Alibaba order stuck in the Port of Los Angeles for nearly 30 days with no movement

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jonnynobody

Well-Known Member
Just in case anyone else is planning on placing orders for lights with Alibaba you may want to consider eating the air freight price to actually receive your goods. I placed an order with Alibaba on 7/15. I opted for sea freight because it was $79 versus $260 for air freight. My last order only took 42 days to receive after paying for the order. So far I'm at 52 days. An extra 10 days isn't a big deal, but the package is not moving. Checkout this logistics log:


  • Los Angeles Foreign colleagues feedback that the cargo was placed in a closed port area after unloading, and after waiting for the terminal to handle it, make an appointment to pick up the container

    2021-09-07 10:01:34



  • Los Angeles Foreign colleagues feedback that the cargo has been unloaded, waiting for an appointment to pick up the container, we will update it in real time

    2021-09-03 14:47:13



  • Los Angeles The cargo has been unloaded, waiting to be picked up

    2021-08-31 15:52:13



  • Los Angeles The cargo arrives at the unloading port, waiting to be unloaded

    2021-08-28 14:51:35



  • Los Angeles The cargo arrives at the unloading port, waiting to be unloaded

    2021-08-24 15:33:00



  • Los Angeles The goods arrive at the port, waiting to be picked up

    2021-08-21 16:01:03



  • Los Angeles The goods arrive at the port, waiting to be picked up

    2021-08-17 15:48:45



  • Los Angeles The goods arrive at the port, waiting to be picked up

    2021-08-13 13:59:10



  • Los Angeles Arrived at port, clearance in progress

    2021-08-13 13:57:51



  • Los Angeles Pending customs clearance

    2021-08-13 13:56:53



  • China Due to the weather, the ship has set sail on July 31 and is expected to arrive at the port on August 13, and it will be delivered to UPS within 3-5 working days after arrival.

    2021-07-31 16:45:48



  • China Departed from origin port, estimated transit time: 14 days.

    2021-07-31 16:44:01



  • China Manual inspection by the domestic customs has been released, and the ship is expected to depart on July 30

    2021-07-28 18:16:31



  • China In the process of domestic customs declaration, when encountering customs inspection, our company is rushing to deal with it, providing customs required information, and we will follow up in real time to update the latest status in the next step.

    2021-07-27 14:28:44



  • SZLH Cargo boarded, last-mile carrier: UPS, tracking number:

    2021-07-27 09:50:52



  • SZLH Package has been released from warehouse

    2021-07-21 10:50:37



  • Online Payment success, international tracking number: , pending outbound release

    2021-07-21 10:39:31



  • SZLH Package has been screened and confirmed, pending release after payment

    2021-07-20 14:37:14



  • SZLH Package received at warehouse

    2021-07-20 13:37:27

    '

    线上 First-mile pickup: pickup success

    2021-07-19 18:17:00






  • Online Order success

    2021-07-19 10:22:59
I don't know what a "closed port area" is, but it doesn't sound like the goods are moving anytime soon. The order has been sitting in the port going nowhere for 23 days. Last time I ordered the package was delivered to UPS in 4 days after arriving in port. I'm in absolutely no hurry to receive the goods, but the bigger concern is the order has already auto confirmed as received and trade assurance is only good for 30 days after receipt confirmation. They've got 8 days before I lose trade assurance protection as well as my ability to dispute the charge with my credit card company. In a nutshell if I don't receive the goods by 9/14 I'm filing for a trade assurance refund with Alibaba and filing a dispute with my credit card company. If you can't inspect the goods how do you know the lights weren't damaged in transit? After 60 days passes you're relying on the merchant to make things right at that point because you've lost the ability to file a trade assurance claim on the 61st day as well as your ability to file a dispute with the credit card company. In all likelihood the goods are undamaged and will be delivered at some point, but I don't trust people half way around the world to do the right thing.

Anyhow just an FYI here. I know a lot of people shop on Alibaba and sea freight is certainly economical I wouldn't recommend it if you need your lights anytime soon.
 
bk78

bk78

Well-Known Member
So you’re basically going to cry to your cc company and trade assurance for free lights

Newest low for even you Johnny boy.
 
Lockedin

Lockedin

Well-Known Member
:D Welcome to California! :D

edit - your lights are probably being held by CBP for a secondary inspection. Not necessarily YOUR product - they pull random containers for secondary inspections --- or SOMEBODY thinks there's a counterfeit in your container...
 
