I just thought I would warn all Amibay users about a very dodgy seller on Aliexpress.
I recently saw a youtube video about the C-Box. This is a consolized MVS mainboard allowing usage of the cheaper and easier to source MVS carts as apposed to AES carts.
So, in early May of this year I found a seller of the C-Box units on Aliexpress - Timeharvest. I placed my order knowing full well orders can take up to 20 days to fulfill (stated clearly on the item page).
When the 20 days processing time was almost up I was contacted by the seller, Marco, and asked to extend the processing time by another 15 days... hmmmm, okay. So I did.
Then, after another couple of weeks I was told that he (Marco) was waiting on the new Rev 4.0 Uni Bios chips for the MVS and that could I please extend the processing time - again. HMMMMM, okay, well the Rev 4.0 Bios did have a few features that I liked, so I extended the processing time - AGAIN.
Then when the processing time was almost up, again, I tried over the period of a week to contact the seller - Marco. All my messages were ignored. Finally the item was marked as shipped... but two weeks later the shipment was suddenly marked as CANCELLED!
I then tried for a period of a week to contact Marco to find out what the hell was happening. Eventually I was contacted by Marco, after I advised I would have to open a dispute, and was told that the shipment had been returned due to an addressing error. HOWEVER, upon further investigation I found out the shipment had never been collected in the first place, it had only been booked! Marco then asked me if I would accept Rev 3.3 Bios! What tha'?! Apparently he was unable to get Rev 4.0 Bios even though he had me extend the processing period for the reason of waiting for the Rev 4.0 Bios and then marked the unit as shipped when it had not been.
I then informed Marco that no, I would not accept the Rev 3.3 Bios as I had been stuffed around for months waiting for the promised Rev 4.0 Bios. Again everything went quiet. After about a dozen more messages to Marco I eventually got a response. I was told that the Rev 4.0 Bios chips had come in and that my unit would be shipped the following Monday.
Monday came and went and I received no shipping notification. Tuesday came and went, still no word, so I messaged Marco again. No response. Again on Wednesday. No response. Again on Thursday. No response. Friday. No response.
At this point I opened a dispute on Aliexpress. Well blow me down! I got a response almost instantly - what a coincidence!
At this stage Aliexpress stepped in and immediately granted me a full refund after reading our message correspondence over the past upteen weeks. Ironically, Marco then (again) offers me a unit with Rev 3.3 Bios - *facepalm*.
Let this horror story of online shopping be a warning to all - DO NOT DEAL WITH TIMEHARVEST - I only hope this might save some other poor soul the torment I went through dealing with this 'seller'.
I recently saw a youtube video about the C-Box. This is a consolized MVS mainboard allowing usage of the cheaper and easier to source MVS carts as apposed to AES carts.
So, in early May of this year I found a seller of the C-Box units on Aliexpress - Timeharvest. I placed my order knowing full well orders can take up to 20 days to fulfill (stated clearly on the item page).
When the 20 days processing time was almost up I was contacted by the seller, Marco, and asked to extend the processing time by another 15 days... hmmmm, okay. So I did.
Then, after another couple of weeks I was told that he (Marco) was waiting on the new Rev 4.0 Uni Bios chips for the MVS and that could I please extend the processing time - again. HMMMMM, okay, well the Rev 4.0 Bios did have a few features that I liked, so I extended the processing time - AGAIN.
Then when the processing time was almost up, again, I tried over the period of a week to contact the seller - Marco. All my messages were ignored. Finally the item was marked as shipped... but two weeks later the shipment was suddenly marked as CANCELLED!
I then tried for a period of a week to contact Marco to find out what the hell was happening. Eventually I was contacted by Marco, after I advised I would have to open a dispute, and was told that the shipment had been returned due to an addressing error. HOWEVER, upon further investigation I found out the shipment had never been collected in the first place, it had only been booked! Marco then asked me if I would accept Rev 3.3 Bios! What tha'?! Apparently he was unable to get Rev 4.0 Bios even though he had me extend the processing period for the reason of waiting for the Rev 4.0 Bios and then marked the unit as shipped when it had not been.
I then informed Marco that no, I would not accept the Rev 3.3 Bios as I had been stuffed around for months waiting for the promised Rev 4.0 Bios. Again everything went quiet. After about a dozen more messages to Marco I eventually got a response. I was told that the Rev 4.0 Bios chips had come in and that my unit would be shipped the following Monday.
Monday came and went and I received no shipping notification. Tuesday came and went, still no word, so I messaged Marco again. No response. Again on Wednesday. No response. Again on Thursday. No response. Friday. No response.
At this point I opened a dispute on Aliexpress. Well blow me down! I got a response almost instantly - what a coincidence!
At this stage Aliexpress stepped in and immediately granted me a full refund after reading our message correspondence over the past upteen weeks. Ironically, Marco then (again) offers me a unit with Rev 3.3 Bios - *facepalm*.
Let this horror story of online shopping be a warning to all - DO NOT DEAL WITH TIMEHARVEST - I only hope this might save some other poor soul the torment I went through dealing with this 'seller'.
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