Finally got a refund!!
Had mixed experiences, one flawless purchase and delivery experience (great price and product, just took a long time to arrive, I blamed the pandemic) so I felt happy to order from DHGate again. This time after waiting 4 months I let the seller know the item was missing. He paid himself from my funds which until then had been on hold, he told me to write a review so I’d get a refund and then denied this when I opened a dispute. He went as far as to send me an empty envelope with a new tracking number, just to fool the system and the resolution Centre that the goods were on the way and received at my end. Finally, after several weeks of patiently submitting evidence and waiting for arbitration I got a refund today - that’s 6 months since my order. Safe to say I’ll never use DHGate again.