Order cancellation mess

[coffeebreak]

So, as I understand cancellation is not a right on Alix but rather a privilege and entirely at seller's mercy but does anyone have any tips on how to successfully cancel order and get refund? In the past I have cancelled may be two orders and both were accepted by seller immediately and purchase refunded, while on one occasion the seller asked me to cancel which I did - no big deal.

This time though, it is turning into a pickle. I intended to order a frame and seeing how frame ordering can be a chore on Alix I checked with seller if they had the size and color that I wanted. The seller confirmed they had it in stock and would ship immediately if I was to order it. So I ordered and the seller basically did nothing for 3 days. When I asked when will they ship the frame, the reply came as in next few days. I then asked didn't they have it in stock? The seller says no its out of stock and has given order to factory. I asked if other colors are in stock, if they are I will okay with other color to which he says every color and every size is out of stock.

Another 3 days pass and nothing. Some more back and forth later, I cancelled the order which the seller rejected and said I will send free gift with the frame for all the trouble and will ship soon. Another 2 days passed and when I enquired, he said 5-7 days more as the factory is still processing orders.

I then cancelled again and seller didn't act on it. The timer started with 48 hours for refund. Just 2 hours before the refund would be processed automatically by Aliexpress, damn seller marked the frame as "shipped" and provided a tracking number that didn't have any information.

At the same time he sent a message that, wait for 2 days and it will start showing update (which I am aware) but I didn't like the feel of this transaction. Did some Google-fu and found out that you can raise a dispute by talking to customer care, which is what I did.
The customer care raised a dispute on my behalf for refund and communicated same to the seller.

This morning, the seller messaged saying "please confirm the order first and refund will be processed within 15 days but if you go ahead with dispute it will take longer." No idea what that means. I have never gone thru this process and I am confused :S is seller bullshitting me? Has anyone raised a dispute before...what exactly needs to be done here. Just wait or confirm the order as seller is saying? The customer care is dicey at best - some of them understand exactly what I am saying, the others make you pull your hair in frustration. Fortunately the person who raised dispute was pretty well conversant and gave me the support ticket immediately. Unfortunately, to check the status of that ticket there is no direct system - you have to jump thru hoops and find a (real) customer care person.

[jonathanf2]

So, as I understand cancellation is not a right on Alix but rather a privilege and entirely at seller's mercy but does anyone have any tips on how to successfully cancel order and get refund? In the past I have cancelled may be two orders and both were accepted by seller immediately and purchase refunded, while on one occasion the seller asked me to cancel which I did - no big deal.

This time though, it is turning into a pickle. I intended to order a frame and seeing how frame ordering can be a chore on Alix I checked with seller if they had the size and color that I wanted. The seller confirmed they had it in stock and would ship immediately if I was to order it. So I ordered and the seller basically did nothing for 3 days. When I asked when will they ship the frame, the reply came as in next few days. I then asked didn't they have it in stock? The seller says no its out of stock and has given order to factory. I asked if other colors are in stock, if they are I will okay with other color to which he says every color and every size is out of stock.

Another 3 days pass and nothing. Some more back and forth later, I cancelled the order which the seller rejected and said I will send free gift with the frame for all the trouble and will ship soon. Another 2 days passed and when I enquired, he said 5-7 days more as the factory is still processing orders.

I then cancelled again and seller didn't act on it. The timer started with 48 hours for refund. Just 2 hours before the refund would be processed automatically by Aliexpress, damn seller marked the frame as "shipped" and provided a tracking number that didn't have any information.

At the same time he sent a message that, wait for 2 days and it will start showing update (which I am aware) but I didn't like the feel of this transaction. Did some Google-fu and found out that you can raise a dispute by talking to customer care, which is what I did.
The customer care raised a dispute on my behalf for refund and communicated same to the seller.

This morning, the seller messaged saying "please confirm the order first and refund will be processed within 15 days but if you go ahead with dispute it will take longer." No idea what that means. I have never gone thru this process and I am confused :S is seller bullshitting me? Has anyone raised a dispute before...what exactly needs to be done here. Just wait or confirm the order as seller is saying? The customer care is dicey at best - some of them understand exactly what I am saying, the others make you pull your hair in frustration. Fortunately the person who raised dispute was pretty well conversant and gave me the support ticket immediately. Unfortunately, to check the status of that ticket there is no direct system - you have to jump thru hoops and find a (real) customer care person.

That's really shady of the seller. Luckily the two frames I've bought on AliEx, I've had honest replies with the first frame having to go into production and the 2nd frame being in stock which I received in exactly 2 weeks. I would leave the dispute open. If the tracking info doesn't update within the next update interval, I believe AliEx will refund you. It happened to me on a small $10 item that was lost in shipping. I kept the dispute open and the order eventually refunded back into my account since it never delivered. If that seller's tracking info is BS and doesn't update, AliEx should refund you.

[coffeebreak]

That's really shady of the seller. Luckily the two frames I've bought on AliEx, I've had honest replies with the first frame having to go into production and the 2nd frame being in stock which I received in exactly 2 weeks. I would leave the dispute open. If the tracking info doesn't update within the next update interval, I believe AliEx will refund you. It happened to me on a small $10 item that was lost in shipping. I kept the dispute open and the order eventually refunded back into my account since it never delivered. If that seller's tracking info is BS and doesn't update, AliEx should refund you.

