BEWARE OF ALIBABA — I LOST BOTH MY GOODS AND MY MONEY
BEWARE OF ALIBABA — I LOST BOTH MY GOODS AND MY MONEY After what happened to me with THREE separate orders, I seriously question whether Alibaba’s so-called buyer protection protects buyers at all. Nearly $3,000 is involved. The goods were taken/returned as part of the dispute process, but I never received my money back. Alibaba then closed the disputes and marked the orders as completed. The result is unbelievable: I have neither the merchandise nor my money. And this is not even the worst part. Once the disputes were closed, Alibaba effectively became unreachable. Every attempt to contact customer support sends me to the same chatbot. The bot claims that a case has been created and that someone will contact me. Nobody does. I contact support again, get the same promises, and then complete silence. When this happens with THREE different orders and thousands of dollars, it becomes very difficult to believe this is simply an accidental customer-service failure. From a buyer’s perspective, it looks like a system where merchandise and money can disappear while Alibaba closes the case and hides behind automated support. It raises very serious questions about how disputes between sellers and buyers are actually handled and whose interests Alibaba is protecting. How is it possible for a company to advertise Trade Assurance and Money-Back Guarantee, take part in a dispute process in which the buyer loses possession of the merchandise, then allow the buyer to receive NO REFUND, close the case, and provide no meaningful way to reach a human being? Be extremely careful before trusting Alibaba with a large order. I trusted their buyer protection. I am now approximately $3,000 out of pocket, without the goods, with closed cases and a chatbot instead of customer service. At this point, the whole experience looks less like “buyer protection” and more like a system that can leave the buyer with absolutely nothing — while Alibaba simply stops answering.