Buyer Beware!

Darn Steve, it is bad enough paying a 50% shipping charge without also not having it show up!  Hopefully it is still on the way and will show up before you spend another $35 to replace it.  Good luck.

@starnovice

With two months, nearly, and three unanswered emails, I'm not holding my breath!

I might have been born at night, but not last night! 😎 

But right now I can order via Amazon (Amazon didn't have it back in April) for $25.00 +$2.00 tax and have free delivery on the 17th.  I'm tempted.  Have two RasPi 4Bs, so the other case won't go to waste if it ever shows up!

@codecage If you did pay with PayPal, check with them and you will most likely get your money back. That's the reason I always use them with new vendors.

Hi @codecage,

Did you ever get this? I am just getting a lot of stuff from April and early May now.  I received a Seeedstudio package just today from April 20th or so. It actually came in unscathed! I am still waiting on a couple of AlliE packages from that same time, and fear they could be lost, but if that's all I have to worry about, I will live. 

I do hope you have it settled now!

Scott

@triform

Yes it I did.  It came in just at the end of the "waiting" period that PayPal wanted me to wait for the delivery before they would issue a refund.  Not sure I will use PayPal to pay for anything in the future unless it is something here in the States.

@codecage I dunno, Steve.  Paypal is better than giving your CC number to some faceless company you rarely/never heard of.  I think PayPal has a pretty good policy on this kind of issue.  I only ever had to lodge a complaint with them once in the 10-12 years I've used them. That was enough to get the vendor to cough up the product.  Yes, PayPal makes you wait too long, but they do keep up the pressure on the vendor.  I *think* they favor the customer, and I've heard that from one-two friends who had problems. These guys exist only because of PayPal and CC company payment options.  If they get booted from PayPal or a major CC, they lose a ton of business. 

Unrelated to ordering electronic stuff, about 5 years ago my son had a dispute with a hotel over being given an inferior room than the one he reserved. The clerk wouldn't budge, blaming overbooking or some other "go-to" excuse.  Escalating it to the manager didn't help.  Finally, he simply said, "I'm not arguing anymore. My next phone call is to XXXXXX credit card company.**"  That worked instantly!  He got the room he'd reserved. It was a 30-second fix once he thought of it.  NO company wants to be blacklisted by a payment outfit, regardless of what product or service they sell.  I use PayPal for everything online except Amazon.  They have treated me extremely well in the last 6-7 years.  I usually don't say good things about huge multi-nationals and the like, but I think we're "noise" when it comes to PayPal and the major CC outfits.  Better to give us the benefit of the doubt than to protect either a behemoth company or some rinky-dink outfit overseas.

** Don't do this just to speed things up on a routine basis or you lose credibility.  However, if you have a legitimate reason, as you did, their dispute resolution systems that works in the consumer's favor.

That's my 2-cents worth . . .

Paul VE1DX

@ve1dx Yeah Paul, I guess I seemed a little harsh towards PayPal.  What I was really trying to say was I'll still be using PayPal here in the states, but the delay in getting things from China, plus the time to resolve through PayPal was just a little too much time,  That was the only time I had ever had an issue with a PayPal transaction and was not aware of the resolution time.  If I'd just been a little more patient the item would have showed up without having to contact PayPal in the first place.  The item was just literally on the "slow boat from China!"

In my experience, China to South Africa can take anything from four to six months..

I understand your frustration (The delays are normally with the shipping companys). Now I just plan accordingly. If I really cannot wait then I try to source the item locally.

But, one cannot be too careful now-a-days.

Posted by: @codecage

The item was just literally on the "slow boat from China!"

I've had a lot of items on that boat, and it's even worse being in Canada as the "boat" docks in the US and then they ship it up here, so that adds to the delay.

I've also had the experience of ordering via eBay from China and having the product not show after 3 months and getting a refund, only to have it actually show up about a month later.

But the fact that you PAID for shipping and had it take this long is inexcusable.  The items I've had ride the "slow boat" all shipped for free. When I've paid for shipping from China it gets here within a few days.

Glad you finally received the case, mine has been used on a Pi 4  which I have driving a big 4K TV in my office that I use as a "digital dashboard". It has run 24x7 for months now and it never gets warm, so I've never had the fan come on.  

😎

Bill

@codecage

I just read what happened to you. That is simple reason, why I suposed something like "High quality Equipment and where to get it". Things you mentioned shouldn't just happen to everyone and that was the basic idea behind.

Even this cannot help you out, or can help out everyone. Anyone can be the first unlucky one, but there shouldn't be more unlucky ones.

@wolfgangw

The problem I see with posting my experience as a "Don't order from these folks" thread is that I wrote that while probably a little hot under the collar and I do know of one other individual that had just the opposite experience.  And by the way, the item arrived just a few days later and the product itself was outstanding.  So shipping delays, especially at the moment during this pandemic, shouldn't be used to 'black ball' a supplier.

@codecage

Steve, I got your point before. I also don't like it when people generalize or rashly condemn someone or something. Means I also don't want to 'black ball' a supplier. The main problem with all things is that it may work perfect for one, and absolutely not work for another one.
This is the reason why I suggested to make a field that describes what or in which project the one or another one has used this part. 

You know the rating in Amazon or many other suppliers who use this tool too is good, but never perfect. And even with my idea it is not perfect either. But I still think it is a non-perfect but good idea.