Surreal experience with Dangdang

[Geiko]

First of all, this post isn't going to be so much a complaint as a way of trying to make sense of what happened to me. It is so bizarre that I don't even feel scammed, although I was...

 

I had previously bought books in Dangdang (twice), and everything had gone ok. However, last February I ordered some more books, spending around 30 euros. I already knew the pack would take around two or three months to arrive, so I wasn't worried at all. Some day in May I went to my Dangdang account to see the status of the pack, and suddenly saw that it said it had already been delivered to me that very same day, but of course I hadn't received it. I thought that I must have clicked the button "received" by accident, since the web page is all in Chinese and I'm far from fluent, although it seemed kind of strange, because in prior occasions the web page asked twice to make sure I received the package. In any case, I thought it wasn't so much of a problem, if the package was on its way to my home, what did it matter if I had accidentally said that I already had received the books? It would only affect the refund period, that would expire much sooner, but I would never be able to ask for a refund, or return a damaged book or whatever, so I didn't mind at all.

 

Well, I couldn't have been more wrong: I followed the tracking number until the pack arrived to Spain, then I contacted the post office, and they told me that they wouldn't deliver the pack, because Dangdang had ordered them to send it back to China. I mean, they didn't give me my order because I already had it. How on earth could I have it if it flew back to China? That's what strikes me the most, I just can't make sense of it!

 

Well, thanks to lang-8, I wrote an email to Dangdang, telling them that it was all my fault, that if they could send my pack back, I would pay again the delivery fees. Their answer was that it couldn't be done this way: I had to wait until the package arrived to some specific department, then ask for a refund, and buy the books again. I didn't really know how to ask for the refund (doing it in Chinese seemed too complicated for me), so I assumed I had lost 30 euros, and bought the same books again. That was early June, and I was so afraid of clicking by accident the "received" button, that I didn't even go to my dangdang account to check. However, not having received this new order yet, yesterday I finally went to my profile, and what did I see? Right: I received the order last week!!! It's inconceivable, I paid twice and never received the books! Again, I wrote to them explaining the situation, but this time I know for sure that it's not my fault. I don't expect them to refund me, or to deliver the package, I just wanted to let them know my amazement...

 

Sorry for this long post, I know many of you have used Dangdang before without experiencing any problems, so did I in previous occasions, it's just that I can't understand how this all could happen. is it a scam? I only spent 60 euros, it seems too much trouble for so little money, because I would have spent more every year. Maybe it was some technical issue? But it happened twice... I really don't understand it, it seems so strange to me! 

 

In case anybody's curious, here are the two tracking numbers of the second order (they split it in two packages): RR686903783CN and RR686903474CN.

 

 

[MPhillips]

If you used a credit card, refuse payment on the relevant portion of your bill and send a letter to the credit card co. explaining what happened. At least in the US people do this and it works, though I'm not sure about Europe.

[浅浅兔]

hi..I think on the left side,there have a 自助服务，under that there have a 在线申请/查询退换货，you can try to click it ,and find if there have the book which you want to return.(sorry,my bad English),and if there have ,you can have 7 days to apply to return.

then you click return.and contract the service.

that's what I thought.

 

and I remembered that when you got the book,u don't need to  clicked the button "received"(I'm Chinese,so,I don't know if the book sent to the other countries need it)Is that possible you clicked the button"cancel"?

[浅浅兔]

I write reply for you,but disappear....

 

<Admin Note>: No, it didn't disappear.  All posts by new members go in to a moderation queue and have to be approved by a moderator before they become visible.

[gato]

I followed the tracking number until the pack arrived to Spain, then I contacted the post office, and they told me that they wouldn't deliver the pack, because Dangdang had ordered them to send it back to China.

 

Have you tried asking your post office in Spain again to see what happened with that delivery in June?   As far as I know, senders do not have the ability to ask a recipient post office to return a package unless there was a delivery failure -- that is, the post office could not find your address.  

[Geiko]

I've got good news! Before writing this post I had sent an email to dangdang, explaining the whole situation. They said they would check the delivery, to see what had happened, and I haven't heard from them ever since, but miraculously on Monday my pack arrived! I still don't understand what's happened, but at least I received the second order!

