GEARBEST KEEPS YOUR REPAIRED ITEM AS HOSTIGE AND DEMANDS A RANSOME

WindowsPro

Senior Member
Joined
May 19, 2017
Hi there!

If you buy something in a store and the item fails within the time its covered by the warranty, then you leave it to the store, they repair it or you get an replacement item back! Thats how a warranty works!

BUT NOT WITH GEARBEST.com

GEARBEST KEEPS YOUR REPAIRED ITEM AS HOSTIGE AND DEMANDS A RANSOME OF 180USD TO SEND YOUR OWN REAIRED ITEM BACK TO YOU!


Lets start from the beginning:

I bought a CUBE Iwork 12, a 12,2” Windows tablet from Gearbest as a gift for my wifes birthday. She liked it a lot and after a slow start (she´s not used to computers) she begun using it more or less on a daily basis, With only small issues, like that the Iwork 12 started losing its connection to our fully functioning wi-fi. The first day it took a reboot and the Wi-Fi worked again.
The very next day the iwork 12 did not start at all, so hence I recorded the video that the seller, Gearbest, asked for. I received a RMA-number and was told to post the device back to Gearbest for repair, since the device was (what I believed) covered by Gearbests warranty, a warranty of 1 year according to their webpage.

Now That was stupid of me!

I did resend the Iwork 12 on the 3 of march, and noticed Gearbests support this via their support web.
“At 03/13/2017 07:17:28 CST
HI! I would like to inform you that I sent the parcel as regular letter on the Friday 3 of mars. “

And the time went by so on the At 04/06/2017 I asked if they had received my return?
So I get the reply that says they had received my return, and where to sent it to their supplier to be repaired
“Gearbest Customer Support At 04/07/2017 09:25:12 CST
Dear Thomas,
Thank you very much for your order with Gearbest.
We have check it for you, we have received your return item. But we need to send the item to our supplier to repair it. They need some time to repair it, please kindly wait 10-25 business days.
Thank you for your patience and kind support.
Best Regards
Erica
Gearbest Customer Service
GearBest.com - The Best Gear, Gadgets and Novelties

Now this is where it gets interesting… Gearbest support recognizes my return of my broken Iwork 12 and they admit they will send it to their supplier.. That mean they recognize my warranty, All I should do is to wait for 10 to 25 business days!

And the time flyes by… until: 05/16/2017 when I decide to ask how things are going…
That’s when I get what seems like a ransom note:
“Gearbest Customer Support At 05/17/2017 11:32:34 CST
Dear Thomas,
We have received your returned item, thank you.
After inspecting it carefully with our technicians, we regret to inform you that this item cannot be repaired.
By way of compensation, we would like to offer you 2 options:
Option 1- Refund to your Gearbest Wallet as store credit.
We can refund you to your Wallet 100 USD and exceptionally offer you extra points(E.g. If your refund is 1 USD = 2 points, 3 USD = 6 points etc.).
You will receive this refund within 24 hours. You can use this credit for future purchases on our website.
Learn more about wallet benefits : GB Wallet | GearBest.com
Learn more about points benefits : My Points | GearBest.com

(NOWCheck this one->)
Option 2- Repay a small fee for a resend.
We kindly ask you to pay us 180 USD and we will resend a new item to you.
(<- Ehm.. I have a warranty! Why the h*ll would i PAY when the replacement is covered by the warrany!)

If you choose this option we will send you a PayPal invoice for the payment in the next email.
You will receive your new item within 10-25 business days.
Would you please inform us of your decision?
We look forward to hearing from you soon and thank you for your understanding.
Best Regards
Erica
Gearbest Customer Service
http://www.gearbest.com/”

And now I am getting worried! What do they mean? Cant their technicians change a simple motherboard or a screen (that’s where I, as a computer technician myself, believe the errors where) so baffled I reply:
“Thomas At 05/17/2017 03:11:43 CST
I am sorry, but since you claim to have 1 years warranty, (that i was forced to use since the item i received ended up dead soon after arrival) i must reject to paying anything more than shippingcosts via airmail to receive a new item.
The new item is within the warranty itself! (Thats what a warranty is for) so I will NOT PAY TWICE for an article that I have already payed for
. (That should be shameful for you to behave like that!)
Specially NOT since you have not informed me in due time after receiving my broken tablet!
And since you claim to have a new item to send to me, send me that one, I will accept to pay (via paypal) for the return shipping via airmail with a trackingnumber!
My e-mail adress for the return shipping invoice is: *my e-mail*
Regards,

As you se in the original thread that i was upset and made several spelling errors and did not read the reply to correct any errors, but i think never the less that it is clear that I claimed my warranty, and that I accept to pay for return shipping via airmail with a tracingnumner! (at least it seems so to me)

And please note that I have no idea if they have actually repaired my Iwork 12 or not!

As far as I can see, if it really was NOT able of being repaired, would not GearBest had told me that as soon as they found out??? Now they let a MONTH pass by with no comments or interaction at all from GearBest side!
So on the: 05/18/2017 I get a confusing reply as:
“Gearbest Customer Support At 05/18/2017 09:43:34 CST
Dear Thomas,
Thank you very much for your order with Gearbest.
Your item is passed 45 days money back warranty, so you need to charge the return shipping fee by yourself.
Since you item can't be repaired, so we give you the solution that how to solve this problem.
Please kindly check it and tell us your decision.
Thank you for your patience and kind support.
Best Regards
Erica
Gearbest Customer Service
GearBest.com - The Best Gear, Gadgets and Novelties

Have I ever asked for a “money back” = NO!
I asked them to resend me either my repaired item or a replacement, and they may send me the invoice for return shipping via registered airmail.
The 45 day money back warranty is a part of their warranty, but after these 45 days they are supposed to either repair the item or replace it with a similar item. SO WHAT ARE THEY TALKING ABOUT!

