GeekBuying Screwing over Customers!

LStruzycki on 22/11/2016 - 12:14
Last edited 22/11/2016 - 12:43 by 1 other user

So I ordered a Mi Mix from Geekbuying shortly after they were first announced, paid AU$1000-ish and was preorder number 26.

Today I checked their site and when viewing the item it has the option to "buy now" with units in stock for AU$1350 with immediate shipping or "preorder" with shipping on December 29th.

What is this crap?! I preordered immediately and now they are telling me they have stock but they are not sending it to me they are trying to sell it for AU$350 more. I'm feeling seriously ripped off as I was super quick to preorder and they have had my AU$1000 for over a month now and when they get stock instead of going to the people who have already paid them they are selling it to others for a higher price whilst still holding our money.

I find this unacceptable. I've never been this angry over a purchase I've made online before. Has anyone had similar experience with Geekbuying? I was under the impression they were a reputable seller.

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Comments

  • Brianqpr on 22/11/2016 - 12:22
    +2

    Ordered a redmi note 3 kate model from them about a month ago. Said it would ship in around 7 days from memory.

    Nothing happened. I followed up and they said should have stock in a week or so. Followed up again they were uncertain of the timeframe and now they say it might be months and have asked if I want a different item instead.

    I was prepared for a wait, but the whole process has been ridiculous. I'm currently trying to get them to given me a redmi note 4 without charging any extra due to all the stuffing around.

    Once this is done with I won't be dealing with them again. Absolutely hopeless.

  • dasher86 on 22/11/2016 - 12:41
    +2

    Are you sure they haven't sent yours out yet or is currently being processed to be sent out?
    nothing wrong with selling stock for a high price if there was more than enough to cover the pre orders.

    • Struzycki on 22/11/2016 - 13:27

      I did get a msg from someone on one of the other forums I use advising they got an email about their preorder being shipped from geekbuying only 10 hours earlier…

      Fingers crossed I receive the same shortly. Will update if I do.

  • spackbace on 22/11/2016 - 12:43
    +1

    Have fun with the GST on top as well… ;)

    • Struzycki on 22/11/2016 - 13:25
      +2

      Got it for $999.97 AUD after a USD$30 geekbuying coupon! Just under! ;)

  • rokoz on 22/11/2016 - 14:12

    Re: GST - I don't think that would have been a concern.

    There was apparently a big price drop after I bought my phone from them, according to the invoice anyway.

  • AssociatedClear @ Geekbuying on 22/11/2016 - 14:40
    +1

    Hey Struzycki, PM me your order number so I can look into it?

  • cavvygreen on 22/11/2016 - 15:17
    -2

    When is best time to buy replacement Samsung phone?
    I dropped mine in liquid and after weeks of trying to dry it out, it works, but is very erratic.
    Need to take battery out and back in before it starts.
    I'm looking at buying S5 because of water resistant qualities.
    My question probably is : before Christmas, after Christmas, after new phone release?
    I need to buy at JB HiFi because of gift cards. ($700)

    • Ughhh on 22/11/2016 - 16:31
      +4

      When is best time to buy replacement Samsung phone?

      At about 3:28am aest time, or whenever geekbuying takes over jb hifi… Considering this is a geekbuying post

  • ozhunter on 22/11/2016 - 17:40
    +2

    Dodgy, unethical, unsurprising but also quite smart(business-wise). Delay the preorder(or call it a preorder so you can ship it a month after, even though you have stock) as you already have their money and ship immediately to customers willing to pay the current prices because it's unlikely that customers would if they will have to wait for it to be in stock.

    All good until the customer, like the OP are aware that the store does have stock but don't want to give send it to him because they want to make more profit. When a customer is aware and complains on social media or forums such as this, send in a rep who will "look into it" and then "fix" the mistake. All is forgiven, and the store continues on its merry way; sometimes even getting praised for "good" customer service.

