GeekBuying.com Wants More Money for My Order, Tactics, Your Thoughts?

Lpmax97511 on 11/03/2016 - 07:35
Last edited 11/03/2016 - 07:54

Hi everyone, mods please delete if inappropriate.

So placed an order with geekbuying for a xiaomi phone, paid via PayPal and received the following email from them. Item was pre-sale shipped 10/3/2016.

*****Dear sir/mam

Thanks a lot for your patience of waiting the xiaomi purchased on Geekbuying.com.

Everybody know that xiaomi is really the most popular and top selling brand among all Made in China cellphones. However, they only supply very limited quantity each time which makes huge of our orders a lot of delay. And we know that you are so worried but eager to get the amazing xiaomi in hand. The good news is that we can get them from the market at a much higher price (36 USD more) and then we can delivery all orders in 2 business days.

This situation was out of our control but we should let customers know the truth. So we want to discuss with you with these decisions:

  1. We each Share the extra cost by 50% and phones will be sent at the soonest time. If you agree with this, we will send you an email for you to make up the price of 18 USD.

  2. We wait for more days together to get the cellphone at the price that you have paid (Xiaomi will lower down the price when they have adequate inventory. )

We look forward to your soonest decision. Thanks you so much for your understandings!

Yours sincerely

Geekbuying Service Team

I note item is still on their website at the same price. I paid for TNT express shipping and insurance.

Is this a scam?
Is it unreasonable for me to expect the item and not pay additional money?

Your comment, advice would be greatly appreciated.

Computing

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Comments

  • SnoozeAndLose on 11/03/2016 - 07:51
    +1

    For me I would just refund the money, this is not acceptable, but this practice from a China seller is not usual. They are located in China and they could say everything to you for you to pay more. I suspect they only pay US$10 more and asking for US $18, and don't brother asking for prove as this take very long time and the prove could be fake too.

    I could refund the money and avoid them next time, this kind of practice should not happen.

  • the-mal on 11/03/2016 - 07:51
    +1

    Dear sir/mam

    You know the email is going to be good when they address you as a "mam". Ha.

    Is this a scam?

    I very much doubt it. Their story makes sense.

    Is it unreasonable for me to expect the item and not pay additional money?

    Not unreasonable at all. In Australia they'd be legally obligated to supply at the price they accepted.

    But you're not dealing with an Australian store, so the legalities are out the window.

    In practical terms you have 3 options:

    1) Pay the extra and get your phone.

    2) Wait longer and get your phone

    3) Get a refund and source the phone elsewhere

    This is annoying, super questionable business practise… but it's business as usual for some Chinese online companies. They're not regulated like we are.

    The option is yours, pick from the three above and if I were you I wouldn't deal with them again.

    Also, in future check reviews on the site you're buying from before you buy! These guys get a Poor rating with hundreds of negative reviews.

  • AssociatedClear @ Geekbuying on 11/03/2016 - 08:35
    +2

    Please send me your order number and I'll get it sorted.

    • pmax97511 on 11/03/2016 - 08:46

      Order #:3615139

      • AssociatedClear @ Geekbuying on 11/03/2016 - 08:51

        Thank you, I've passed it all on. They're 3 hours behind so it'll be a while until they get back to me.

        • pmax97511 on 11/03/2016 - 13:59

          Thanks, hopefully you can resolve quickly and ship my item.

          Curious, the item I purchased is still listed on the website with no mention that its out of stock? Price is relatively same, no mention of delays in shipping etc?? Hope other people don't continue to purchase and have the same issue as me?

        • AssociatedClear @ Geekbuying on 11/03/2016 - 16:09

          @pmax97511: Unfortunately I'm not going to be much help in this case sorry.

          The problem is that Xiaomi have raised the prices on the phone and are now charging Geekbuying more for the existing and new orders.

          This is the downside of popular new releases with Xiaomi. They often deliver less what was ordered and sometimes for a higher price. For example, you can order 1000 units at $100 (not real figure) and Xiaomi will send you 500 at $115 each.