J

jonnynobody

Well-Known Member
bk78 said:
So you’re basically going to cry to your cc company and trade assurance for free lights

Newest low for even you Johnny boy.
Click to expand...
If the lights arrive before I lose my consumer protections and in good condition then the issue resolves itself at that point. If the lights do not arrive prior to the expiration of my consumer protections I have no ability to inspect them for damage and have no ability to receive a refund in any way shape or form if they are damaged or inoperable. I would simply be riding on the good graces of a vendor in China that has no obligation to do anything for me past the expiration of those consumer protections.

Also, if the vendor had properly setup the order as sea freight the order would have 60 days to ship and an additional 30 days of trade assurance for a total of 90 days to receive the goods before the expiration of the trade assurance consumer protection. They screwed the pooch and now I have a smaller window of time to receive, inspect, and confirm the quality of the goods. The order is nearly $500. I don't know about you, but potentially taking a hit that large is something I don't want to see happen.
 
J

jonnynobody

Well-Known Member
Lockedin said:
:D Welcome to California! :D

edit - your lights are probably being held by CBP for a secondary inspection. Not necessarily YOUR product - they pull random containers for secondary inspections --- or SOMEBODY thinks there's a counterfeit in your container...
Click to expand...
You Californians are sure a tough bunch of people. Between the gridlock traffic, immigration issues, earthquakes, inflated real estate prices, and overpopulation it's a tough place to bed down.

Another issue regarding this order is what if my goods are held by customs? Confiscated? Then I'm going to be that guy reaching out via chat to an Alibaba vendor halfway around the world asking pretty please can you do the right thing and refund me? If they choose not to respond I have absolutely no recourse and I'm out nearly $500. I just don' want to get the shaft.
 
bk78

bk78

Well-Known Member
all your prior posts just praising every buy you’ve made. Now your about to scan the so called scammers :)
 
J

jonnynobody

Well-Known Member
bk78 said:
all your prior posts just praising every buy you’ve made. Now your about to scan the so called scammers :)
Click to expand...
I have no problem with the previous purchases with this vendor. On each of those transactions the goods arrived in the estimated time promised by the vendor and I had an opportunity to inspect the goods and verify no damage occurred in transit. The issue is with logistics - not the vendor. There's a worldwide shipping crisis right now. A few weeks ago there were 38 container ships anchored off the Port of Los Angeles waiting in line just to unload the containers from their vessels. That's unprecedented and has been covered extensively in the news. It's an international trade traffic jam. You'll have to forgive me if I'm having confidence issues in the logistics carriers at the moment, particularly because there are events occurring in the transit log I have never seen before on my previous orders at the same time my consumer protections are about to expire.

Also, I never called the vendor "scammers. My concern is if there is any damage to the lights or the specs don't match what I ordered and the lights arrived after my consumer protections expire I would have to rely solely on their good nature to refund or replace my order. I believe my concerns are valid. A good analogy would be if you ordered a light from Amazon. They have a 30 day return policy from the date you pay for an order not the day you receive it. Due to a supply or logistics issue your order doesn't arrive within 30 days. You now have no ability to have the order refunded. Is that fair to the consumer or did the consumer get boxed into an unfair situation? We all know Amazon's return policy is very liberal and they would never do that to a consumer, but Alibaba is doing it to me.
 
Lockedin

Lockedin

Well-Known Member
jonnynobody said:
You Californians are sure a tough bunch of people. Between the gridlock traffic, immigration issues, earthquakes, inflated real estate prices, and overpopulation it's a tough place to bed down.
Click to expand...
It is but I grew up here - born in Dog Town...
Funny though, everybody thinks of us as LA, San Fran, Malibu and the studio industry.
There's a lot more, and it's a lot different...

jonnynobody said:
Another issue regarding this order is what if my goods are held by customs? Confiscated? Then I'm going to be that guy reaching out via chat to an Alibaba vendor halfway around the world asking pretty please can you do the right thing and refund me? If they choose not to respond I have absolutely no recourse and I'm out nearly $500. I just don' want to get the shaft.
Click to expand...
CBP - Customs & Border Patrol.
As I said above, they hold random containers for inspection frequently.
I worked for a tool / knife that had counterfeit problems, so we requested that CBP inspect EVERYTHING with our name on it (A LOT of containers...).
IF - your light was in a container with a case of pocket knives from them - inspection time!

Hope that's not the case - you have minimal recourse in that scenario (suing a company that might not even exist in a country that technically has no private enterprise - who do you sue?).

No tryin' to be a dick, but that kinda goes with the Alibaba territory - buyer beware...
 
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