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First Alibaba lifepo4 purchase - Do NOT buy from **EVE Energy Co., Ltd.**

Mark1988

New Member
Joined
Sep 6, 2021
Messages
23
Hi All,

Today I've received my first order from Alibaba and EVE Energy (https://evebatteryglobal.en.alibaba.com/?spm=a2700.12243863.0.0.2ce83e5fYxTya4) and it's been a complete disaster.

I've ordered 16 of their new 6000 cycle 280Ah cells - unfortunately most of them have arrived damaged, mainly due to shockingly bad packaging (5mm cardboard for a 45lbs / 22kg package) and a lack of any protection / foam what so ever in 3 out of the 4 boxes. In total, 11 of out the 16 cells (70%) show signs of damage, some more serious than others - pictures below for reference, each picture is for a different cell...

I suspect they do this on purpose to offload defective / non-grade A cells for the full price as some of the damage is in the wrong place to have been caused in transit. I assume they send out badly secured, damaged, cells and either blame it on the forwarder to claim insurance or hope the client will give up and accept a bad deal on a partial refund.

Thankfully I have paid through PayPal and have now lodged a dispute with them, seeking a full refund but wanted to make people aware of this seller's practices. I'm not expecting Eve to do the right thing here (although I do like surprises) but I do hope PayPal will refund me the money... I would however appreciate any advice you might have.

Thanks again and wish me luck.

Mark
 

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That's the actual manufacturer of those cells. I would start a conversation with them directly and tell them their packaging was wholly inadequate.

Also, the shipping company should not have even delivered those - damaged packaging (labeled properly with the battery sticker) should not be delivered.
 
That's the actual manufacturer of those cells. I would start a conversation with them directly and tell them their packaging was wholly inadequate.

Also, the shipping company should not have even delivered those - damaged packaging (labeled properly with the battery sticker) should not be delivered.

That's right, they're the manufacturer - that's why I ordered my cells directly from them.

I've already informed Eve of the issue but given how poor their customer service has been so far (e.g. they haven't been able to send me the tracking number for like 3 months...) and that some of the damage looks like it's not from the transport I'm not holding my breath - I've asked for a full refund via PayPal.

Avoid Eve like the plague.
 
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I suspect they do this on purpose to offload defective / non-grade A cells for the full price as some of the damage is in the wrong place to have been caused in transit.
My personal opinion is, I find it very hard to believe this would be worth their time or reputation. They are a multi-billion dollar company. They may well have done wrong by you, but I highly doubt EVE is intentionally offloading defective cells (16 cells at a time) under their own brand name to individual retail customers. Even if they were that unscrupulous, it simply wouldn't be worth the time or effort. There is a whole grey market that exists to buy up the discount cells that don't pass manufacturer QA. Why would EVE bother selling quantities of defective cells that are not even a rounding error under their own brand name.

Could it not just be a much simpler answer, the cells were poorly packed and damaged in shipping? The evidence/pictures seem to indicate that is the most likely scenario. It seems like you are jumping to conclusions and making a lot of assumptions. You've got a right to be upset and a right to a refund, but it feels like you are jumping over the most logical/simple answer in exchange for an answer that has a clear villain and victim but (at least in my eyes) doesn't sound very believable or logical. I would certainly follow up with EVE and request/demand a refund and press them on what went wrong, and why the packaging looks so subpar.

edit: I realize my comment may come across as blunt, but I hope it does not come across as rude, I am truly sorry for the shitty situation you find yourself in, in any case my perspective is just my perspective, its not necessarily right or wrong.
 
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My personal opinion is, I find it very hard to believe this would be worth their time or reputation. They are a multi-billion dollar company. They may well have done wrong by you, but I highly doubt EVE is intentionally offloading defective cells (16 cells at a time) under their own brand name to individual retail customers. Even if they were that unscrupulous, it simply wouldn't be worth the time or effort. There is a whole grey market that exists to buy up the discount cells that don't pass manufacturer QA. Why would EVE bother selling quantities of defective cells that are not even a rounding error under their own brand name.

Could it not just be a much simpler answer, the cells were poorly packed and damaged in shipping? The evidence/pictures seem to indicate that is the most likely scenario. It seems like you are jumping to conclusions and making a lot of assumptions. You've got a right to be upset and a right to a refund, but it feels like you are jumping over the most logical/simple answer in exchange for an answer that has a clear villain and victim but (at least in my eyes) doesn't sound very believable or logical. I would certainly follow up with EVE and request/demand a refund and press them on what went wrong, and why the packaging looks so subpar.

It is precisely because they're a large company why I think they are intelligent and experienced enough to know how to package up a handful of cells.

