What has Happened to Lazada ?

[abrahamzvi]

4 hours ago, impulse said:

Other than the crappy website search function, I have had nothing but good luck with everything I've bought through Lazada.

 

Delivery would be a nuisance if I had the stuff home delivered since the driver invariably calls when I'm out and about.  But I have everything delivered to my office where the receptionist is always available during working hours.

I have been buying items from Lazada for about a year now and can really have NO complaints. The service is perfect, delivery is within the promised period and the packing is perfect. Yes, the driver always phones and asks for directions (no navigation system???), but I leave my and my wife's cell numbers, so we can always be reached.

[BaldPlumber]

 

Here's the value I get from ordering even Chinese crap from Lazada.  The price they list is the delivered price.  No adders for freight.  No surprises from customs.  The stuff just shows up.  Usually faster than I expect it.

 

The same program from EBay also adds significant cost. 

I've never had any of that in the many years I've been using eBay.

I would have thought that most people would be aware of the protection offered by eBay and the refund policy offered by PayPal.

Guess you're just unlucky.

The same program? What are you talking about.

[Global Guy]

As I have posted elsewhere, because I grew tired of the lousy customer service and product support in Thailand, I get as much as I can online. I use ebay, Amazon, Alibaba, Aliexpress, and Lazada. I will say that Lazada has the worst customer service of them all.

 

Once, I emailed them, asking what country a product I ordered was coming from. They repeatedly refused, saying they cannot tell me the address of the company. After three emails of telling them I just want to know the country, not address. Eventually they gave it to me.

 

I also had a product that broke on the 2nd use, and they gave me the run around and no refund or replacement.

 

From now on, I'll order simple, super cheap items from them only if I cannot get them on another site. But Lazada has gone to the back of the line from this point on. I'll do what I can to avoid them.

[Global Guy]

I don't know if this has anything to do with your shipping, but on a global scale, shipping is in chaos now because Korean Hanjin Shipping is in bankruptcy and ports around the world are a mess. Many ships are not being allowed to dock because of fear of not getting paid docking fees.

 

This may not directly affect your shipment, but shipping of all sorts are a mess because some companies have to send planes to pick up loads that were supposed to be shipped. This backs up into other shipping avenues as well.

 

So other sea, air, and ground shipments around the globe are disrupted as well.

[impulse]

1 minute ago, BaldPlumber said:

I've never had any of that in the many years I've been using eBay.

I would have thought that most people would be aware of the protection offered by eBay and the refund policy offered by PayPal.

Guess you're just unlucky.

The same program? What are you talking about.

 

 

I guess the first question I'd ask is whether you live in Thailand or not?  Because if you do, and you've been able to convince the majority of sellers to ship ANYTHING to Thailand, you're ahead of most of us.  Lots of EBay sellers won't even deal with Thailand.   And if your international EBay goodies arrive in Thailand without the delay, hassle and cost of customs, you're either ordering small, or you're extremely lucky.  Every time I order anything worth over $200, it seems I get hit with VAT and sometimes with import duties, except when I order through Lazada.  Less than $100, not so much.  Between $100-200, it's a flip of the coin.  

 

The program I'm talking about is their Global Delivery program.  Since EBay stuff is marketed to many countries, it's impossible to post a single, delivered price that's going to take into consideration postal charges and customs duties.  A delivered price that may be profitable to the USA could lose the seller a buttload of money shipping into Russia.

 

So I don't compare prices head to head between EBay and Lazada.  I compare the delivered price, to my office in Bangkok.

[BaldPlumber]

 

I guess the first question I'd ask is whether you live in Thailand or not?  Because if you do, and you've been able to convince the majority of sellers to ship ANYTHING to Thailand, you're ahead of most of us.  Lots of EBay sellers won't even deal with Thailand.   And if your international EBay goodies arrive in Thailand without the delay, hassle and cost of customs, you're either ordering small, or you're extremely lucky.  Every time I order anything worth over $200, it seems I get hit with VAT and sometimes with import duties, except when I order through Lazada.  Less than $100, not so much.  Between $100-200, it's a flip of the coin.  

 

The program I'm talking about is their Global Delivery program.  Since EBay stuff is marketed to many countries, it's impossible to post a single, delivered price that's going to take into consideration postal charges and customs duties.  A delivered price that may be profitable to the USA could lose the seller a buttload of money shipping into Russia.

 

So I don't compare prices head to head between EBay and Lazada.  I compare the delivered price, to my office in Bangkok.