    • AssociatedClear @ Geekbuying on 22/11/2016 - 19:17
      +2

      I take time out of my own day to help people with issues. I'm not obliged to help and I don't get paid for it either.

      In the case of OP, I have been told that the phone is instock and their order will be shipped soon.

      • Struzycki on 24/11/2016 - 16:39

        Hi all,

        Just to update for the sake of transparancy, the above turned out to be a misunderstanding in my case and it looks to be that my preordered device would not be shipping in the next few days and instead would have been shipping December 30th. As such I decided to cancel my preorder.

        Wish everyone else the best of luck with their transactions with Geekbuying.

  • Storm on 23/11/2016 - 13:20
    +2

    Will re-post my comment from the Redmi Note 3 Pro (International KATE edition) here:

    ADDED: The original email I got on November 9th, saying that it would only be another week to wait (which I was ok with):
    "Dear Sir or Madam
    Thank you for your order from Geekbuying.
    We are sorry to tell you that the item you ordered " Phone" is too popular to meet all the demands ,
    we just need to get them from the factory .it is estimated that it will be in stock next week .
    please don't worry ,once it is in stock , we will ship it out ASAP. and will send you a message with the tracking number.
    We are sorry for the inconvenience caused.

    Best regards,
    Susan"

    I'm near the point of never buying from geekbuying again, and think OzBargain should give serious thought into banning them, for consistently mis-advertising and possible click-baiting.

    After waiting a month already for this phone (in Grey!), they first told me a couple of weeks ago that there will be a delay, which I was ok with, as long as it wasn't 2 more weeks. They made it seem like it would be sent out within the next 2 weeks.

    Today I get an email saying they can't send the grey, only the gold. I HATE GOLD!

    "hi there,
    Thanks for your waiting for the the Xiaomi Redmi note 3, the best selling "Grey color".
    And we found out that even for some of the customers they have been waiting for this color over than a month,but never wanted to switch to the “golden one” which we recommended.
    The news we got from our partner XIAOMI today was " The coming date of Grey color will be very much delayed but another 1000 pcs golden one will be given to Geekbuying within this week". For 400 pcs will be left over as we have almost 600 golden color orders needed to be full filled.So if you are still hesitated, we are afraid that there will be no more Xiaomi Redmi note 3 left.
    Golden one is also very beautiful and popular ,why not? Choose the golden one and we will make sure your order will be sent out from next Tuesday !!!
    Christmas is coming , and please speed up your decision and no more delay for you, thanks.
    Waiting for your soonest reply.
    best regards
    Geekbuying Service Team".

    So, my choice seems to be, gold… or nothing.

    I've told them I want Grey, and want it soon. Selling stock they don't have is bullshit. Wasting over a month of my time when I could have had this phone from elsewhere is also bullshit.

    What are geekbuying up to? Do they do their order planning based on when they think Xiaomi will lower the price, get tonnes of pre-orders in place, then find they can only get the cheaper/harder to sell Gold phone from Xiaomi to fulfil those pre-orders?

    Basically, geekbuying are taking us for mugs.

    • Brianqpr on 23/11/2016 - 16:01

      Very similar to my experience, also ordered grey. If I wanted gold, I would have asked for gold!

      Very poor seller with questionable practices. Generally takes 2-3 days to even get an answer to simple questions.

    • AssociatedClear @ Geekbuying on 23/11/2016 - 16:21

      I'm near the point of never buying from geekbuying again, and think OzBargain should give serious thought into banning them, for consistently mis-advertising and possible click-baiting.

      I requested for the Redmi post in question to be taken down. Instead it was edited with a warning about long delays. I do not want Xiaomi presales being posted on OzBargain as they're the only thing that causes issues due to delays in obtaining stock.

      • Storm on 23/11/2016 - 17:36

        So, you are saying it is Xiaomi at fault here for the lack of Grey units which Geekbuying advertised? That Xiaomi have been lying to Geekbuying?

