Shandong Brother Industries LTD China Poor Customer Service Communication

[Mikestolarik]

I ordered a skidsteer attachment from Shandong Brothers Industries LDT located in china (Hong Kong). As of 8/1/23, because of poor/ and NO communication from Brothers, I could only assume that they never shipped the product. I figured that I lost lost $5,445.00 (total cost of Compactor/Shipping/US Customs). It arrived more than 10 months later.
The salesman just kept telling me that my product is on its way. When I ask him for the necessary shipping and port of entry documents, he says he will send them, but then never produced the actual documents. Emailed the management and owner, they did not respond. Contacted the China bank who did the wire transfer with my bank, they would not respond (finally denied my refund claim).
There isn't an avenue or conduit for Americans to investigate or get a refund of their money.
If you order through Alibaba, you should get "Trade Assurance", but be careful. Before transferring money, to seller; contact Alibaba and be sure the seller submitted Trade Assurance documentation. Read your Trade Assurance very carefully and thoroughly. The seller sent me the Trade Assurance document, so I thought I had it, but the seller never submitted to it Alibaba, therefore Alibaba denied my claim. All communication from Brothers has stopped.

UpDate 12/29/23
On October 20 2013 I received a phone call from the importer telling me that I have a crate that arrived from China. It was the sheep's foot compactor. This unit was ordered in January and arrived on October 10-2023.
Today 12/29/23, I had a chance to unpack the unit. The unit was in an heavy duty angle iron case. Unpacking was easy. The steel crate was large enough so all I had to do was hook a chain to the compactor, cut the retaining wires that were holding the compactor in the crate, and using an excavator, I lifted the compactor out of the steel crate. Note: I purchased a smooth compactor from Mower King and the steel crate had to be cut completely open to remove the compactor.
The compactor hitch plate connected quickly and easily to my Kubota SVL-95-2 hitch. The mower King compactor would not connect to a Kubota SVL95-2. I have to make significant modification tot he Mower King Compactor in order for it to hitch properly.
The next surprise was that the quick connect hydraulic couplings were already mounted to hoses. Mower king does not supply hydraulic coupling with their attachments ($270). The hoses were the correct length so whereas they did not rub on the vibrating drum (unlike Mower King). The hoses were also double wrapped to prevent any wear from the vibrating motion. Mower King did not have the hoses cut to the correct size and the edge of the compactor quickly cut through one of the hoses. I greased the compactor very liberally before running it. There are two grease fittings one on each side.
I had my hydraulic setting on "LOW FLOW", outfeed on #5 and return on #5. I ran the machine at 1/3 throttle. The pad-foot compactor seemed to work as it should. I used to for approximately 10 minutes. I didn't experience any smoking or over heating as I did with the Mower King Model which burned up the bearings up within 3 minutes. it appeared to compact as it should.
In the next month, I have two shop "pad" jobs on my schedule. I will update this after I have finished both jobs.

 

[steveh]

I had big money in a set of batteries for our solar-elec home, and they had a life-time warranty [Edison nickel-iron batteries]. The cases went bad, cracked every one of the cells, and after two years of trying to get replacements, with the help of the US-based dealer, gave up. Nothing one can do when dealing with a Chinese company. There is no recourse.

 

[Mikestolarik]

I had big money in a set of batteries for our solar-elec home, and they had a life-time warranty [Edison nickel-iron batteries]. The cases went bad, cracked every one of the cells, and after two years of trying to get replacements, with the help of the US-based dealer, gave up. Nothing one can do when dealing with a Chinese company. There is no recourse.

 

[fried1765]

I had big money in a set of batteries for our solar-elec home, and they had a life-time warranty [Edison nickel-iron batteries]. The cases went bad, cracked every one of the cells, and after two years of trying to get replacements, with the help of the US-based dealer, gave up. Nothing one can do when dealing with a Chinese company. There is no recourse.

Recently ordered a case of "Gunk" on line.
After payment I discovered that it was to be shipped through a seller from Singapore.
Got a tracking number from some shipper I had never heard of.
"Gunk" never arrived.
VISA card bank refunded my money.

 

[chim]

Almost without exception I buy from a well-known outfit like AgriSupply or another reputable supplier. Amazon purchases are generally from sellers with thousands of sales and 98% or so approval.

For purchases of small items where it wouldn't break the bank to lose the money, I'm still wary because of potentially compromising my CC info.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

It's a sad as Wire transfers and back transfers are not reversible or recoverable.

 

[JohnDB]

Thanks for the warning. Were these items bought through major websites like Alibaba or Aliexpress?

I've bought a bunch of tractor- or solar power-related things from one or other of those over the last few years, I had 2 bad items supplied, money was refunded within days of me applying. Only small sales though, largest was about $500.

 

[PaulL]

I've bought things from China - I bought a wood chipper at one point. I was prepared to lose my money, everything about it felt off. From "Daisy" who I dealt with, through their lack of particular interest in the export documentation etc. But other than paying import fees that I didn't expect (they shipped to the nearest sea port, but not to my house, which I probably should have known), it all worked fine. I saved quite a bit of money compared to buying locally - even buying a similar low cost Chinese made model. I'd do it again, but again I'd be prepared to lose my money. If I do it 3 times I could afford to lose one entirely given how much I was saving. But NZ economies of scale are much lower, things are cheaper in USA.

 

[PaulL]

I talked to the my bank, they can only ask the Chinese bank to refund the money. They said when they asked, they were ignored.
Americans do NOT have a avenue to get our money back and the thieving Chinese know this. The world is going to the toilet.

