Is DHGate a scam?

[HolaSoyMayte]

Do not buy in DHGate. It's the worst. We always bought on aliexpress and never had any problems, but with DHGate to been horrible the experience. We've bought two times. The first one we did the visa charge 2 times. Duplicate. I spent more than 5 hours in 2 different days in CaixaBank and eventually we returned it but I cost a lot. and the other... terrible... that has not been solved. We bought a phone from one of its suppliers "Mystartingheart" and soon broke. Both the provider (after wasting our time with videos, photos, and emails) as DHGate has washed his hands and we have been scammed €146. Overview. They're crooks. You can have some little something, but 2 out of 2 is a grifter. I don't recommend buying them anything. We've had a very bad day. The phone I gave my mother to my son with all the illusion (this with dementia) and we had no courage to explain what happened to not upset her. That you have a good year entry

[kernowlass]

@HolaSoyMayte

How do I open a dispute with a seller when a purchase goes wrong?

You can open a dispute in the Resolution Centre of your PayPal account within 180 days of payment if:
•You don’t receive the item
•You receive an item but it’s significantly different than the description on eBay or on the seller’s website

By opening a dispute, you can communicate directly with your seller to work out a problem transaction.

If you reach an agreement with the seller you can close the dispute. If you're still not happy with the result, you can escalate the dispute into a claim. We'll review the claim and decide on reimbursement.

These steps apply to Personal accounts. If you have a Business account, please log in to see the steps that apply to you.

To open a dispute:
1.Log in to your PayPal account.
2.Near the bottom of the page, under 'More about your account', click Resolve a problem in our Resolution Centre.
3.Click Dispute a Transaction.
4.Select the button beside the transaction you want to dispute, then click Continue.
5.Select ‘Item dispute’, click Continue and follow the on-screen instructions.

Note:
•Generally buyers must wait at least 7 days from the date of payment to escalate a dispute for an item not received
•Where an item has not been received, please ensure you have given the seller enough time before opening a dispute

https://www.paypal.com/webapps/mpp/first-dispute

DO NOT CLOSE THE DISPUTE UNTIL YOU HAVE A CLEARED REFUND OR YOUR ITEM WHATEVER THE SELLER SAYS. ALSO DON'T FORGET TO ESCALATE THE DISPUTE TO A CLAIM WITHIN 20 DAYS IF THE SELLER DOES NOT REFUND.

If that does not work then if you funded your paypal payment via a card then contact your card issuer and see if they will do a chargeback for you.

[freddyguy]

Beware of DHgate everyone:  

I just finished dealing with this company and I'm upset that I was so stupid as to do so.  I ordered an item through DHgate which took FOREVER to arrive.  Originally, the item was purchased to be a Christmas gift.  THAT idea went out the window as I waited until mid January to receive the order.  I was going to keep the item for myself, but, when I tested it, I found that the item didn't work as it should.  The item was a clothes hook hidden camera which was supposed to be used by a family member to keep an eye on things when someone else was looking after their small child.  I tested it by taking a short video of an object which was approximately 8 to 10 feet away from the camera itself.  When I connected the camera to my PC to view the video, instead of the object appearing to be the 8 to 10 foot distance away, it appeared that the object was just inches from the camera which certainly does not give you the line of site that is of any use.  I emailed the seller to ask if there was some kind of adjustment that could be made to display the field of vision properly, but, of course, just like every other email that I had sent to them, I received absolutely NO responses.  I then sent another email to the seller asking for a refund and that I would return the item to them.  NO response again.  Next, I filed a "Dispute" through DHgate and tried to follow their ridiculously obscure instructions, but had to contact, via online chat, their "Customer Service" (yeah, right), in order to complete the process.  After filing this dispute, what do you know?  I finally received an email from the seller, offering a $5.00 refund so that I could "close this dispute asap".  Of course, this offer was completely unacceptable.  I advised DHgate of this email.  As instructed and as part of the filing of the dispute, I sent the DHgate "Dispute Resolution" center, 2 separate videos to show the issue with the camera.   One of the videos was taken using my android phone camera, of an object which, again was approximately 8 to 10 feet away from the camera.  Using the same object and distance, I used the clothes hook camera and recorded the second video.  A few days later, I received an email from the DHgate stating that my dispute was denied as the "video evidence reviewed was deemed to be unacceptable".  I find it VERY difficult to understand just how VIDEO evidence can, in any way, be unacceptable.  It's VIDEO EVIDENCE!!  After receiving this email I immediately went back into their website and found that I could file a "mediation" claim, which I obviously did, providing all of the same information as I gave when filing the initial dispute.  The same afternoon (yesterday) I received one email from DHgate stating:  "This email is to inform you that your Order # (private information) has been applied refunded. Please check the following details for the reason of cancellation:
Refund Reason: Fulfill mediation agreement

Of course, I was happy to see that they had come to their senses and were providing me with the refund I was looking for.  Again, it was my full intention to return the item to the seller as soon as the dispute was resolved.  However, I found it quite strange that the email contained no information as to how to proceed with returning the item.  That was until approximately 2 hours later, I received an second email stating:  "This email is to inform you that, regarding for your order # (again, sorry, private information), your refund for a partial has been completed on our end as of 2018-01-25. Normally, the refund will be deposited into your credit company account within 10-15 business days , depending on bank's refund process. Please contact your card-issuing bank or credit company for more details.

The following is the refund details:

PO#	!!!!!!!!! (private)
Refund  Type	partial refund
Refund  Amount	5 USD
Refund  Date	2018-01-25
Refund  Reason	Fulfill mediation agreement

This is an automatic email sent by system, please do not reply this e-mail.

Respectfully,
DHgate.com  

Finally, and sorry for the long description as I am COMPLETELY **bleep**, I again went to the website and responded to this decision.  The air was blue while I was typing this response.  Their decision goes entirely against their, so called, "Buyer Protection Policy" (yeah, right).  They are no more interested in the buyer than I am in chasing a polar bear across the frozen tundra of the arctic circle.

If this site is NOT a complete and utter SCAM I don't know what is.  The item was relatively inexpensive so I'm not going to be out a lot of money, BUT, the principle of the matter is my issue.  Companies like this should be banned from EVER doing business on the internet and should certainly be removed from PayPal as a legitimate supplier.

I guess I should have heeded the old warning:  "Let the buyer beware".  I WON'T make a mistake like this again and I am CERTAINLY going to find every means possible to get the word out to people, to NEVER use DHgate to purchase anything!!