      • ozhunter on 24/11/2016 - 05:59

        Well good on the mod for not deleting the post and putting a warning. Either any item is able to posted or none.

        You don't want them on ozbargain because you don't deliver them on time and it makes you look bad?

        • AssociatedClear @ Geekbuying on 24/11/2016 - 06:28
          -1

          Not when I know there will be delays as per the warning.

        • ozhunter on 24/11/2016 - 17:01

          @Clear:

          Lol, it's like please take down all posts that make us look bad because we can't fulfill the orders.

          And then the OP just said that you did get stock and still won't give it to him because you paid a higher price for it.

        • AssociatedClear @ Geekbuying on 24/11/2016 - 17:05

          @ozhunter: Not an employee. I tried to help.

        • ozhunter on 24/11/2016 - 17:07
          -1

          @Clear:

          Dunno what you are, but you ticked the associated box.

          And you said you want posts removed because you have a delay.

        • AssociatedClear @ Geekbuying on 24/11/2016 - 17:12
          +2

          @ozhunter:

          Associated isn't store rep. Like others on OzB, I negotiate and post deals.

          I wanted a specific Redmi post removed that I knew would have long delays for everyone's benefit.

  • Struzycki on 24/11/2016 - 16:35
    +5

    Hi All,

    As an update to the post Clear has confirmed with me that they did get stock in but they got it for a higher price than they originally estimated with the preorder run so they have elected to sell this stock at a higher price rather then use it to fulfil the preorders.

    Geekbuying has also emailed me advising that my preorder will be due to ship on the 30th December. As such I've decided to cancel my preorder…

    Really I already have a phone that has an SD 820, 4GB RAM and 64GB storage that I only paid $250 for so its not like I needed a new one… Just got excited by the idea of something new.

    I think the above actions should be frowned upon by this website. It's proof of either one of two things. They either have no idea how much stock is going to be costing them and just make up a preorder price on the spot and then increase the price/dont fulfil the preorders they have taken when the stock finally flows through at the inflated price… or even worse of a possibility is that they got this stock at the price they originally expected but due to demand they have decided to take advantage of this and try make a few hundred dollars extra per device while taking advantage of the people who preordered and have already given them their money.

    Either way its not ethical business practice as far as most Australian's would probably see it.

    • ozhunter on 24/11/2016 - 17:03
      +2

      Agreed, it's quite disgusting business practice.

  • Storm on 24/11/2016 - 17:27

    UPDATE:

    Great news. We are glad the Xiaomi factory informed us the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 Gray " geekbuying:371104 209801 " will be in stock next week.
    Really appreciate your patient waiting. Please don't worry , Geekbuying are always pushing our suppliers.
    Pls kindly understand the product lead time is controlled by manufacturers, and Geekbuying followed their date.
    For many good factories, they have their reason for delay as the items still have bugs of the ROM and they will only want to release it when all is perfect.
    Could you wait for a while? We will try out best to ship your item ASAP.
    In order to express our sincere apology, would you like to accept a 5$ Coupon for your next purchase?
    We are sorry for the inconvenience caused.
    Best regards
    Grace

    • Storm on 24/11/2016 - 17:28

      Seems they are all over the place with their promotions, what they are saying to different customers etc.

    • Phlume on 24/11/2016 - 17:37

      Ordered the same thing with a Mi Band 2, still waiting for it 3 weeks later.

  • Storm on 28/11/2016 - 18:57

    On November 25 Geekbuying sent me this, after I said I want to cancel the order:

    Dear Friend
    Really sorry to cause the inconvenience
    Xiaomi factory informed us the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 Gray " geekbuying:371104 209801 " will be in stock next Friday.
    Please don't worry. Geekbuying are always pushing our suppliers. Would you mind waiting a while.
    Once it is prepared, we will try our best to ship it out ASAP.and you will get a message with the tracking number.
    Best Regards,
    Grace

    So, from wanting to send me a Gold one because the Grey one would take forever to get, they now say it will be in stock next Friday. Sure.

