somethings

8

I sent 3 to TheDude and he got them running for me. The drivers weren’t making contact. Solder solved it. I have another 2 that are still working without mods. I have lots of C8s right now- too many. I should probably sell or give a few away. I’m giving the test zoomie xml T6 lights away to friends (gotten from TMart and they did work- the lights, not the friends)… along with a good battery and cheap charger. I just don’t need so many lights. OK, I also got a Trustfire 3 LED flood light from TMart and that’s been good. So I bet Boaz absolutely nailed the problem with TMart. They just don’t have a clue. They buy and sell without knowing what they’re buying and selling.

Heck, I probably should have bought 500 of the non-functioning counterfeit C8s. I could have doubled or tripled my money, or more, with all of the free replacements and simple mods to fix them :money_mouth_face: . But I just can’t do that; I like to be able sleep soundly at night. If a light says “Convoy C8” on the outside then it seems to me that it should be a Convoy C8.

Oh well, just water under the bridge now.

9

What quality are the C8’s? It doesn’t seem productive and cost-effective to me to spend money putting parts into a bad host even if it’s a few dollars.