Hi, this is my first purchased experience on Alibaba and dealing with a freight forwarder.
It's a mistake, I have learnt my lesson. And I will share with you how I successful refund my purchase.
To begin with, I was planning to buy a 3d printer from Alibaba because it was cheaper than my local stores, I've found this unique 3d printer Creality k2 combo priced with $550. I looked for the supplier to check if they are legit and they were. When I tried to check for the shipping methods, it was showing Sea express $85 and Air express $155. I shocked how cheap that was even if its without a Tax and Clearance fees still cheaper than my local prices. But there was a negotiate button under those prices so I click it and it opened a chat with a person I thought it was the supplier who sells the printer, but they asked me about what is the product dimensions and in which country to deliver.
I tried to contact the supplier to ask about the printer and the available methods to shipping it, they explain to me they don't have a sea transportation only air and with dhl and the price was $500. I was confused and told her the shipping price was showing on the page was 155 and they said it's a recommended logistic companies by Alibaba, so I negotiate with those logisitc company aka freight forwarders. I agreed with one of them to receive the printer and send it to me with a service called DDP, a complete price with $290 paid including shipping, taxes, clearance fees and delivery to your doorstep.
And I informed the supplier and they confirmed and begin to set the order and asks about their warehouse info, after everything is settled and printer is delivered to freight forwarder, they demanded a documents called Authorization Letter in order to ship the printer to me, this document is only represented if I have a commercial quantities not only 1 piece.
So after back and forth, they refused to send the printer without this document and from my side I cancelled the service and asked them to return the printer to the supplier. Unfortunately no order issued in Alibaba regarding this DDP service so technically the printer was delivered to me successful but in reality it was delivered to a scammer. They demand a charge fee for the return with 600 rmb = $87, which seems unfair. I tried to tell them it's expensive to just return the printer to the same city of the Supplier, they both in Shenzhen.
I tried to open a dispute in Alibaba and this was their answer: The case has been closed due to insufficient evidence. And they mentioned because it was an offline order and no Trade Assurance issued.
I was afraid that I lost my money, till I searched here on Reddit about the Visa Chargeback insurance, so I give it a shot. Unfortunately, they reject it.
I felt hopeless, until I came across a video on Youtube called Lawyer Estelle: How to find a good lawyer in China. So I give it a try and contacted her, meanwhile the forwarder raised the fee to 800 rmb including storage fees. I explained to Estelle my situation and they advised to send a Lawyer Letter to them maybe they will complies and return the printer, I told her about the amounts we agreed and the printer price she said it's preferred to accept the 800rmb because the legal fees and charges could be higher then the amount they give you.
To be honest, I refused because this will let them continue scamming people and give them advantage. I was willing to lose everything I have to let them stop.
So we agreed on sending them a lawyer letter cost 1000 rmb = $146.
The letter was perfect, it includes everything on my case. So we waited till they crashed and begging me to stop the legal dispute and withdraw it. I rejected until they return the printer without additional charges and after confirming with the supplier to refund me the amount I pay for the printer or they will pay it.
I felt butterflies in my stomach, even though I lost 30% from which I paid but it felt to me like a Victory.
Seeing them begging after I begged them to return the printer was astonishing.
At the end the supplier agreed to initiate a refund after receiving the printer. This is the end of my story.
I tried to leave a review to them but I couldn't because there is no order purchase.