    I've said I want it cancelled anyway, and refund my money. By the time I get the phone it will be probably be discontinued :) . But seriously, it will be cheaper by the time they want to send it. I won't be buying from Geekbuying again (they now join Gearbest in my estimate).

  • Paxziano on 01/12/2016 - 23:05

    Good day guys. Please I want to ask, has anyone who purchased the Xiaomi Redmi 4 Pro has his phone shipped? Made payment since 14th November. After payment it was changed to presale. Long story short, it's now in their HK warehouse but I'm still being told it would have to be tested before being shipped. Am I over reacting or does the normal process actually take about 3 weeks as against the 2-7 days DHL shipping that was advertised?

    • spicy tuna roll on 02/12/2016 - 01:23
      +2

      I'm in similar situation but a different phone, they keep telling me that my order will be in stock "next week". It's been almost 4 weeks now and i paid for DHL.

      Geekbuying should be banned from Ozbargain.

  • ozbarg0in on 03/12/2016 - 08:49

    @Clear Hi mate,

    I haven't yet recieved the the item of order#3863600

    I was sent the DHL tracking number one week ago, but DHL confirms that they were not instructed to collect the parcel. Also they claims that this is the standard business practice of geekbuying and and they mislead the customers just sending the waybill infomation without actually making the package ready to pickup. They also say that you do this while you are waiting for stocks from China, and do the businesses from Hk due to tax obligations.

    Whatever the reason it is, this this the second time this happneded, in my previous order with order #3823280 was also got so long to deliver after the waybill info was shared. Could you please check whats going with my order. I am going overseas in couple of days.

  • justaddwater on 05/12/2016 - 10:39

    Has anyone gotten anything?

    • Macboi80 on 10/12/2016 - 20:36

      I've received my Yi 2 4K Camera i finally got it via DHL on friday after ordering it on 26th November.

  • Paxziano on 05/12/2016 - 20:46

    Same with me! I received waybill number from geekbuying but DHL says there is no info on the waybill number. Another thing I noticed is that the waybill number was 6 digits. I always believed DHL waybill was 10 digits.

    Please guys, am I on the right track as regards the details sent to me (6 digits) or is geekbuying just buying more time which at this time I have come to accept?

  • Paxziano on 05/12/2016 - 21:01

    Same with me! I received waybill number from geekbuying but DHL says there is no info on the waybill number. Another thing I noticed is that the waybill number was 6 digits. I always believed DHL waybill was 10 digits.

    Please guys, am I on the right track as regards the details sent to me (6 digits) or is geekbuying just buying more time which at this time I have come to accept?

  • Macboi80 on 10/12/2016 - 20:59
    +3

    Geekbuying should be banned from selling anything to Australia, at first i was an advocate about this company but now after all the issues with the lack of customer service and the misleading representation of the express shipping when ordering your items is a complete joke.

    • AssociatedClear @ Geekbuying on 10/12/2016 - 22:10
      -3

      The issue afaik is stock levels not being displayed correctly on the website causing delays in stock being sent. Packages sent with express are still arriving in the specified time as processing is excluded from the advertised shipping time.

      • Macboi80 on 12/12/2016 - 08:41

        hi Clear,

        I don't have an issue with the stock just if the agents within geekbuying specify which item is out of stock and the lack of communication from staff at geekbuying, i mean i sent 3 emails to an agent and i basically gave up because they could still not tell me which item was pending not to tell me my order is delayed with no further info.

        Anyways my main issue here is that when you go to the check out to pay for your items you are given an option to select express post on all items, however 2 of my orders have been split one item i have already been received was express post and now the rest are stuck with PostNL, I have questioned with staff on the online chat to be told that i paid for express shipping on one item, there is nothing on their website to subject express shipping for one item however there check out displays and covers all items and as far as i'm concerned this is very misleading and extremely poor customer service..
        I honestly don't care if its in another warehouse, the right thing to do is to give customers exactly what they paid for..

