Alibaba trade assurance is worthless
I ordered some goods via the Alibaba platform but as the goods did not arrive in the time stated by the supplier, I lodged a lost-goods claim on the Alibaba platform. The supplier countered my claim stating it was within the time frame. This meant I had to submit a response but was unable to as the platform did not allow this. Instead I lodged a response to Alibaba via the support link but that did not register my response. A few days later I again contacted Alibaba to report this and they wanted me to do the very same thing again. I refused and asked them to find it and add my comment to the dispute but nothing was added. Because my response was not added Alibaba extended the deadline by 25 days. The only options then was to accept the supplier's argument, cancel the dispute or allow Alibaba to mediate. Twice previously I allowed Alibaba to mediate and both times they found for the supplier - the first time was for goods that were damaged due to leakage - containers of two part silicone were supplied with loose lids and leakage contaminated the shipment; the second was for sanding belts that were smaller than the specified measurement - so they did not fit the machine they were for. Alibaba only serves the suppliers and there is no 'proper' trade assurance. The fact that Alibaba don't actually do what they state pushes the problem on to the supplier and that creates friction. Alibaba is meant to avoid that - they don't, they cause friction. The goods did arrive but were left on side of the road in front of the property, and luckily someone saw them and they were not stolen. God forbid chasing that. Lift your game Alibaba.