Chinese fire drill

deacon

deacon

minor bike philosopher
I bought some batteries for my test from a dealer in china... on ebay. He sent the wrong number and now I can't convince him of it. Obviously he doesn't keep any shipping records so he doesn't have a clue what he sent me I think. I will never buy multiple numbers of batteries from the same dealer again. If they sell them in groups of ten I will buy ten not twenty or thirty. These guys have no idea how to get organized.

If I had the money i would buy a thousand and resell them in the us as an American dealer. I guess with import and tariffs it would make them more expensive.
 
It took ten emails and a lot of control on my part but I think he finally sees the light. God this is like dealing with a ten year old.
 
Its amazing last night when i went to bed they were going to replace the missing batteries this morning a new email saying I am a liar and they are not. I'm going to let ebay try to sort it out. I don't want to damage the guys rep but it looks as though i take the loss and settle for telling the other ebay users that he is an idiot.
 
Deacon, 25% of British Columbia is Chinese. I can only sympathize with you.
Amazing how they speak fluent English until you have a problem. Then you get the stare like they have know idea what your saying.

I'll bet when e-bay gets ahold of them they will find the batteries have been sent and they don't understand what the problem is.

Trust me they are not stupid but they are slippery as a greased eel.

Best part is my niece speaks,reads and writes pretty fair Mandarin, the main land dialect.
She loves it when they start talking about stupid round eyes and how easy they are to shaft. She just tells them that they can take the next boat home if thats what they think. She says the whole store will be dead quiet until she leaves.

Steve.
 
fasteddy said:
Best part is my niece speaks,reads and writes pretty fair Mandarin, the main land dialect.
She loves it when they start talking about stupid round eyes and how easy they are to shaft. She just tells them that they can take the next boat home if thats what they think. She says the whole store will be dead quiet until she leaves.

Steve.
Click to expand...

Gawd I loved reading that. You should take her around town, find out which shops are honest, which are not, then write an article for your local paper.

I was a jeweler for 9 years until so many middle easterners moved over here and set up shop. Most of them shook your right hand, to seal a deal, while stabbing you in the back with their left. But who am I to judge. Asian and Arabic cultures have been doing business much longer than anglo-saxon types like me. Maybe expecting fairness and honesty in business is like believing in Santa Claus.
 
We are 5% of the world's population using 25% of it's resources so who is getting skewed? I hear less than 10% of China and India have air conditioning. This does not excuse bad biz practices but it is a good thing to step back and look at the overall picture.
 
I posted an honest feedback and complained to ebay... Today I got a response. please dont post neg feedback we will send the batteries ok? I wrote back when the batteries are in my hand i will agree to remove the feedback since you called me a liar twice. God how i wanted to add a few expletives but that always comes back to haunt you when you put it in writing.

Whether I agreed or not, I will probably never hear from him again. He has proved he can't be trusted.

On another note and this is not a criticism of the poster here. The American over use of resources would ring a lot truer, if people like Al Gore and movie stars (who fly around in private jets and live in mansions) weren't the champions of the the cause. Smacks of "I GOT MINE" but you need to give up the little you have to balance out the world.

My mom and dad worked in a southern cotton mill for thirty years, so their kids could do a little better. My wife and I worked hard so out kid could have a better start in life than we had even. Getting out of the mill village wasn't an accident of birth. China is a power house because they know how to exploit labor. The people need to look to their own governments not to the average American to make their life better. Stealing from me isn't going to change their lives appreciably. Again this is not a criticism of the poster here just a statement of how I feel.
 
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Wow. I must agree, as much as I love the Chinese people, customs, food, etc....after traveling to China many times over a five year period, SOME have the concept of customer abuse down to a fine art. I could see if he could even show you a ticked off packing list or something. But short shipping accidents happen, and he would have been well off just admitting it and swallowing the tough pill - the cost of shipping you the remainder of your order.

If enough people have backbones, and these guys will straighten up or go out of business.
 
