STAY AWAY from Fiberin

[markchia]

Recently I ordered a pair of carbon rims from a shop called Fiberin on Ali, These ones, to be exact: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002333489869.html?spm=a2g0s.12269583.0.0.1e11657fiU6WuL. They don't have a lot of reviews but their branding seemed decent so I figured I'd take a chance.

5 Weeks and a few enquiries later, they finally shipped it. I had to extend the shipping deadline twice to prevent the order from being auto cancelled, as I had already ordered the appropriate length spokes for these rims. They arrived in 9 days or so, with no visible issues. Wheelbuilding is the one thing I don't have the confidence in doing myself so I sent them to a reputable wheelbuilder instead.

Couple days later he messages me to say one of the rims has cracked .  I started a dispute straightaway as the 15 days were running out, and requested a refund for both rims. Later on the wheelbuilder told me he managed to build the 2nd rim so I updated the dispute to a refund for 1 rim. After a few days of no updates I messaged the seller to ask if they would be able to send me a replacement, which would be easier than getting refunded and then ordering it again. They replied saying:

"I just saw you open a dispute, when you have any problem with the item, you should discussed them with us first, then we will help to solve the problem. if you mention the dispute first, we will be very passive，it is not good for us to do anything,". As if I'd trust a random Ali store to send me a replacement after the 15 days are up.

So I placed another order of the same rim, and they said: why you keep the dispute, then order a new one. please cancel this order. I replied saying i'd cancel the dispute after they ship me a new one. They replied again saying they can't do anything unless I cancel the dispute. I just gave up talking to them after that.

Aliexpress proposed 2 solutions for the dispute:
- Partial refund of $27 without return (I paid $135 each)
- Full refund of $270 but I have to pay return shipping

Now even if I wanted to go for the full refund I couldn't because one of the rims was already built. And a $27 refund is ridiculous because even though it looks small crack the whole rim is unusable, which I made quite clear to Ali. They then proposed a partial refund of $70. I rejected it again and emphasized that the rim is completely unusable. They ended up just closing the dispute and refunding me $70. In the email they said: "but since the item still has a certain value, we can only give you a partial refund as compensation". Apparently they don't believe me when I say its completely unusable -_-.

This is the first time Aliexpress dispute system has let me down and also unfortunately the most troublesome, because I'm now stuck with 1 wheel and a bunch of spokes. I highly doubt the store is going to send me my 2nd order so I'll have to look for a similar rim with similar ERD. All I can say is stay far away from Fiberin

[Nickk2000]

Thanks for posting.

Though, what made you choose aliexpress rims as opposed to say, farsports, who are uci approved?

Can someone whos built wheels also chime in into why the rim cracked? Too tight maybe?

[markchia]

Thanks for posting.

Though, what made you choose aliexpress rims as opposed to say, farsports, who are uci approved?

This build was just meant for me to commute to work and back, so no need anything fancy but I ended up going over budget trying to shave off weight and the advertised 260g rims on Ali were just too tempting even though deep down I knew it probably wasn't possible to have a rim that light and still be safe.

I just find it a lot easier to browse/compare/order stuff on Aliexpress as opposed to having to email the various companies. Unfortunately a lot of the more legit ones don't seem to have proper shops on Aliexpress.  Also was pretty confident in the dispute system up until last week.

Farsports completely slipped my mind when I was ordering. I do now see that they have an Ali store so maybe I'll get the replacement rim from them.

[adriaanm]

I'm very happy with the gravel wheelset I built from Speedsafe rims for about 500 USD (https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32826616369.html, build thread: http://chinertown.com/index.php/topic,3163.msg25876.html#msg25876)