The tracking still shows nothing though its just been one day. I had another chat with a customer care and as luck would have it they told me crisply "I would suggest you to not close the dispute even though seller is asking. It is much safer that way and you will get the refund sooner than accepting the order". So now I am holding the dispute. I am pretty sure the seller simply created a shipping label for future date and updated in the system so as to make cancellation difficult. I would understand cancellation after shipping is not fair but when the item is not even made, the seller has no reason to reject :S The whole cancellation routine is pretty damn biased towards seller.
Not scaring anyone off but just thought I will put down my experience if anyone goes down the same route.

[TidyDinosaur]

So he wants you to mark the order as finished? I expect you will never see your money back when you do that... It is a known scam technique...

It is possible that the shipping info does not update for quite a while. When I ordered my frame last month, I had to go to a special tracking website provided by the seller to see the progress. The ali tracking showed nothing for weeks.
But since the seller looks to be agreeing on the refund there is no way in hell they have sent your frame.

[coffeebreak]

So he wants you to mark the order as finished? I expect you will never see your money back when you do that... It is a known scam technique...

It is possible that the shipping info does not update for quite a while. When I ordered my frame last month, I had to go to a special tracking website provided by the seller to see the progress. The ali tracking showed nothing for weeks.
But since the seller looks to be agreeing on the refund there is no way in hell they have sent your frame.

Their exact words were "you cancel the dispute and then make the order confirmation " so yeah I guess seller asking to mark it as finished. I can only confirm if I cancel the dispute though because the "confirm receipt" button is absent from that order. They definitely haven't sent the frame yet. Just hours before marking it as shipped seller had said they need 5-7 days more for order to come out of factory.

[jonathanf2]

Their exact words were "you cancel the dispute and then make the order confirmation " so yeah I guess seller asking to mark it as finished. I can only confirm if I cancel the dispute though because the "confirm receipt" button is absent from that order. They definitely haven't sent the frame yet. Just hours before marking it as shipped seller had said they need 5-7 days more for order to come out of factory.

Any chance you can share who the seller is, so we know never to order from them!

[coffeebreak]

Any chance you can share who the seller is, so we know never to order from them!

Yep, QIANQIN BIKE Store.

[jonathanf2]

Yep, QIANQIN BIKE Store.

I almost ordered from that shop, but their fluctuating pricing and poor reviews turned me off.

[00Garza]

Sounds super fishy. Definitely don’t cancel the dispute. The seller has shown no reason to trust them.

[coffeebreak]

An update on this:
After multiple follow ups and re-opening the dispute, 3 weeks later the refund has been processed as of today. Twice, Alix closed it saying "no valid reason" because the seller had provided a dummy shipping number. Finally, a good customer care rep asked me to share the shipping number with them. They checked it and said this looks invalid and put the same remarks in my dispute detail. They then asked me to wait for 2 days for "definitely positive outcome as you want". Indeed, 2 days later the ruling was in my favor and I just had to accept it (full refund) then within 2 hours the money was in my account.

All in all, pretty frustrating experience but it isn't out of ordinary because cancellation is up to seller's discretion. Some sellers will accept it without fuss, some won't. I guess just stick to known, old sellers.

[Bikergogo]

So, as I understand cancellation is not a right on Alix but rather a privilege and entirely at seller's mercy but does anyone have any tips on how to successfully cancel order and get refund? In the past I have cancelled may be two orders and both were accepted by seller immediately and purchase refunded, while on one occasion the seller asked me to cancel which I did - no big deal.

This time though, it is turning into a pickle. I intended to order a frame and seeing how frame ordering can be a chore on Alix I checked with seller if they had the size and color that I wanted. The seller confirmed they had it in stock and would ship immediately if I was to order it. So I ordered and the seller basically did nothing for 3 days. When I asked when will they ship the frame, the reply came as in next few days. I then asked didn't they have it in stock? The seller says no its out of stock and has given order to factory. I asked if other colors are in stock, if they are I will okay with other color to which he says every color and every size is out of stock.

Another 3 days pass and nothing. Some more back and forth later, I cancelled the order which the seller rejected and said I will send free gift with the frame for all the trouble and will ship soon. Another 2 days passed and when I enquired, he said 5-7 days more as the factory is still processing orders.

I then cancelled again and seller didn't act on it. The timer started with 48 hours for refund. Just 2 hours before the refund would be processed automatically by Aliexpress, damn seller marked the frame as "shipped" and provided a tracking number that didn't have any information.

At the same time he sent a message that, wait for 2 days and it will start showing update (which I am aware) but I didn't like the feel of this transaction. Did some Google-fu and found out that you can raise a dispute by talking to customer care, which is what I did.
The customer care raised a dispute on my behalf for refund and communicated same to the seller.

This morning, the seller messaged saying "please confirm the order first and refund will be processed within 15 days but if you go ahead with dispute it will take longer." No idea what that means. I have never gone thru this process and I am confused :S is seller bullshitting me? Has anyone raised a dispute before...what exactly needs to be done here. Just wait or confirm the order as seller is saying? The customer care is dicey at best - some of them understand exactly what I am saying, the others make you pull your hair in frustration. Fortunately the person who raised dispute was pretty well conversant and gave me the support ticket immediately. Unfortunately, to check the status of that ticket there is no direct system - you have to jump thru hoops and find a (real) customer care person.

The seller you contacted maybe not the final seller. Maybe they placed your order to another vendor and they are not able to control the goods.