Part of this story is on another thread somewhere, but I thought it was important enough to get its own thread.
In May I bought 40 x 420Ah cells on Alibaba from a Chinese company called Esare, for just over $6000.
Seven week delivery… I tested every one… long story short, they tested to 230 to 240Ah.
I bought them through Alibaba with PayPal, so I put in a claim through PayPal. NOT “Alibaba Trade Assurance.”
BTW, “Alipay Singapore” is the company that you are contracting with, when you buy stuff from Alibaba.
PayPal told them to refund me.
Alipay Singapore responded with “ship them back to China, and we will,“ and gave me two different addresses to ship to.
I looked up shippers, most were quoting around $2000. FedEx quoted me just under $1300.
Meantime, I found a friend who would buy the 240Ah cells from me. Current retail on 240Ah cells through the SAME COMPANY (Esare) is about $75 apiece.
So I told Alipay Singapore (through Paypal) that I would keep the batteries if they would refund $3400 of my money.
PayPal gives you 10 days to respond to any claim through their dispute system.
Yesterday was the 12th day since my offer to Alipay Singapore. No response from Alipay.
So today, PayPal refunded my money.
Just over $6000.
Something like this happened to me before. I ordered 4 ×100Ah cells from a reputable Chinese company. They didn’t deliver it on time, so PayPal refunded my $240.
But they finally came, and long story short, I decided to keep them and use them, so I contacted the company and PayPalled them back their $240. I like to think of myself as ethical. I do have a conscience.
Not these guys. In my opinion, sending 240Ah cells when I ordered 260Ah is a mistake. Sending 240Ah cells when I ordered 420Ah cells is outright FRAUD. Especially since i’ve come to find out that 420Ah blue cells don’t exist.
Alibaba‘s “Trade Assurance” program only “protects” a buyer for 30 days after delivery. How many people buy batteries in anticipation of needing them, then don’t get around to using them for a month or two, or six? I wonder how many people they have ripped off, because they didn’t respond “in time.“
So, I am selling the cells to my friend, and keeping the money, and I am not feeling the least bit guilty about it. They really didn’t leave me any other choice. More people need to hold Alibaba‘s feet to the fire; maybe it will cut down on some of the fraud. Anybody else want some free 240Ah LiFe cells?
An interesting post script… I ordered some MORE batteries from China, this time, from a recommended, reputable company. They are still in transit… But when I tried to pay for them, Alibaba’s system would not let me pay by PayPal. I PayPalled the money to the company directly.
Incidentally, the second set of batteries that I ordered are 302Ah, tested to 320Ah. I am using them in a car conversion that uses about 2Ah per mile, so a few amp hours makes quite a bit of difference in the range of the car. And the 320Ah blue cells have almost exactly the same footprint as my eight-year-old 160 amp hour Winston-type cells, actually, 1 inch longer in total. And they are 3 inches shorter… 8” versus 11” tall. Double the capacity in about 70% of the volume, from eight years ago. And back then, I paid about the same amount for the pack… Just over six grand.
In May I bought 40 x 420Ah cells on Alibaba from a Chinese company called Esare, for just over $6000.
Seven week delivery… I tested every one… long story short, they tested to 230 to 240Ah.
I bought them through Alibaba with PayPal, so I put in a claim through PayPal. NOT “Alibaba Trade Assurance.”
BTW, “Alipay Singapore” is the company that you are contracting with, when you buy stuff from Alibaba.
PayPal told them to refund me.
Alipay Singapore responded with “ship them back to China, and we will,“ and gave me two different addresses to ship to.
I looked up shippers, most were quoting around $2000. FedEx quoted me just under $1300.
Meantime, I found a friend who would buy the 240Ah cells from me. Current retail on 240Ah cells through the SAME COMPANY (Esare) is about $75 apiece.
So I told Alipay Singapore (through Paypal) that I would keep the batteries if they would refund $3400 of my money.
PayPal gives you 10 days to respond to any claim through their dispute system.
Yesterday was the 12th day since my offer to Alipay Singapore. No response from Alipay.
So today, PayPal refunded my money.
Just over $6000.
Something like this happened to me before. I ordered 4 ×100Ah cells from a reputable Chinese company. They didn’t deliver it on time, so PayPal refunded my $240.
But they finally came, and long story short, I decided to keep them and use them, so I contacted the company and PayPalled them back their $240. I like to think of myself as ethical. I do have a conscience.
Not these guys. In my opinion, sending 240Ah cells when I ordered 260Ah is a mistake. Sending 240Ah cells when I ordered 420Ah cells is outright FRAUD. Especially since i’ve come to find out that 420Ah blue cells don’t exist.
Alibaba‘s “Trade Assurance” program only “protects” a buyer for 30 days after delivery. How many people buy batteries in anticipation of needing them, then don’t get around to using them for a month or two, or six? I wonder how many people they have ripped off, because they didn’t respond “in time.“
So, I am selling the cells to my friend, and keeping the money, and I am not feeling the least bit guilty about it. They really didn’t leave me any other choice. More people need to hold Alibaba‘s feet to the fire; maybe it will cut down on some of the fraud. Anybody else want some free 240Ah LiFe cells?
An interesting post script… I ordered some MORE batteries from China, this time, from a recommended, reputable company. They are still in transit… But when I tried to pay for them, Alibaba’s system would not let me pay by PayPal. I PayPalled the money to the company directly.
Incidentally, the second set of batteries that I ordered are 302Ah, tested to 320Ah. I am using them in a car conversion that uses about 2Ah per mile, so a few amp hours makes quite a bit of difference in the range of the car. And the 320Ah blue cells have almost exactly the same footprint as my eight-year-old 160 amp hour Winston-type cells, actually, 1 inch longer in total. And they are 3 inches shorter… 8” versus 11” tall. Double the capacity in about 70% of the volume, from eight years ago. And back then, I paid about the same amount for the pack… Just over six grand.
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