65daigou Goofs Up Again

(Update Wed 22 Jul 2015: Check out my guide on how to pick good Taobao sellers! http://therevolutioner.blogspot.sg/2015/07/how-to-pick-good-sellers-from-taobao.html).

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Following on "Why it's a bad idea to use 65daigou", this is my 4th time using their "service".

Why still using? Because need to.

Need to purchase several items for someone and there aren't other agents that I know and have used. Isn't much of a choice. This time, I know I'll have to put up with 65daigou again and be prepared for goof ups.

So, this time, when they did goof up, I was resigned to it. I had nothing to say, didn't even say a single word of complaint to the errand boy who goofed up, or to the person handling the website (maybe they are the same person?).

This time, I ordered several items. Everything arrived at their Shanghai warehouse and I hadn't ordered anything else before or after this. There wasn't anything to consolidate so there was no need to wait. Assuming the daigou people knew this, I waited for some notice to say they have airmailed out the items.

Nothing happened to the status of the items for a few days. So, I realized I had to inform them (no surprise) to airmail out.

Point 1: you need to tell them which items you want to ship/airmail out and when. Otherwise, the items will just sit there. To inform them, use the "Enquiries" tab at the top of the website.

The reply came 2~3 days later that the items were airmailed out already, with an estimated date of arrival.

Point 2: replies to enquiries are still slow (even now that they have supposedly returned to normal "efficiency". The replies are usually belated. I had an enquiry that wasn't attended to for weeks. And it was just a simple question of whether they could order from a certain China website. I thought they should be able to, since they take other China website orders, but the reply was that they can't.  So many weeks, just to say they can't.

The items arrived on schedule as they stated. So far so good. What would go wrong? 1) wrong items? 2) collection problem?

Always, when they input the calculation for their fees in my account, I try to do the Maths myself to see if there are any errors. So far, the calculations have been Ok--their counting is perfect when it comes to money.

I selected a collection date and time from their schedule choices and wondered if the items would be collected without a hitch.

When the time came, I could see from afar that something was wrong. There was only a small packet leaning against the wall, with a hard rectangular shape inside, beside the China errand boy who was playing his PSP. He always plays with it while waiting and looks childish. I don't care about that as long as he does the job well. But that is not the case.

That packet did not look like the items I ordered. When I got to him, he picked up the packet and handed it to me. It was knotted and I tried opening it. To his credit, he was nice enough to un-knot it for me and lo and behold, what have we here?

I put in my hand and flipped over a hard base. A handbag. I don't recall the order having a handbag in it.

Turning my hand deeper, I fished out a... something in a small, plastic, transparent wrapper with a sticker name tag attached to it. It wasn't my username. He saw it too.

"It's someone else's.", I said in English, refusing to speak in his language--Chinese. Instead, he had to speak in mine--English.

Daigou uses a white sticker with the username and weight of the item handwritten in blue pen on it. Most likely written by the Shanghai warehouse people before shipping out. So it would be easier for the SG side to sort the items upon arrival, saving them much work. A good system that should work well. But in the hands of ineptitude, even the best system would go wrong. No idea how it could have happened, but someone else's things were brought to the collection instead of mine.

More interesting was:

The errand boy was surprised. He looked at the big white plastic bag with the 65daigou logo on it. My username was stuck on it. So this was mine. Ok.

Then he looked at the item inside the bag that had a different name and he looked genuinely puzzled.

Too much PSP?

I imagined him tossing the items into the Daigou plastic bag without looking while playing.

The MRT station is actually quite inconvenient for me to travel to. I take a bus, then change to train to get there. It takes time and money to be there on time to collect the items.

Not only did he not bring the items, he was going to give me someone else's stuff with my username on it.

I didn't complain about a single thing. The errand boy showed me his clipboard with the usernames for customers to sign and any fees to be paid COD, and asked me to write with the pen he provided. I didn't know what he meant with the clipboard. He repeated for me to write, so I said, "Write what?".

He said, "Your address.".

Oh. So he was going to mail me the items to atone for the mistake. It was Saturday. I asked when was the delivery going to be? Sunday or...? Who is delivering? Are they using Singpost or himself?

He pointed to his white T-shirt with the 65daigou logo, saying himself or they, would deliver "before Tuesday". Will call first before delivering. I said I might not be home. What time? He gave a small smile that said I wasn't listening, and repeated, "We'll call first before we deliver.".

I wasn't pleased with that smile. His mistake and he dares to show annoyance at having to repeat? I heard what he said, but I needed a time.