The stuff I buy is indeed very small.

Bits and bobs really.

If I buy anything large then I will usually deal with the supplier direct and pay by PayPal and I will know roughly what to expect in import duty and VAT before I agree to the purchase.

[Global Guy]

13 minutes ago, impulse said:

 

I guess the first question I'd ask is whether you live in Thailand or not?  Because if you do, and you've been able to convince the majority of sellers to ship ANYTHING to Thailand, you're ahead of most of us.  Lots of EBay sellers won't even deal with Thailand.   And if your international EBay goodies arrive in Thailand without the delay, hassle and cost of customs, you're either ordering small, or you're extremely lucky.  Every time I order anything worth over $200, it seems I get hit with VAT and sometimes with import duties, except when I order through Lazada.  Less than $100, not so much.  Between $100-200, it's a flip of the coin.  

 

The program I'm talking about is their Global Delivery program.  Since EBay stuff is marketed to many countries, it's impossible to post a single, delivered price that's going to take into consideration postal charges and customs duties.  A delivered price that may be profitable to the USA could lose the seller a buttload of money shipping into Russia.

 

So I don't compare prices head to head between EBay and Lazada.  I compare the delivered price, to my office in Bangkok.

What someone told me to do and I have found to be 100% successful so far, is put the package delivery in a Thai's name, not foreigner's name. I use my Thai gf's name as the recipient, not my name.

 

They see a foreigners name and it's a free for all. For two years of using my Western name, I've had three items grabbed by customs where I had to drive 45 minutes to go and argue with them about my order where they were trying to "farang" me into paying them a kickback. Another package got grabbed and I told them to keep it. Stuff would get delivered to anywhere on my street BUT my location. I'd have to go door to door asking for my package.

 

Finally, using my gf's Thai name.....not one problem at all. No customs, no problems. I'm using the same companies to get products from, same amount, but 100% different results. Try it.

Edited September 8, 2016 by Global Guy
update

[impulse]

18 minutes ago, BaldPlumber said:

The stuff I buy is indeed very small.

Bits and bobs really.

If I buy anything large then I will usually deal with the supplier direct and pay by PayPal and I will know roughly what to expect in import duty and VAT before I agree to the purchase.

 

 

And that's a very reasonable way to do it.  

 

My last 3 international purchases (through AliExpress, BTW) totaled around $1,500 USD.  It was eclectic stuff that nobody on EBay even offered for shipment to Thailand.  I expected to get hit with Thai customs fees and I wasn't disappointed good or shocked bad.

 

What I also like about AliExpress and Lazada is that the vendor doesn't get paid until I confirm I have received the goodies.  They hold the money effectively in escrow until the shipment tracking shows "delivered" and then they send me an email asking me to confirm I've received what I ordered (and not an empty box).  Only then does the seller get paid.  Great incentive for them to get a move-on.  (Edit:  And I suspect they'd be all over it if Thai customs tried something funny)

 

Contrast that to EBay where the money goes directly into the seller's Paypal account and has to be clawed back in case of non-delivery.  (At least that's the way it worked when I used to sell on EBay- 10-20 years ago.)

 

I've also come to like AliExpress in the past 6 months or so after trying for years to get an order through without the "not in stock" or "price is different" responses.  They seem to be getting their act together in keeping their sellers in line.  I'm hoping we get the best of both AliExpress' selection and Lazada's delivered price and multiple payment schemes once the merger is fine tuned.  

 

Edit:  If only they'd get AliPay preload "wallets" working in Thailand.

Edited September 8, 2016 by impulse

[craigt3365]

I've ordered a ton of stuff from Lazada.  From 100B cables to 15,000B exercise bikes.  Never had a problem. 

 

I've communicated with them a few times about other issues, and they've always responded back quickly and professionally.  As for getting your money back on your credit card quickly, that won't happen no matter the supplier.  Just takes time.  Sadly.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

AFA ICT, it's generally the locally Thailand sourced items that can be ordered COD, which certainly is the safer and preferable way of dealing with Lazada.

 

Every time I've seen an imported item on Lazada (which now seems to be the majority of their items), they're only available via pre-payment -- which I would pretty much never do with Lazada given their shoddy customer service.

 

As for COD orders, the couple of times I've ordered COD items from them, I've always opened the box and inspected the ordered item inside -- before handing over my money. Thus far here in BKK, I've never had any objection from their delivery drivers to doing that.