Why would you have a mechanism to get your money back from an organisation outside your country? Nobody else in the world does either. If I lose money in America, I could try to sue in American courts but it's prohibitively expensive and I'd be unlikely to win. That's how things work with cross border trade.

The reality is that when you try to save a few bucks buy cutting out the middleman, you assume the risks that the middleman used to assume. It's also why reputations matter, and why you need to check things out before you buy. And, in many cases, you're better to buy locally with the assurances that your local legislation gives you.

 

[PaulL]

I believe we all know this and we get it, but Americans are tired of being charged up to 5x for products in America That are made in China. The middleman is a thief. Of course we want to eli
I ate him. ASR you suggesting I become the middleman and begin over charging Americans? Sorry, I have ethics.
I’ve always said, if you’re a millionaire,
You screwed a lot of people out of money, right?

Hmm. That wasn't entirely coherent.

The middleman is often American. There are a shed load of costs in bringing products in from China unfortunately, I know that because I imported that chipper for myself. If you want to reliably have products turn up, and with reasonable quality, you need to visit China and pick a factory you can work with, and you have to go back pretty frequently and check things are still as they were last time you were there - ownership and management can change quickly.

Then you've got to deal with govt to import stuff, lots of paperwork, duties etc.

Whilst I saved money, I did a lot of paperwork myself. If I factor in my time I probably didn't do so well, and it's very inefficient to do paperwork for a single item - it's the same amount of paperwork for a full container load of them, and the per unit shipping is way cheaper for a full container load. But then you've gotta sell the damn things, and probably 20% of them have breakage and you have to fix them under warranty. No, I'd never get into business doing that, it looks a bit risky for my liking.

So, to answer your questions:
1. No, I'm not suggesting you become a middleman or over charge anyone
2. No, I don't think that the middlemen who do import have no ethics. It's a pretty competitive market, so I presume the price they charge mostly reflects the work they have to put into it
3. No, I'm not a millionaire from screwing people out of money. I work for my money the old fashioned way - selling my labour for a pay check. I don't even have staff.

I get that you're annoyed. But you take risks, and sometimes you come out on the wrong side of it.

 

[fried1765]

Unfortnately my bank will not refund me any funds. I tried to get a refund from the Chinese bank, but they would not even talk to me.

Your "bank" (credit card?) must have a different set of customer standards than others.

 

[PaulL]

Your "bank" (credit card?) must have a different set of customer standards than others.

Sounds like a direct credit to me. A bank's obligations when you direct credit or wire transfer money is only to execute the instruction you give. It's not their job to ensure you get the product you want. If you want that service you use a credit card, and you pay 3% fee or whatever for the privilege.

 

[PaulL]

America has lost its international power. There are groups of foreigners who prey on Americans. You are correct, we will not get any satisfaction.

I don't think this is true. You may be imagining power that you think America ever had over what happens in other countries. To be honest, you're probably also largely imagining power that America has over what Americans do, it's not like foreigners are the only people who commit fraud.

In any situation if you give cash to someone who hasn't given you product yet, you're at risk. That sounds like it's basically what you did, and even worse, cash to someone in China who you'd never met. Of course that's risky. I've done it before, and it worked out fine for me. But I wouldn't have been surprised if I never got the product, and if I couldn't sustain that risk then I wouldn't have tried to save a few bucks by taking that risk.

 

[D2Cat]

You take offense pretty easily. I thought both posters you flamed provided information to help anyone who might be considering an overseas purchase. Maybe you need more sleep?

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

I realize your upset about this.
But members here did not cause it, so treat their advice / opinion / view as such.
You're lashing out at the wrong people.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

I respect your instructions;
I have deleted my reply’s to assure that I don’t offend members although, my reply’s were simply a rebuttal when I was belittled; things said to me, making me sound ignorant or that I didn’t do my due diligence.
I only hope the management was parallel.
Thank you

Yes it's 100% parallel!
No one should write anything that is inflammatory or demeaning towards you.

 

[Espicier]

You will lose your money. I ordered a skidsteer attachment from Shandong Brothers Industries LDT located in china (Hong Kong). they never shipped the product. lost $3250.00. The salesman just kept telling me that my product is on its way. When I ask him for the necessary shipping and port of entry documents, he says he will send them, but then never produces the actual documents. Emailed the management and owner, they did not respond. Contacted the China bank who did the wire transfer with my bank, they would not respond (finally denied my refund claim).
There is a lot of import criminal activity in China and the government does not care and will not get involved.
If you order through Alibaba, you should get "Trade Assurance", but be careful. Before transferring money, to seller; contact Alibaba and be sure the seller submitted Trade Assurance documentation. The seller sent me the Trade Assurance document, so I thought I had it, but the seller never submitted to it Alibaba, therefore Alibaba denied my claim.

 

[Espicier]

This may be the same company I dealt with and got the same result. Shandong Brother Trading International. The salesman was Harvey Su and he just gives you the run around. I was promised a 40 day completion and after 5 months I am not closer to getting anywhere. I am just warning other people.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

For future purchases, pay by credit card or COD.
Given the HUGE amount of fraud today(phone and internet) , I'm kinda surprised anyone will send cash 100 miles away let alone 1/2way round the world, based on some pictures and texts.

 

[mikester]

For future purchases, pay by credit card or COD.
Given the HUGE amount of fraud today(phone and internet) , I'm kinda surprised anyone will send cash 100 miles away let alone 1/2way round the world, based on some pictures and texts.

Funny...I received a spam/scam call recently trying to offer me a business loan.

I started asking the guy for his first and last name, phone number, business name. He said "sorry, I don't think you need a business loan" and hung up on me.