EEVblog #1248 - INSANE A 0.02% Process Meter for $9? WTF

[beanflying]

From DHgate Customer Service. What part of this is not a refund case or am I going to 'negotiate' a higher price don't they understand  Just realized there is no way to reply to this message seems case closed 

Good day and thanks for getting back to us. I understand that but we are just giving this option to cancel the order because for sure the seller will not ship it if they cannot get the additional payment. Since you really wanted to get the item, we suggest you to try and negotiate with the seller how you both wanted this order to be since you wanted them to honor what they posted as the price on the product and the seller wants you to pay for additional.

If you will be paying for additional fees make sure to have the transaction through DHgate. To do this, kindly ask your seller to place a new listing for an "item" which is equivalent to your additional charges. Once your seller placed the listing for this "item", kindly pay for it and the payment will be forwarded to your seller. That way, if there is still some issue with regards to this additional charge, we can still assist you in resolving it for you.

Rest assured that everything is dealt with utmost urgency and we appreciate your trust in DHgate.com. Should you have any other concerns please do not hesitate to contact us.

Regards,

Daffy
Customer Service Center
DHgate.com

[Scottjd]

Looks like I didn’t get notified of the message from the seller. They are claiming the same as most of these posts.
hi friend
hope you are well .
kind reminder the item you ordered is still under producing ,
would you like change to attached new style ?
it's really nice and hot selling , hope you like it .
thanks , we waiting for your feedback .

I find it funny they claimed the meter was still under production considering I tested a beta of this meter back in 2016. After seeing Dave’s video I decided to order one to see if they are selling the same design I tested out of curiosity. Instead they offered me a cheap meter, not sure I want to deal with the seller or site for a refund and endless emails with excuses or lies. I may just do a charge back based on the bait and switch.

So looks like they are discontinued. This might be the reason why they are sold so cheap. It was probably remainder of stock, unsupported by the manufacturer, and with some flaws, so they got it cheap. This could explain as well why the label was scraped off, because the original company didn't want to get a bad reputation for something that doesn't work perfectly. The expensive eBay shops probably bought it when it was still in production and more expensive.

Probably, my test unit I think had the AMOS label in the spot these are scratched off. The one I tested had a flaw in the protection and never clamped down. It actually measured 2.3kV DC before the chip had an internal short and the meter failed after that. It came with a ton of solder balls I removed before testing it and even in 2016 I was told it’s a pre-production model and this would be fixed. One button didn’t work, the USB part also didn’t work, and finicky switch and did not meet the claimed specs on half the functions.
I guess I won’t find out if it’s the same one from 2016 now.

[wilfred]

I read under producing as in short supply.

I also think the experience of these sellers of cheap multimeters who probably deal with all sort of buyers. I would not be surprised to learn a significant proportion of buyers who merely wanted a cheap DMM would take up the offer.

From the sellers POV it has to be worth a try. The customer may be happy. Sure, EEVblog forum members wouldn't be.

Further, I have no reason to think the sellers have a clue about this particular device. They turn over stock as fast as possible. The shop I ordered from clearly had this as an ill fit with the rest of the range.  I also think there is no way they listed these at less than their supply cost.

In a cutthroat environment at the bottom of the retail foodchain they have evolved to survive and they do it skillfully. I respect that. But I'll still claim a refund.

[bitman]

I had no idea Italy had a great firewall ....

[BradC]

I ordered two from "Twinkled House E-business CO.,Ltd Store" at : 23:50 Sep. 27 2019

Marked as posted with a legit looking (but not trackable) EMS number at : 2019-09-30 03:15:09

We'll see.

[Brumby]

The best I found at the time were from "Manbo life Store".

I have 2 still waiting for shipment.  No activity and no communication since placing the order.

[wilfred]

The best I found at the time were from "Manbo life Store".

I have 2 still waiting for shipment.  No activity and no communication since placing the order.

Same here. I shall be interested in your experience.

[Psi]

The best I found at the time were from "Manbo life Store".

I have 2 still waiting for shipment.  No activity and no communication since placing the order.

Same here. I shall be interested in your experience.

Same here too.

My guess is nothing is going to happen, in 7 days when the shipping time frame expires it will auto refund me.
I know some people have had their meters ship from that store, but i suspect those were the last of what the store actually had in stock.

[Fungus]

I hope Dave will appreciate the knife in Police's logo.

That looks like a bayonet for AK-47.

Weird... with all the pretty knives they make in Italy, why would they use a US Marine Corp Ka-Bar in their logo?

[wilfred]

Same here too.

My guess is nothing is going to happen, in 7 days when the shipping time frame expires it will auto refund me.
I know some people have had their meters ship from that store, but i suspect those were the last of what the store actually had in stock.

Did they have any in stock? I hadn't heard about dropshipping before this. Apparently stores can hold no stock at all and just acquire what they need as orders arrive. Which fits with the 10 days to ship countdown. The current celebrations in China do complicate things a bit since I don't know the normal Aliexpress shipping time under normal circumstances.

[Psi]

Did they have any in stock? I hadn't heard about dropshipping before this. Apparently stores can hold no stock at all and just acquire what they need as orders arrive.