And as you may understand I am beginning to get angry, so on the: 05/18/2017 I reply to them:
“Thomas At 05/18/2017 03:43:57 CST
How do I know that my iwork12 cant be repaired?
Does not your technicians know how to change a motherboard or a screen??
What I cannot understand is that: You told me yourself, that you have a Iwork 12 to send to me, so WHY WOULD YOU ASK ME FOR A PAYMENT OF 180USD, when I am covered by your 1 year warranty??
Usually a 1 year Warranty means that if the item I bought breaks down due to some error, built in from the factory during the time the warranty is active, the item are either to be repaired or replaced WITHOUT ANY CHARGE?
(I am fully willing to pay for the return shipping! But I will not pay for a replacement devise that is covered by your own warranty)
To me it sounds like you are keeping my repaired Iwork12 as a hostage and demand a ransom from me?? I am very eager to know if that is true?
So PLEASE! DO NOT REPLY WITH A RANSOM NOTE AGAIN!
Send me the invoice for the cost of the return shipping via registered airmail!
I will pay that invoice, if you are kind enough to send me back a fully functioning Iwork 12 the way a warranty is supposed to work!

And as you can see I made my point very clear: I have a warrant (they confirmed that on the 04/07/2017 09:25:12 CST where they accepted my return and had to problems sending it to their supplier for repairs)

So WHY DO GEARBEST DEMAND A WHAPPING 180USD TO RESED ME MY REPLACEMENT ITEM??????? The replacement itself is supposed to be covered by gearbest so called “Warranty”.

And as I say in the reply, To me it looks like they are holding my repaired iwork 12 or its replacement as hostage and demands a ransom to send it back to me! Don´t you agree?

The return shipping cost are not an object here, I have willingly asked to pay these myself to get the tracing option,

the issue is that if they have accepted my returned package, that therefor must have been in order or they would claimed that the parcel was damaged etc. upon their receiving it,

The warranty itself is not issue here either, or they would not have given me their RMA. So the right of warranty is not the issue!

SO WHY DOES GEARBEST REFUSE TO SEND ME MY IWORK 12 BACK TO ME UNLESS I PAY THEM A RANSOM OF A WHAPPING 180 USD!!!!

Lets rethink this! Have I as a customer done something wrong?
Not as I can tell, I sent them back the dead Iwork 12 in its original packaging with all stuffing etc. still intact.
I did pay for the return shipping costs.. and Gearbest did not complain on any damages on my returned package either, so the package must have been undamaged and gearbest did not complain on my rights to a warrant either!
Therefore, I the customer, could not have done something wrong.

Since GearBest claims to have a replacement item to send back to me, their supplier has replaced my “unrepairable” Iwork 12 with a new one, So that is not an issue itself! It seems like the supplier has not done anything wrong either.

My conclusion is that GEARBEST IS TO HOLD IN FAULT!
GEARBEAT HOLDS MY WARRANTY REPAIRED REPLACEMENT AS HOSTAGE AND DEMANDS A RANSOM OF A WHAPPING 180USD TO RELESE THE HOSTAGED GOODS BACK TO ME!


Now! When you have read this story, are you willing to buy any slightly more expensive items from GearBest.com????

I most certanly hope not! You have been warned about their business method that is to keep your repaired item for hostage while demanding huge ransom from the owner!
(Please excuse my English, I´m Swedish so....)

With best regards,
 
windowspro … welcome to windowsforum.

usually when i consider purchasing an item online … i research the company and the integrity of their website. regarding gearbest … there's complaints regarding both on the internet. if there's more than 3% deterrent … i'm on the way out. if a company does not care about each and every customer … they will not get my business.

checking with bbb.org (better business bureau) … there's already 276 complaints … have you considered lodging complaint yourself, windowspro? might be advantageous.
pissedconsumer.com also offers mixed signals about gearbest on the whole.
oh … also came across this from reddit.com:

well, windowspro … that's all i got … and thanks for sharing!
 
Thanks!
I did complain on some of the suggestions, And via the support ticket on Gearbest I did send them the note:
"
At 05/27/2017 05:22:00 CST
I would like you to send me my repaired iwork 12 back and i i´m willing to pay for return shipping via registered airmail as a warranty actually works.

The postings i masse on internet regarding that gearbest keeps everyones warranty repaired items as hostage and demands a ransom of 180 Usd are attracting more and more interest. Just as the ones where i tell people that gb´s warranty is not worth the pixels it is written by are. Soon gb will loose much more than the ransome of 180usd. "

then i got the reply:
"Gearbest Customer Support At 05/28/2017 11:05:20 CST
Dear Thomas,

We are preparing the reshipment of your item.

When we ship it out, you will receive a confirmation email from us.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Best Regards"

To be honest, I´m not holding my breath, Gearbests businessmodel when it comes to warranty shows that they most likely are not the most trustworthy people around!

If I do get something back, I would be surprised if it is a properly working tablet.
But I will be back to tell what happens, I really do not trust a company whos policy it is to keep their customers warranty repaired goods as hostage for a ransom..

Just imagine, like me, you pay more than 350 USD for a tablet and then the seller demands another 180USD to send your warranty repaired goods back to you! With a business model like that your tablet is no longer worth its price! Not matter how cheap you bought it! Gearbest really needs to work on their customer care!
 
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