I didn't ask if it was going to be free (their delivery charge is supposed to be $5 for those who prefer it). Since it was his mistake, of course it would be free, right? It didn't matter if it was or wasn't free. That wasn't the point. If it wasn't free upon delivery, I can simply scold the delivery person and remind him of the mistake.

The point was, whether they would actually deliver the items. It was hard to believe. I had serious doubts about it. It seemed beyond them.

I considered whether to give them my address, which I'd prefer to remain private. "How about I collect again?". I was willing to forfeit more time and money to collect again.

He looked into the distance, computing for a while before he said the earliest collection would be next Thursday.

Hmm... if home delivery, it would be before Tuesday (assuming they could do it). If pick up again at MRT, it would take a few more days. I needed the items as soon as possible, so I agreed to home delivery and wrote my address.

On Sunday, I received and missed a call. Assuming it was about the delivery, I SMSed to ask if it was the Daigou guy, adding that I just returned home and whether they would be delivering the next day. The reply was that they had wanted to deliver just at that time, but they could deliver next day and what time would I be home.

Since he asked what time I would be home, it meant I could give my own timing. I said 10am (feeling it would be a "no" since they were students and would be unable to deliver at at that time).

The reply was: The usual delivery timing is from 6.30pm to 10.30pm. Your area will be around 6.30 to 7.30pm.

Then why didn't he say so in the first place? Why ask what time I would be home?

Reminds me of a woman who wanted to rent out clothes rack. When she asked which MRT I would like to pick up, I told her my preference. Then she said she only do meet ups at a particular MRT station. *shakes head*

Why ask when the thing has already been fixed? It's just stupidity or ridiculous-ness.

With Daigou's timing, it meant I would have to wait for 1 hour. That's just ridiculous. I SMSed him to come on time between 6.30 to 6.45 pm because I will only be home at that time.

He said he would confirm with me "tomorrow" (meaning, the next day, Monday).

The next day, I was out, and waited for his confirmation till 4.15 pm. When there was nothing from him, I SMSed to ask if he would be delivering the items. I was thinking that if he was delivering, I would rush home to receive.

He replied: yes.

Another SMS: between 6.30 to 6.45?

I said: Ok.

Then an hour later, his message came, saying that he's sorry he wouldn't be able to deliver. "65Daigou will arrange another timing with you......thank you....cos the jobs are arranged by 65daigou.".

Odd, isn't it? What has "the jobs are arranged by 65daigou" got to do with the mistake with my items and the fixing of it?

I SMSed the guy who supposedly handles the administration of the website and told him his guy was unable to deliver. That being the case, I thought it's better to arrange for collection again at the MRT. So, could he put back the button option for re-arranging delivery in my account?

He did it. And after I selected the MRT and timing (again), I notified him and told him to tell his guy to bring the items and check that they are correct. He replied "Ok" with a smiley.

I was thinking, of course he had reason to smile. I had not even said a single word of complaint. I had quietly accepted and didn't make a fuss.

Frankly, what can a fuss do? The mistake was no surprise, it happened, no use making a fuss. That's what I get for using the service. Comes with it.

There was no other earlier collection timing or day. I wouldn't mind picking up at another MRT station if there was an earlier slot, but there wasn't. So, on Thursday, I made another trip to the same MRT at peak hour to collect the items.

I had wanted to avoid weekday evening hours because it's the most crowded time. That was why I had selected the collection to be a Saturday morning. But because the errand boy didn't bring the items on Saturday, I had to go again and jam with the Thursday evening crowd just to get the stuff.

I arrived 30 minutes early and waited till near to the time (unable to wait any longer), then SMSed the errand boy to inform him that I had arrived. No reply (no surprise).

Then he arrived with a trolley of boxes to the spot, and customers began gathering near. I hung around, but instead of attending to me first (he recognized me), he gave out stuff to the others first.

That was fine. I just wanted to see how he would respond. How he would make up for his mistake.

Last was me. I saw a big plastic bag inside a box with my username stuck on it. He took it out and apologized for the previous time (so he recognized me). I didn't say anything but was about to open the knot of the plastic bag.


Before this, I had made a note of the items that were supposed to be in there. A written note as well as visual images of the items in mind.

So, first, counting, there were 12 items. Correct.

While counting, I saw they were indeed the correct items.

This time, the advantage was on my side (that they would bother to offer delivery) likely because I hadn't yet paid for their shipping and service fees which came up to quite a lot. After I checked that all were correct, I paid the guy the exact amount.

Tip: Don't be in a hurry to pay the fees electronically. Pay only in cash when you get the items.
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Latest update 15 Jan Thurs 2015: http://therevolutioner.blogspot.sg/2015/01/65daigou-review-taobao-shopping-service.html