 

[Ron19]

6 minutes ago, craigt3365 said:

I've ordered a ton of stuff from Lazada.  From 100B cables to 15,000B exercise bikes.  Never had a problem. 

 

I've communicated with them a few times about other issues, and they've always responded back quickly and professionally.  As for getting your money back on your credit card quickly, that won't happen no matter the supplier.  Just takes time.  Sadly.

I previously have had the same experience with them but since the take over that someone mentioned took place in April this year, it appears to have gone backwards. Have you had any problems since then ?

[Global Guy]

18 minutes ago, Ron19 said:

I previously have had the same experience with them but since the take over that someone mentioned took place in April this year, it appears to have gone backwards. Have you had any problems since then ?

My experiences with Lazada were recent and not good. Of all the available options, I will avoid Lazada as much as possible. Customer service which tried to do anything but serve the customer. Large purchases and small, when I communicated my issues, they had zero interest in helping me each time.

 

Alibaba and Aliexpress I have used for two years and they have been good. On the Thai end, that's another story.

[dcnx]

Stopped using them after several botched orders in a row. 

 

I was hoping when Alibaba bought into them that they would become better,  but it appears their involvement so far is only financial. 

 

Alibaba owns Taobao in China. That has to be the smoothest, easiest, customer oriented site ever. It's everything you want a delivery service to be. Perhaps in time they will restructure Lazada and make it better. 

[elgordo38]

5 hours ago, Thian said:

 

Let me guess, was it a Hatari fan? They are noisy, you need mitsubushi....

I have a Hartari fan it works great quiet. I had a Mitsubishi frig one time. I had to defrost the darn thing every 3 or 4 days. It sucked. I went onto the Lazada website looking for a good solid grocery cart all they had was pages of some child's toy like carts it was unbelievable. I would never use them.

[how241]

5 hours ago, SgtRock said:

 

+1

 

Never had a problem with them.

 

Only ever pay cash on delivery, so that might account for a part of my good experience with them.

+1 ... Use  COD

[JaseTheBass]

6 hours ago, Old Croc said:

Painting with a broad brush there Jas the Base.

I hope you're capable of defending your perceived great intellect.

 

I'm not sure what I've written for you to perceive that I have great intellect, but everyone likes a complement, however misplaced it may be.

[chowny77]

So far and "fingers crossed and touch wood" Lazada has been great for me. The one thing that has been alittle problem is that they deliver sometimes before the date they say. So I have to either rush to the bank to get the cash or rush home to sign for the product. For what it is the service is pretty good and the guys that come to drop of my purchase have always been polite and have a smile. Where I am most of the delivery service is performed by Kelly service from a small pick up truck.

[craigt3365]

6 hours ago, Ron19 said:

I previously have had the same experience with them but since the take over that someone mentioned took place in April this year, it appears to have gone backwards. Have you had any problems since then ?

None so far.  Knock on wood!!!!

[ukrules]

I tend to buy brand name items which are sold directly by Lazada and always go for COD.

 

This way I have no problems. I wouldn't touch their 'marketplace' vendors.

[AsianExport]

Who is stupid enough to pay any Thai website online when it costs nothing to pay on delivery ?

 

People are so weird ! And then they complain without even knowing that what happens is because of their own stupidity.

 

 

 

 

 

[Thian]

9 hours ago, AsianExport said:

Who is stupid enough to pay any Thai website online when it costs nothing to pay on delivery ?

 

People are so weird ! And then they complain without even knowing that what happens is because of their own stupidity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I never used any Thai webshop but they do have Paypal in Thailand and it works perfect in the West. Creditcard might offer the same refund service i guess, never tried that.

 

If you pay on delivery from a Thai webshop do they have any change with them? And can you open the box before paying? In almost every Thai shop the box has been opened by the staff allready and i don't want that so i buy from abroad.

 

 

[Thian]

19 hours ago, elgordo38 said:

I have a Hartari fan it works great quiet. I had a Mitsubishi frig one time. I had to defrost the darn thing every 3 or 4 days. It sucked. I went onto the Lazada website looking for a good solid grocery cart all they had was pages of some child's toy like carts it was unbelievable. I would never use them.

 

I replaced all Hatari's for Mitsu's and they work much better for me, no noise at all (almost). I only wished they sold Mitsubishi ceiling mounted swing fans, those i have from Hatari and one freezes now and then.

 

For a grocerycart you don't want any made in China thing i guess. Just search on ebay.de or so, guess they 'll have the quality that westerners demand.