@gato, back in June I filed a complaint with the Spanish post office, and their answer was that the package hadn't been delivered to the addressee and it had been sent back to China. Not a single reason why was mentioned, which was also extremely weird. For further information they suggested me to contact the sender. Now that I re-read their answer, I see they don't mention China ordering the return, I must have made it up to give it some kind of explanation... Anyway, thank you all for your support!

[gato]

That's good to know.  Maybe the delivery status on Dangdang's website meant that the package arrived in Spain or your city rather to your address last week?  Then it would makes sense that it arrived at your place on Monday.  If you can post a screenshot of Dangdang's tracking info, that might help others

[Geiko]

Sure! In previous occasions, when buying at Dangdang, it was me who had to change de package status from sent to received. I was asked twice to confirm that I had really received the package, because they give you a limited time to return the books if they're damaged or something, and it starts counting from the reception, so the date is relevant. When last April I saw the "收货并确认" before I had actually received the order, I didn't give it too much thought. I kept on checking the tracking number, then around the 10th May the package arrived to Spain, I waited one more week, and seeing that I didn't receive it, I contacted the Spanish post office, and the only thing they could tell me was that it had been sent back to China. When I saw that the same was happening with the second order (they split it in two, as you can see on the screenshots), I got really nervous... I won't be buying books in Dangdang for a while, I think

[gato]

The early June status updates in these two screenshots are referring to transfers to the shipping company (三源运通).  Notice that the dates are only a few days after the handoff from the booksellers.  Your books coudn't have arrived in Spain that fast.    

 

The dangdang status updates do not show the movement of your package while it's travelling outside of China.  But it does seem to show the final delivery date once the delivery is made to you.  

 

You might want to try to English site of Amazon.cn (Amazon's China subsidiary) (see the language toggle above the search box).  Their interface might be easier to understand.

http://www.amazon.cn/ref=nav_logo

[Geiko]

I've got fresh news! Last 19th September I received another e-mail from dangdang: they accepted to reimburse me for the first order (the one that flew back to China), and I hadn't even asked for it! They added the money I had previously paid in my "balance" (帐户余额), and I've just spent it ordering more books. The only negative thing is that, as edelweis said in a previous post, they have changed the delivery system for international orders, now they use UPS, so my order will arrive in ten days, but with the same amount of money I was able to buy only two books instead of seven...

[edelweis]

oh that's quite interesting, please let us know how the UPS delivery goes...

I've heard that they don't deliver on weekends and since my workplace forbids having personal mail delivered there, I've decided to wait until my book lust gets really really bad (and probably I'll order from Elina's website then, since she offers a variety of delivery methods... the ordinary post office people can and have put packages into my mailbox, but I think the UPS or DHL people don't have the required key.)

[gato]

You might also want to try JD.com (京东).  They seem to allow EMS as a shipping option and currently has a free shipping offer to any country outside of China if you buy over USD 49 of books.  See below.

 

http://sale.jd.com/act/XUNgZAc4Kkbt.html

1. Where We Ship To?

We currently ship to 78 countries/regions, using trusted third party courier services such as UPS, DHL and EMS. 

 

http://sale.jd.com/act/XUNgZAc4Kkbt.html

[edelweis]

thanks gato

[Geiko]

I'm back for a new update! Today I received my order. The UPS system worked just fine, the pack arrived in time, ten working days as they had claimed, and the address was clearly written (while placing the order, even after choosing Spain as the destination country, the web page told me my address wasn't correct because it had to contain at least three characters... I added 西班牙 and continued filling the information, but it was fun).

 

However, one of the two books I had chosen was cancelled, and I don't know why. According to the web page, 取消原因：顾客要求取消, but I didn't cancel it... Anyway, now I have 58 元 in my balance, but the new delivery system alone costs more than 100 元, and I don't plan to use dangdang in the near future. 

 

Thanks for the suggestion, gato, I'll have a look at it. I'm also thinking of using yesasia, they have a lot of novels in traditional characters, and I definitely need to increase my exposure to 繁体字, so this might be a good moment!

[edelweis]

Thanks for the details Geiko. It sounds like DangDang's new system works fine.