I don't understand your argument, since it was apparently worth their time and effort to agree to send me 16 good cells, sending me 16 bad ones would obviously be worth their while even more... and it's not like this would be the first time a large company wanted to play games with retail consumers... in fact, this is exactly what many of their smaller competitors already do - there is half a dozen of posts reporting similar issue (e.g. link, link, link).

In any case instead of making assumptions either way I agree, I will wait for their response tomorrow but I'm not holding my breath. For everyone else, you have been warned and I hope this will help someone in the future.

M
 
Wow .... That's really unfortunate. I was really liking the looks of those cell terminals.

I agree somewhat with DZL about some of your assumptions like .... they are trying to unload sub par cells .... but, they certainly need to do a better packing job.

Many on here have EVE cells, but most are not ordering them from an EVE store front .... We were actually all kinda surprised when they started doing that.
Please keep us informed how this shakes out.
 
Any chance of cross referencing battery serial numbers to those received and what was dispatched by the factory?
Question not only for the OP but anyone with experience to tell OP what to look for.
...Or the box most likely fell off a belt spilling the batteries everywhere and some worker shoved them back in to save on paper work!
 
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I believe you! I never knew we had so many people without integrity throughout the world. Trust no one. Don’t bother providing capacity test results on here. You’ll be told you don’t know how to test cells, although many people have found the same low capacity cells from the same vendors. I hope you get your money back and find Amy from Shenzhen Luyuan or Hayley from Dongguan Lightning. Their cells are packaged very well and all are 280-285 aH.
 
That's a seriously sh*tty packing job! Sorry you received those. ? I feel your irritation.

Like @Dzl said, Eve is the actual manufacturer of the cells, I have trouble believing that a multi-billion dollar, publicly traded company would INTENTIONALLY try and scam you.

I would contact the sales rep you dealt with. I would be willing to bet that they will take care of the problem, tarnishing their name over something so petty isn't worth it for them.
 
Brief update for those interested, EVE (Alecia on Alibaba) said that the cells were repackaged by the forwarder before being given to the courier company for transport to my home address. I'm not sure I believe that as what would be the point of that and I don't think a few hours on the back of a van would have resulted in that much damage to the cells. A much simpler explanation is that they simply never have securely packaged the cells in the first place and now they're throwing the forwarder under the bus instead of owning up to their mistake.

EVE eventually gave me a choice between getting a partial refund for the 11 cells or waiting 4 months to get them replaced. Unfortunately, Paypal's protection only lasts 6 months form the transaction date so I asked if I could re-order the cells via PayPal again and was told that the prices have since gone up and I'd need to pay extra to do that...

I didn't feel comfortable committing to another 4 month gamble with Eve with no PayPal protection (which I paid $200 for in fees and fx charges) and I certainly didn't want to pay another 20-30% for their mistake. Since I wasn't even sure if the remaining 5 cells are still OK given that they'd been most likely dropped a dozen times in transport I contacted PayPal and got a full refund instead (less fx conversion fees of around $100 which they don't refund).

I'm now wondering if it's worth me trying to use those cells or whether I should simply get a new set. I don't particularly want to wait another 2-3 months so I think I'll try them and see what happens...? Thoughts?

Cheers,
M
 
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How much did you pay for these and how much will it cost you to buy from Amy here in the USA ????????
 
Brief update for those interested, EVE (Alecia on Alibaba) said that the cells were repackaged by the forwarder before being given to the courier company for transport to my home address. I'm not sure I believe that as what would be the point of that and I don't think a few hours on the back of a van would have resulted in that much damage to the cells. A much simpler explanation is that they simply never have securely packaged the cells in the first place and now they're throwing the forwarder under the bus instead of owning up to their mistake.
That could be an excuse, but it also could be legitimate. A lot of companies will pack up pallets full of batteries and ship them to California, where another company will break down the pallet and put it into boxes for individual customers. Depending on the product and quantity, it can be way cheaper to ship them that way, and it's a pretty common practice.

There was a forum member who was selling batteries, and the forwarder that he was dealing with destroyed a whole bunch of cells by not packing them properly, so it definitely does happen.
I'm now wondering if it's worth me trying to use those cells or whether I should simply get a new set. I don't particularly want to wait another 2-3 months so I think I'll try them and see what happens...? Thoughts?
I would have no problem using the remaining good cells (as long as they're in physically decent shape). Top balance, put them together as a pack, and see how they perform!

Edit: It's up to you, and I wouldn't judge you either way (not that my judgment matters ?), but if you end up using the four cells that aren't damaged in a pack, it might be worth considering paying the vendor for those four.
 
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