Month: December 2019

it was usually quite busy in December,  to rush to close tasks before year end, to celebrate holiday with family….

anyway, first, let us continue my story…

finally, the shop sent my order, the delivery went well, at least according the tracking info available from Taobao app.  it reached the forwarder service provider’s warehouse in China. Usually, it would take about one or two days for the service provider to collect, sort the delivery and update the status via  their web site..  I waited, but, after a few days wait, the only thing I could get from the service provider web site was none… I started to wonder where was my parcel?

I decided to reach them and find out what was going on.  First,  it was quite standard process, I should provide tracking information from China and they would check whether they have received the delivery.

here was what happened:

1. the first answer was that they could not find it….
2. I insisted that they should received it based on the tracking information
3. the next request was – could you try to contact the seller or local courier to find out more details
4. OK, I decided to give it try, but there is a problem:
   1. the order was not sent to me directly, it was sent to the service provider’s warehouse in China, with their address and contact number
   2. when I tried to reach them, they could not provide much details as I was not receipt of the goods
5. so, I went back to service provider and tried to explained the situation and requested them to contact local courier.
6. at first, it seemed that they understood situation, but, a few days later, they still told me that they could not locate the delivery..
7. I tried again to explain what they should do.. and provide them the tracking info (in Chinese ) to them and suggested them reaching to their local (in China) team who should understand delivery info.
8. again.. a manager called me and still mentioned that they could not find it……
9. I have to explained the same again…

so, at this point of time, in my mind, I was almost sure that the chance to find it was very very slim….

but a notification email reached me suddenly, informing me that there was an item pending for delivery in service provider’s warehouse in China…   what was that?

funny enough, I received another email – stating that they could not find my delivery…. 😉

What I was happy about:

1. for sure, finally, I received my order
2. efforts to keep me updated ..

what I was not happy about:

1. no outcome / progress during the process even the
2. confusing update..

 

so, what could be improved? how?

 

As the year end is approaching, discount, sales, shopping are everywhere..

Like Black Friday in America, double 11 or 11.11 (11th / Nov) is arguably the larget online sales event, and it is from China. many things on sales with great discount.. looks very attractive!
But, I am not in China, and many sellers do not deliver the purchases to my places directly from China. luckily , there is so called forwarder service provider who, provides you a domestic address in China so that your order could be processed and delivered to forwarder service provider’s warehouse in China and then they will send goods to you, of course with a fee. As long as the total sum is still cheaper than buying directly from your own country or something you could not get.. it is quite good option.

So, I signed up the service, got my unique domestic address in China, set up account in Taobao (under Alibaba) and found a way to setup payment via Alipay (that is another long story ;-). All set, I started to browse the website, compare, check….. and finally put two items in the cart.. and wait for the right time the 12:00am of 11/11
when the time came…. I quickly checked out the items in the cart in order to secure the discounts .. and now, it was waiting time…
Luckily, Taobao does offer quite good delivery tracking via its app. I could easily find out the status of my orders and where they are. As there would be huge surge in delivery demands, I assumed that it would much longer time…

Yes, indeed, even one item I ordered was on the road almost the next day, there has been no news for another one for a few days… what is happening?

more to come in my next post..