[impulse]

12 hours ago, AsianExport said:

Who is stupid enough to pay any Thai website online when it costs nothing to pay on delivery ?

 

People are so weird ! And then they complain without even knowing that what happens is because of their own stupidity.

 

How about someone who values his time more than a few baht, or the remote risk of not getting something I've paid for?  

 

I can keep my schedule on edge for days at a time while I'm waiting for them to show up needing a few baht, or a few hundred baht.  Or I can pay in advance and go out and enjoy my time and let my receptionist sign for my goodies.   Or, I can let my receptionist (and consequently everyone else in the office) know what I'm purchasing when I leave the money with her.  That was stupidity.

 

 

[craigt3365]

6 minutes ago, impulse said:

 

How about someone who values his time more than a few baht, or the remote risk of not getting something I've paid for?  

 

I can keep my schedule on edge for days at a time while I'm waiting for them to show up needing a few baht, or a few hundred baht.  Or I can pay in advance and go out and enjoy my time and let my receptionist sign for my goodies.   Or, I can let my receptionist (and consequently everyone else in the office) know what I'm purchasing when I leave the money with her.  That was stupidity.

Excellent point.  I've gotten many things from them that come in from China.  They are not expensive and pretty much impossible items to find here.  You have to pay up front, but of the dozen or so items I've ordered like this, all have arrived just fine.  If from Thailand and COD is an option, I always opt for this.

[manarak]

LOL @ some posts here

illustrates well what sorts of knobheads a retail company often has to deal with...

[Gary A]

I happen to be retired and as such my schedule isn't too congested. Some Lazada items are priced higher than can be found elsewhere. I think the convenience is worth paying a bit more. I purchased many items from Lazada and was always satisfied. THEN, they were bought out and TOO many items now come from overseas. Delivery is very slow and no different than AliExpress besides costing quite a bit more. I made the mistake of ordering three imported items, and yes, I know most come from China anyways. All three of those items turned out to be disasters. One never came, another was shorted, only one item out of ten in the package. The third time I wanted to cancel the item and was unable to cancel. The first item that never came was refunded to my credit card promptly. The second shorted item was not refunded, instead they gave my a credit for my next order. The third item has supposedly been shipped. It was ordered on August 26th. I emailed them and got a reply that said we are pleased to tell you that this item cannot be cancelled. I replied that I too am pleased to tell you that you have lost a customer. No reply.  Today I placed three orders from AliExpress.

[RachaRob]

Used lazada first time last week and was COD. All went well so will use them again till something goes wrong.

[scorecard]

2 hours ago, RachaRob said:

Used lazada first time last week and was COD. All went well so will use them again till something goes wrong.

 

Used Lazada maybe 20 times for delivery in Chiang Mai, every item has arrived on time and was complete and undamaged, including 6 or 7 items (and several items in one order) from abroad, mostly China.

 

Used COD about 5 or 6 times, hassle free, they have contacted in advance to say they are coming in the next few hours then a call to say they will arrive in 10 or 20 minutes. Worked perfectly every time and always pleasant.

 

Will use them again. 

 

Edited September 9, 2016 by scorecard

[DavoTheGun]

I am aware of the risks of paying for something before getting it, and I was conscious of this when I made this decision, I had a very valid reason for doing so so the Smart A---ses can get off my case! Now after many phone calls to them they refuse to resend the Washing Machine claiming the the carrier tried to contact me and could not, I have offered them 1500 Baht to send again using a Driver with a Brain, did not work! Amazing!! the Item has been back in Bangkok since Monday but NOT in there Warehouse, so where is it, all this is adding to the 45 Days to get my 12000 Baht back, the Stupidity of the whole thing just amazes me, It has stressed me out to much,  who the hell can I talk to to fix this, I have sent copies of my phone log and the log file of My Phone Company showing all of the calls on the day in question, no calls from Carrier! and no response from Lazada. What do I do just suck it in and wait for my money. or what. as a good customer of more than 3 Years I am shocked at there lake of caring. 

[kevc]

On 08/09/2016 at 7:31 AM, ezzra said:

 

Lazada is another Thai brain run outfit, where you order something and you're not allowed

to open the box, look at the item or god forbid test it before you accept delivery, like buying a cat in a bag,

so for me, as cheap as they're, they're not consumer's conscious company, as they're

there to cover their assess only.......

Never had any problem myself I always open the box and check before paying and nothing is said.