          I wish I could do more, but it's out of my control. You have the option of paying the extra 50%, waiting for a cheaper batch to arrive or request a refund. It won't be long until other websites start raising their prices too otherwise they'll be selling at a loss.

        • pmax97511 on 11/03/2016 - 16:22

          Not good business and another unhappy customer. It was made clear to me that you have little regard for customers via diacussion direct with geekbuying.com "we have 20000 customers and many will pay".

          With that attitude and logic, who can argue. Thanks for trying.

        • AssociatedClear @ Geekbuying on 11/03/2016 - 16:40

          @pmax97511: Just to make it clear. I'm marked as a "3rd Party Marketing" representative for Geekbuying and not an actual employee. I post deals on their behalf just like Monty does for Everbuying and ScaryZombie for Dealsmachine

          I have no control over customer service and management. I'd honour it if I could.

        • humdingaling on 11/03/2016 - 22:56

          @Clear:
          so essentially what your saying is geekbuying dont actually stock anything and order base on orders gained
          if their supplier…xiaomi in this case…increases price they will in due course pay on these costs to the end customer

        • AssociatedClear @ Geekbuying on 11/03/2016 - 22:59

          @humdingaling: That's why it's called a presale. Stores might get stock a week early and sometimes they don't get stuck until release.

          Geekbuying keep stock on all of their products. If it's on presale or in a different warehouse then a ribbon in the top right corner of the picture will say so.

        • pmax97511 on 12/03/2016 - 13:58

          @Clear:
          After talking with geekbuying chat yesterday they told me my order is cancelled, website will be updated tomorrow as was still showing 'processing' and refund tomorrow.

          After reading some of the other posts I'm concerned they will not honour this also. Could u please confirm that my order has actually been cancelled and that refund will be processed today.

          With respect I would prefer to just move on. Its not the $18us but the practice of holding customers that I have a problem with.

          Again appreciate your help getting this resolved quickly.

        • AssociatedClear @ Geekbuying on 12/03/2016 - 14:07

          @pmax97511: I've been assured that your order will be refunded.

    • Nshell7 on 11/03/2016 - 16:06

      I have the same issue. PM'ed you the order number. Thanks.

  • c64 on 11/03/2016 - 10:00
    -1

    sounds like a shake-down to screw more money out of suckers. very unprofessional.

  • blitz on 11/03/2016 - 10:19

    I can sympathise. I doubt I'd order from geekbuying.com again. I placed an order for this item a month ago. After 11 days with no update, I contacted them. Over the next three weeks, they gave me various excuses - just wait, wait some more, it's not in yet, it's here but we want to test it, we still haven't tested it, we've tested it and it doesn't work.

    Mysteriously, after telling me it didn't work, they told me they'd posted it to me.

    Who knows what will happen.

    • AssociatedClear @ Geekbuying on 11/03/2016 - 10:27
      +1

      You can always PM me when you have issues. Issues usually get resolved much quicker after I tell them you've come from Ozbargain.

  • Nshell7 on 11/03/2016 - 17:42

    I ordered one when the Pre-sale price was still USD 229.99, now the advertised price is $245.99.
    I received a similar e-mail - need to pay $15 (50% from $30), or wait for who knows how long.
    I think they basically try to match it to current price, $229.99 + $15 = $245.

    Probably their sale strategy is to lure new customers with a cheaper price as "pre-sale", customer pays, keep their money for a month or more, and when the product is released, ask them to pay more to match the normal price. At least half of them will pay.

    • AssociatedClear @ Geekbuying on 11/03/2016 - 22:27
      +1

      For a company this big that runs both online and physical stores that's a stupid way of getting profit. My statement about Xiaomi and their supply is no lie.

      Another example is the PiPo X7 that was very popular late 2014/early 2015. PiPo had told Microsoft that they were selling an 8" tablet so they could get the Windows 8.1 license for free. After Microsoft found out the truth they had to pay a ~$20 activation fee per device and the price went from $80-$90 to $100-$120. It took about a week for all of the site's to update their price. Then the factory closed in early March for a couple of weeks so all of the orders could no longer be fulffiled until production started again.