        I have fed my concerns back to ever god damn email with Geekbuying as im extremely annoyed at the lack of customer service i have received and i shall never buy a damn thing from this mob again…

        • AssociatedClear @ Geekbuying on 12/12/2016 - 08:46

          I understand. Currently I'm working on a solution with Gkb at the top level.

  • ozbarg0in on 10/12/2016 - 21:45
    +1

    I believe every one who are affected should raise paypal disputes. I already did.

    • Storm on 12/12/2016 - 13:04

      Even though I (eventually, after multiple emails over the last couple of weeks, when they said they would refund then continued trying to get me to accept a Gold phone) got a refund yesterday, I think I will raise this with Paypal as well. No doubt I've lost some money from conversion/paypal fees.

      I echo that geekbuying should be banned from OzB for their dodgy, unreliable, misleading (lying) practices. And that's after I had a couple of phones from them in the past (one which was quick to arrive, the other very slow).

  • Zarcady on 11/12/2016 - 09:36
    +2

    Same deal here. I was advised by a user here to close my already raised dispute because apparently they will not refund you the money (which Im regretting so much right now, since he didnt even reply back to the request). I haved already waited a month for the phone to ship and have already received 2 emails advising of delays. Never will I buy from geekbuying again and I think we should put out a ozb first referendum on whether to ban this site from posting again. We have been giving them too much easy money. They need to learn dodgy practises will only get them so far.

    • Storm on 12/12/2016 - 13:12
      +3

      Here is my experience on this item:
      - Order phone (decent price!), pay for DHL shipping.
      - Wait.
      - Wait.
      - Wait some more (it's ok, I'm patient).
      - Get an email saying of delay (which promises it will be sent in a week).
      - A week later, no sign.
      - Ask Geek what's the latest.
      - 4 or 5 weeks in, get an email saying they can't get the Gray phone, but they have plenty of Gold, and it's the MOST POPULAR (of course!), so my choices are to:
      — Get the Gold one delivered
      — Or they will cancel the order and refund.
      - I say to cancel the order and refund.
      - Suddenly, Geek say they can get the Gray phone in a week.
      - I say to cancel the order and refund.
      - Geek send an email saying they've cancelled and refunded.
      - A few minutes later I get an email saying to disregard the previous email, and that they will get the Gray one to me in a week.
      - I say to cancel and refund.
      - I get an email a week later to say that they have the Gold, and it's lovely, they will send that one to me.
      - !$@##*^. I say to Cancel and Refund. By the time they ever got the Gray phone, it would not be with me until January sometime (if that). And the phone will probably be cheaper elsewhere, somewhere more reliable like Pandawill.
      - Got an email after 6/7 weeks saying they've refunded.

      I still need to check on the refund amount.

      WHAT A PITA! Stuff you GEEKBUYING Lying mofo's!

      • Zarcady on 12/12/2016 - 14:09

        Wow that's exactly the kind of crap I hate dealing with. Considering the amount of order they get from us, it's frankly quite disgusting behaviour and dodgy af.

    • Macboi80 on 12/12/2016 - 20:40

      I've just sent the support team the forum thread requesting if they are able to cease Geekbuying from advertising through OzBargin, Hopefully this can be done so fingers crossed.

      • AssociatedClear @ Geekbuying on 12/12/2016 - 22:13

        GeekBuying management are aware of this post. I have spent the evening discussing issues and resolutions with them.

  • chav on 13/12/2016 - 08:11

    Interesting no actual store rep posting here.

    • AssociatedClear @ Geekbuying on 13/12/2016 - 10:28

      Would you like an actual store rep to be on OzBargain? There used to be and they can come back if people really want it.

