Dispute with Sable Services, LC or Chinese companies.

dharmaperson
Contributor
Contributor

Hello,

I stupidly responded to a  slick YouTube ad for Polaraire/Arctic air; a small swamp cooler.  When I received the items (I ordered 2 for $112) they came separately and  poorly packaged, without an a/c adapter, as advertised (only a USB) and one with a defect where I could not even plug the USB into the unit.  I opened a dispute and they first asked me to file a report with internet crimes (which I did) then said I could return the units to the address they gave me, in China--and it isn't a legit address--I tried to get an estimate from UPS (it has a inadequate postal code for China and a UK one in addition).  I found elsewhere that it appears  because of the trade inequities between the US and China (they are heavily subsidized) that shipping would be  approximately $50 a pound (where it was virtually free for them to ship to me)-- and the units weigh 5 lbs, without boxes.  In the dispute I only have the option to respond by sending back to the bad/expensive address--I cannot voice any other complaint or request (the package had a Rosemead, CA PO Box, that I would sooner ship to, but that is not an option, apparently)  I left PayPal feedback and tried to message the PayPal assistant--that was not available.

 

Any ideas about what I should do, or do I have to "eat" these hideous products? Thank you for your time.

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3 REPLIES 3

kernowlass
Esteemed Advisor
Esteemed Advisor

@dharmaperson 

 


Chinese Web Sites or on Social Media ads easy to spot (once you know the below signs) so buyer beware.

1. No return address on the returns policy............thats because the site will look as if its in your country (where they despatch goods from) BUT they will ask for returns to go back to China (returns depot) at a shipping cost nearly always more than the item is worth.
2. No contact telephone number............if you click on contact the most you will get is webmail or an email address.
3. No company address information.
4. Great looking items at bargain prices that turn out to be tat.

In the event of a dispute you need to bear in mind possible return trackable costs before you buy from that seller / item / country because....

Paypal state this >>
PayPal is not obliged to reimburse you for any costs that you incur to comply with any of PayPal’s requests for cooperation for the purpose of resolving the problem (including, without limitation, costs that you incur to return a SNAD item to the Payment Recipient or another party as PayPal requests), although sometimes it may reimburse these costs.

Although they will compensate you for some of the cost if you have activated this at some point before you made that transaction.
https://www.paypal.com/us/smarthelp/article/FAQ3544

You also have the option to do a chargeback via your card issuer instead of a Paypal dispute if you funded your Paypal payment via a credit card.


Advice is voluntary.
Kudos / Solution appreciated.
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aheckhaus
Contributor
Contributor

Same thing happened to me.  I finally got my money back from Sable, and got $30 back from Paypal for return shipping.  I had to fight tooth and nail to do this, and it took nearly 4 months.

Here's what I did/timeline.  I can't remember all the conversations and dates, because there were so many of them, but I'll try.

  • Purchased the item 7/8
  • Arrived damaged
  • Filed a dispute with Paypal on 8/8
  • Dispute resolution date kept getting pushed farther and farther back, so I started asking Paypal Message Center about it.  I basically had to demand my money back.
  • Seller asked for a video of the broken item.  I refused (through Paypal) and told them to refund my money.
  • Seller told me to ship the item back to them, and sent a bogus mailing address.  It included a zip code with too many digits, listed both China and the UK, and didn't include the province.
  • I told Paypal I wasn't paying for shipping to send a broken item to a bogus address.  They gave me a claim for return shipping up to $30.
  • I looked up the address online, and found the correct zip code and province.  I prepared a Paypal shipping label through http://paypal.com/shipnow (this link is extremely hard to find).  Pull down on the country box for China.  The address I shipped it to was:
    • Sable Services LP
    • <removed> Shenzhen Guangdong
    • CHINA
  • I packaged up the item, took pictures as I packaged it up, including the final shipping address label.  This was on 10/3.  Cost $40.85 for First Class International Mail.  First Class international mail has higher weight limits than domestic international mail.  It is enough for at least 1 of these broken AC units.
  • I uploaded my pictures and shipping label verification to my refund claim on 10/3 (Saturday night)
  • Took the item to the post office on Monday morning.  The company (Sable) refunded my money on Monday 10/5 night.
  • Now I had to fight to get my shipping reimbursed.  I uploaded the documents to the claim (under the return shipping link Paypal added to my claim).  Their policy says it will be reviewed within 5 business days, and I was eligible for up to $30.
  • 5 business days passed, so I started contacting Paypal in the Help Message center again.
  • Finally they said they had no record of my return shipping claim, and told me to email to <removed> directly.  I did that on 10/21.  BTW, Paypal won't let me post this email address directly here in the message center, so you need to remove the spaces before and after the @ symbol, and remove the space before the .com.
  • I was finally refunded $30 return shipping on 10/28.
  • So I am out $10.85 on shipping, but that's better than $78 for the broken piece of crap.
  • To date, my item shipping says still in transit to China, and my return shipping claim (linked to the Paypal transaction) says still in review.

Hope all this helps someone else.  Lesson learned - never buy something through a sketchy looking website.

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grandpa2321350
New Community Member

I ordered 3 (stupid me) one did not work, and no power adapter for all three, two of the three had problems with the grill. Don't know if the third one had any other problems because other than looking inside the box I didn't power it up. I ask for a refund and they said I must ship them back. It cost me $90usd. What really makes me angry is it was returned by Pandoo Shop which is the other name for these crooks. My question is if they did not want it back, then why make me waste $90usd? They refunded my original purchase of $156usd, but minus $90usd I got a total of $66usd. I advise anyone thinking of buying this product, don't. It doesn't matter the name of the company they are all the same crooks. 

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