Maxvision, we have a huge offshore population thanks to our everyone is welcome immigration policy.
Tens of thousands of Russians, Iranians, Somalies, East Indians and Shiks. Africans of every description.
Every time there is a drug shooting or a rip off scam you can't pronounce the names.

Thier idea of fair dealings is where they screw you to the wall and they steal what you have.

My Uncle was with the Canadian army in the second world war chasing Rommel around the desert when he wasn't being chased by him. As he told me often, the Arabs would judge who was winning and sell the losers out to the winning side. Both the Germans and British were treated the same way.

Not the most honest people.

Steve.
 
Deacon, my late father in law was born and raised in Hong Kong in the days just after it was ripped away from China. That and my Chinese friends have taught me about the way they think.
They have a great store if what they call Face. To be called a thief is all part of doing buisness. To have it proven is to lose Face and give your opponents proof. That destroys your name for generations.

Bad listings on e-bay is proof and they would lose credibility in thier community.

My father in laws brother, when he died was the richest man in Asia. He would walk into the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and buy everything on the board thus closing the Stock Exchange for the day. Didn't make him the most popular White Man in Hong Kong.

When the Japanese were closing in on HK he sent his papers to England and Canada and stayed with his people. The Chinese.
No one knows for sure just what happened to him when he was in the prisoner camp but the Japanese had a bad habit of going after the top people where ever they went.
He made it and by staying when he could have run he gained incredable "Face" in China and through out Asia.

When he died he left his estate to the HK University.
Anyone who wants can google Noel Croutcher. A very complex man.

Steve.
 
Maxvison, I wanted to add that the Chinese have taken over a city called Richmond, just outside of Vancouver.
You would think you were in China as you walk up the street. They have a night market that runs all night. Just a giant all night flea market. When my Niece and her friends are waiting to be served the shop owners serve the Asian customers first, ignoring anyone who is White in the line. They are making racist comments about Whites all the time they are doing this.

This is when my Niece drops the Mandarin bomb. Her pals love it.

Steve.
 
I expect that he is doing business on the principle that Americans are too lazy to take the time to complain to ebay over a small amount of money. I just happen to have lots of time on my hands. I didn't mind the run around so much. I chalked it up to the chinese fire drill thing. It was when the ____ (Insert body part here) called me a liar that it got personal. LOL

Interesting story about you father in law Steve. I would like to have known him. I met a big time silk merchant in Bangkok once. People around there bowed and scraped for him. I think it changed him and not for the better.
 
East Indians here often have the reputation of trying to rip you off.Especially if you are the contractor. My friend told me the best thing to do is get foaming mad and yell at them-thats what he did as a Brit in the Indian army-i tried it and the guy backed right down and listened--but i hated to do business this way as it is uncomfortable.
 
Yes I think they count on our civility. It's a different culture and I try to respect that but this was just blatant abuse by the man. Either he is split personality or there are two of them. One time the email would be civil the next time it would be confrontational. It was all very confusing. I left him negative feedback and have written off the money. If he sends the batteries I can add them to the pack but I'm not expecting them.
 
deacon said:
I bought some batteries for my test from a dealer in china... on ebay. He sent the wrong number and now I can't convince him of it. Obviously he doesn't keep any shipping records so he doesn't have a clue what he sent me I think. I will never buy multiple numbers of batteries from the same dealer again. If they sell them in groups of ten I will buy ten not twenty or thirty. These guys have no idea how to get organized.

If I had the money i would buy a thousand and resell them in the us as an American dealer. I guess with import and tariffs it would make them more expensive.
Click to expand...

i have seen batteries as high as $70 for one battery gees , even lawn mower battries at 78 bucks
 
WEll the end of the story has finally arrived. I gave up trying to talk to this guy. I told ebay he is either a complete idiot or playing me. They took ten minutes to make a full refund to me. I hope they at least made note of the fact that this guy is a tool and not a sharp one at that..
 
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