Alibaba.com is an internet site that advertises manufacturing companies and distribution companies in China. The claim to have researched the companies and they can either earn a "Trust Pass" or be a "Gold Member" - meaning that they are trusted and respected and have been researched by the Chinese D&B (is there such a thing?)
I buy a lot of product off the internet - most of the time I do ok. This time I was looking for a supplier of Laptop computers. I came across Alibaba and contacted some companies regarding product they were advertising. A few responded saying that they could supply Sony, Dell and Apple. The Apple products include iPods and Macbook Pros. Their prices were all comparable to each other - and were very good compared to our buying price (as a dealer) so I was curious as to the authenticity of the product.
I decided to order 3 iPods and a Sony Viao with the intention of handing them to the appropriate companies should they have been fake (having a computer company, I am fully aware of the problems with "ripoff" merchandise).
I had to pay for the order through Western Union - I did this as I was on a mission! The company had promised me that these items were the real deal and I would be soon ordering many more from them! Well, I didn't really expect to see anything - I was prepared to lose $1290 just to prove that this was a scam - I was not prepared for what happened next.
I received an email stating that the goods I ordered did not pass quality control and they would not have any more for at least a month. The suggested that I might consider taking some 1st quality, genuine Omega watches at $480 each. I replied saying that I wanted my money back if they could not fulfill the order and that I had no need for Omega watches. Long story short, the only offer I got was for the watches. 3 Omega and 1 Rolex (the Rolex as a gesture of goodwill) I finally accepted.
The watches were shipped and I was immediately emailed with an invoice for an ADDITIONAL $660 - for the Rolex!
I ignored the email and finally received the watches.
All fake - and not that good - the Rolex is broken already.
I contacted Alibaba who washed their hands of it by saying that if I could produce a court document to show it was proven that the company had done something wrong, then they would take them off the site - otherwise they wouldn't do anything.in other words - they are supporting these practices.
BEWARE - most of the companies on Alibaba.com insist on payment by Western Union - most of them are scams or fake merchandise. Many of them you will not receive anything at all. And there is nothing, it would appear, that you can do about it.
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