A lot of the time they keep a small quantity at the store for easy of shipping but show their suppliers stock level on the web.
It's not really drop-shipping. The supplier isn't shipping it.
Remember, a lot of it is in Shenzhen markets where there's many 10 story buildings which are top to bottom packed with tiny electronics stores.
The store will have many suppliers on various other levels of the building he's in, and other buildings nearby. 
If he runs out of stock in his store he simply goes around collecting what he needs from the stores nearby.

[Psi]

The current celebrations in China do complicate things a bit since I don't know the normal Aliexpress shipping time under normal circumstances.

Shipping time is usually 2-4 days.

Given that there's a holiday from Oct 1 - 7 you might want to go and extend your shipping time by some days so it doesn't expire while no one is actually there to ship it.  Its an option on your order page.

[Kjelt]

Dave should have checked the chinese holidays before releasing the news 

[ciccio]

I had no idea Italy had a great firewall ....

For what I know, Communications Police or Customs may signal a site who is offending the law to a Prosecutor's office, who can order to block (obscure) the site to all Italians ISP's by redirecting the site's DNS to this page.
Users may circumvent this using a VPN or a browser like THOR (I did, just for curiosity).
I heard the reason for blocking many Chinese sites is the sale of fake goods, such as waches or bags.
Italians sites are obscured when they sell stolen products, or when they get the money without delivering the goods (eg: Hey, you won a 1000 Euros Iphone, please send 100 Euros for delivery and assurance, and I wiill disapperar)
EDIT : I've checked now and www.dhgate.com is still obscured, but www.it.dhgate.com is on-line.
Don't know what happened.
The meter is offered at about 100 Euros for the unbranded version, 200 - 250 Euros for the branded one
Best regards

[GadgetBoy]

I missed the opportunity. :

Anyone have an extra? ;P

[Samueru]

From DHgate Customer Service. What part of this is not a refund case or am I going to 'negotiate' a higher price don't they understand  Just realized there is no way to reply to this message seems case closed 

Good day and thanks for getting back to us. I understand that but we are just giving this option to cancel the order because for sure the seller will not ship it if they cannot get the additional payment. Since you really wanted to get the item, we suggest you to try and negotiate with the seller how you both wanted this order to be since you wanted them to honor what they posted as the price on the product and the seller wants you to pay for additional.

If you will be paying for additional fees make sure to have the transaction through DHgate. To do this, kindly ask your seller to place a new listing for an "item" which is equivalent to your additional charges. Once your seller placed the listing for this "item", kindly pay for it and the payment will be forwarded to your seller. That way, if there is still some issue with regards to this additional charge, we can still assist you in resolving it for you.

Rest assured that everything is dealt with utmost urgency and we appreciate your trust in DHgate.com. Should you have any other concerns please do not hesitate to contact us.

Regards,

Daffy
Customer Service Center
DHgate.com

Well, that's one place I will never buy from.

[Chen Li]

The October 1st is the National's Day of China, maybe there was such a big sale. Next big sale will be the November 11th, a crazy shopping festival in China.

[Chen Li]

Or this will end up nothing but a meanningless coupon. I think they wont ship out the multimeter anyway. To be honest, maybe its some kind sale strategy. They give you a coupon to buy other stuff.

[BravoV]

Question regarding Aliexpress transaction, once the shipping/processing time is due (not going to extend it), and the auto refund is done, do we have a chance to give feedback ? Or no opportunity at all like a done/completed transaction.

Never experienced this kind of condition as all my previous transactions were shipped.

[filipg]

"A disastrous test of the process calibrator AMPX1" from Sep 2017

This blogger (Cyrob) bought an officially branded AMPX1 unit for over 100€ in 2017, identical design to the one tested by Dave. It had plenty of issues, like the battery connectors not connecting to the PCB, and the calibrator functionalities totally out of specs.
Seems like Aimo had quality problems, and needed to 'unbrand' and dump a batch of their meters.

[TnF]

let's hope another batch comes up;p

[ebclr]

If returned due to timeout no feedback aloweed

[thm_w]

Tracking number just updated as processed. Seems someone is still working, although other companies I've spoken to are completely shut down from Oct 1 to 6th. Likely it shipped long before today and just was not scanned yet.
"02.10.2019 16:06 International item mailed in originating country"

If returned due to timeout no feedback aloweed

yep, it wouldn't be relevant feedback because you never got the item. Of course the seller gets some kind of internal negative mark, not sure of the details.

edit: changed info on tracking.

[mnementh]

Just checked in on my Sept 26 order from “House of Happiness” on AliEx; not shipped.

Given the complication of the holiday til Oct 7, I decided to NOT let them off the hook and extended the processing time 10 days; then messaged them to please contact me ASAP if they cannot fulfill this order and to please note payment for expedited shipping.

We’ll see what happens.

mnem
Hopefully I’ll have touched down somewhere by then...

[amspire]

Just checked in on my Sept 26 order from “House of Happiness” on AliEx; not shipped.

The meters ordered on the 26th had only 4 days shipping set and they shipped on the 29th. Tracking seems to show parcels moving through the mail system. The ones ordered on the 27th and later had the shipping time to extend past October the 7th, so hopefully, the meters will ship on the 8th. I have another item on order and it is exactly the same. The sellers or maybe AliExpress deliberately extended the shipping period because of the holidays.

They haven't done anything wrong yet so I am not sending any messages myself.

Richard.