      • chav on 13/12/2016 - 22:31
        +1

        Thinking about it, they would probably just get ripped to shreds judging by the comments on here. Seems like they really need to do something about their business practices to turn this around. Not sure of your association but maybe that's really the message. I certainly wouldn't n put my money in their direction after reading this thread.

        • AssociatedClear @ Geekbuying on 13/12/2016 - 23:10

          My association came from negotiating deals and getting to know their staff. They figured it would be easier to let me handle everything due to various reasons like the language barrier. Recently there has been issues stemming from the HK warehouse or more specifically how stock levels are being displayed and obtaining sufficient quantities of Xiaomi.

          To help ease this I have ceased posting presales and Xiaomi products where obtaining stock can be a major issue. As of yesterday, all complaints I receive are going directly to a general manager instead of a customer service rep to ensure issues are looked at in a timely matter. Fixing the cause of the problems is still being worked on and I'm hoping for a lot of it be resolved soon.

        • Macboi80 on 16/12/2016 - 06:30

          @Clear: Can you please pass this on to the general manager, I've been trying to deal with the staff but getting no were, both orders (3871999 & 3871065) i have purchased all had express shipping but because they have been split some items have been sent express where the rest have been sent via registered mail.

          Clear i have sent an email off requesting to have these sent the way i paid for them (express) i don't care if they are in different warehouses (not my fault this is a company wide issue the customer should not be impacted regardless) and worst of all they are xmas presents hence why i orders all the items with express shipping to have them here before Xmas.

          how do i arrange a refund through them if they wont come to the party or should i take this up with Paypal with lodging a dispute for misleading guidelines and not honouring what customers are actually paying for, sorry clear I've gone down every avenue i can to have this issue resolved and dealing with the customer service team is dreadful.

        • AssociatedClear @ Geekbuying on 16/12/2016 - 06:57

          @Macboi80: I will contact them and let you know.

        • Macboi80 on 20/12/2016 - 20:18

          @Clear: Hi Clear, so what is the update with Geekbuying Management ?

          apparently my last "Partial" order has been shipped through EMS but with a fudged tracking number and when i questioned Geekbuying about the EMS order i get a response else regarding the other "Partial" order that was shipped via registered post…

          the order i am referring to is 3871999,. i sent screenshots of both my order as well as EMS website stating that all tracking reference numbers should be 13 letters long however mine is 6 letters all up ?

        • AssociatedClear @ Geekbuying on 21/12/2016 - 20:49

          @Macboi80: Just sent them another email.

  • bidzaamaone on 13/12/2016 - 22:59

    Ordered a mi max from them and they have been stuffing me around as well (have heard everything, from we can give you a different phone to the good ol wait one more week ).And their site has the balls to claim international orders are shipped in one to two days!ordered my first chinadroid using gearbest 7 months ago, but after this experience, I will probably stick to the more traditional retailers.

    • AssociatedClear @ Geekbuying on 13/12/2016 - 23:22

      For products in stock the processing time is 2-7 business days. Where ever it says 1-2 days is incorrect. Send me your order number so I can pass it on?

  • Jindujun on 15/12/2016 - 18:23

    Also waiting for my product since nearly a month now. Just got meanwhile a tracking number that doesn't change status since a week and after contacting the delivery company got the info that geekbuy placed a delivery order but doesn't provide the package. Not sure right now if they are screwing with me or having a huge mess at their storage system.

    • AssociatedClear @ Geekbuying on 15/12/2016 - 21:17
      +1

      Send me your order number please. That way we can get to the bottom of what really is happening.

  • Brianqpr on 21/12/2016 - 11:20
    +1

    Finally received my RN4, almost two months after ordering a RN3 that they then could not supply. Glad its over and I will look elsewhere for future purchases.

  • [Deactivated] on 23/12/2016 - 05:51

    All this just to save a few bucks…. totally not worth it.

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