      • juscheckin on 12/03/2016 - 12:28

        Same here, ordered Xiaomi note 3 pro, 1 month ago. Geekbuying wanted me to pay 18 USD more or you can wait. I repeatedly told them I cannot wait and I am not happy with this whole thing and I have no intention of paying 18 USD. Please cancel the order and process a refund. I was a little cautious because I read posts where they refund into some kind of wallet which is a store credit. Screw that.
        So I emailed no response, for a whole day. Talked to a live chat agent who kept repeating the same thing, you cant wait! What does that even mean. I say I dont want to wait and the agent says you can wait. After a long chat, the agent said okay I will cancel it. Your money will be in paypal in 24 hours. No confirmation email about it. No cancellation email. The order history still shows the order is "processing" No refund on my paypal yet.

        I got another email from geekbuying from presales stating the same thing, you can wait for another month if you want the phone on the price you paid. This is many hours later after I cancelled with the live chat agent. So I am guessing my order was not cancelled or they don't communicate. This is frustrating and annoying basically.

        Should I start a paypal dispute? Following is the email I got after I cancelled many hours earlier.

        "Hi there
        thank you for your email
        i can understand your mood
        if you do not want to pay the difference, you can wait for more days to get the cellphone at the price that you have paid (Xiaomi will lower down the price when they have adequate inventory. ) . we get the news that around the end of this month xiaomi will release enough stock.
        Sorry for the inconvenience to you
        Have a nice weekend
        Tina"

        • AssociatedClear @ Geekbuying on 12/03/2016 - 12:31

          I was a little cautious because I read posts where they refund into some kind of wallet which is a store credit. Screw that.

          Geekbuying does not have any kind of point system. You might have been reading about the issues with Gearbest where they offered points instead of a refund.

          Should I start a paypal dispute? Following is the email I got after I cancelled many hours earlier.

          Send me your order number and I'll try and get a refund issued. I'll get a response much quicker than a Paypal dispute.

        • juscheckin on 12/03/2016 - 12:34

          @Clear:

          Hi thanks for the response.

          My order number is 3603717.

          My bad oh my god, maybe it was gearbest. Thanks for clearing that up. Maybe I will buy it again from geekbuying on a later date if everything is running smooth.

        • juscheckin on 12/03/2016 - 12:36

          @Clear:

          Another thing, if they had at least told me when exactly the order will ship if I pay the 18 bucks, I would have considered it. But they don't have a definite date for that as well. So we are left to wonder if it is even worth it.

        • AssociatedClear @ Geekbuying on 12/03/2016 - 12:39

          @juscheckin: I've passed it on and they'll be in contact soon.

          AFAIK they're waiting to hear back from Xiaomi on when new stock is arriving, but I could be wrong. This always happens with Xiaomi presales and that's why I never post any deals on them.

        • juscheckin on 12/03/2016 - 12:42

          @Clear:

          Xiaomi seems to have a very poor business strategy if they are doing what they are doing. Increasing the price with something that wasn't agreed on. I don't get it. If GB wants to buy a number of pieces, I assume someone from Geekbuying will meet with Xiaomi's marketing team and they talk price for certain number of units. How would they suddenly increase the price disregarding the contract between the dealers and them? Doesn't sound like a good way to run a business.

  • juscheckin on 12/03/2016 - 12:41
    +1

    Xiaomi seems to have a very poor business strategy if they are doing what they are doing. Increasing the price with something that wasn't agreed on. I don't get it. If GB wants to buy a number of pieces, I assume someone from Geekbuying will meet with Xiaomi's marketing team and they talk price for certain number of units. How would they suddenly increase the price disregarding the contract between the dealers and them? Doesn't sound like a good way to run a business.

  • Geekomatic on 13/03/2016 - 03:42

    Last November, I "purchased" (or, tried to) a mobile for my daughter. I bought from TWO, different sellers going through AMAZON.com in the USA (my daughter was going there to visit relatives).

    Anyway, as with you, both sellers said the item was available (not a pre-sale), I waited weeks to have them both cancel out.

    All that to say, it's not only the cheapie-places that have dodgy elements to them…even amazon is unable to regulate them.

    Not looking good w/TPP getting shoved through w/o any public say in it.

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