| au-battery.com.au |
| Fraudulent country of origin |
| 11th of Nov, 2011 by mitzi |
I recently required a battery for my computer and google searched batteries for my ACER Aspire 5542. I specifically looked for a company within Australia in case there was any reason I needed to return the item if it was wrong.
I found this site http://www.au-batteryshop.com.au/ and as it had an Australian web address I proceeded. I felt it was definately Australian as it also promoted its postal network as......
" Shipping Methods All orders are shipped by Australia Post unless otherwise stated.
Ships within 24 hours.Fast delivery. " "Shipping and Handing
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Items will be shipped by AUSTRALIA POST.
We are not responsible for wrong or undeliverable address. Please make sure your shipping address is correct and deliverable.
♦ We ship Australia. Customers from the other countries, please contact us for postage.
♦ The shipping cost for each order is AU$10.00
♦ Should postal address be provided with incorrect or inadequate information resulting in non-delivery, customers will be charged the additional postal charges so incurred.
There is no indication anywhere on the site that would indicate that the goods would be shipped from Singapore as only AusPost is mentioned as the carrier.
As it turned out the battery did not fit, and in accordance with their return policy ...... "General Returns Policy
1. Purchases made at AU-BatteryShop.com.au are covered by a 60-day(from the date products were ordered) return policy. During the 60 day window, customers can obtain a refund or replacement for any purchases made during the timeframe. After 60 days, products can only be replaced with the same products under warranty."
I asked for the return address to which I received this reply.....
Hi,
Thanks for your email again.
We confirmed you ordered the wrong battery.Here is the correct battery for your ACER Aspire 5542:
http://www.battery-shop.com.au/batteries.php/aspire_5542+battery+ACER#NAC200.2
Since the return shipping fee is too expensive,if one of our customers orders the item which we sent,would you please kindly forward the item to him,just like a new and unopened item,we will resend the correct battery to you once getting your tracking number,OK?Thank you in advance.
Regards,
Sunny
I purposely ordered from what I believed to be an Australian business, to avoid expensive postal charges.
How can an overseas organisation have an Australian website when they dont exsist in Australia????
How can this be be allowed?
I now have a $50 battery that is useless!!!!!!!
Miriam |
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I have had a similar problem with au-batteryshop. They are scoundrels.
I also thought I was dealing with an Australian company when I originally made the order.
In my case I ordered a battery, which did not arrive within the stated delivery time and when it finally did arrive did not work.
After a considerable amount of correspondence with the supplier they eventually told me to return the battery via Australia Post to an address in China.
It turns out that I cannot LEGALLY post a li-ion battery to China - and I provided the supplier with an an extract from Australia Post's publication confirming this.
The supplier then asked me to send them more money - as they said I could save on the return postage and it would be quicker than returning the defective product and waiting for them to send another .
When I advised the supplier that I would not under any circumstances be sending any further money to them, they ceased replying to my correspondence.
Internet Scammers. There should be some way to stop them. |
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I also thought that I was dealing with an Australian Company ...(I specifically look for these in case there are any problems with the products, and also to keep Australians employed), the website on the surface, looked legitimate
I received the battery within a few days, but was very suspicious when it came in a brown box with NO RETURN ADDRESS, just a sticky label with my name, address, & Postage Paid Australia.
As soon as I plugged in the battery it showed 50% charged...but only lasted a short time before it "died". I plugged it in to recharge overnight, but it didn't. Completely "dead". I then examined the battery more closely (as I had previously trusted that it would have been what I paid for), and discovered that the code number was incorrect, it was slightly smaller, and looked more worn than mine (nearly 3 years).
I immediately sent an email outlining all the discrepancies and requested a refund. Not surprisingly, I have heard NOTHING. Prior to my purchase from au-batteries-store, (Susan), the correspondence was "sickly sweet", and I suspected it was written by an Asian.
I am now $79.00 worse off, with two useless batteries. I wish I had done a Google Search PRIOR to the purchase. In future I will never purchase online unless I speak with someone first! |
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I have just had exactly the same issue and wish I too had googled the company before buying (but no-one does that eh).
The website appears legit, but postage for me they claimed in correspondence would be from China (turns out it was actually from Singapore). Not only did it take over the stated time, it arrived and after 6 hours of charge was still completely dead.
I have opened a paypal dispute as I paid via them and will be reporting them to anyone I can think of.
I attach my correspondence with "Sunny" below. Pretty upsetting to have wasted $55.
Hi,
I am afraid I am very disappointed your website is listed as a .com.au
site. Making me believe my product would be dispatched within 24 hrs
and then posted via a local service and therefore with me within 3
days (the longest it takes here to post). But my order is coming from
Singapore taking "7" days (although my experience in the past makes me
think it will take much longer) and not only this it is not even
dispatched yet according to tracking and it is over 24 hrs.
I am not happy with how long this will take and want to cancel my
order for a FULL refund immediately!
You should mention this postal delay on your website!
Please respond to this email ASAP.
Joe Harris
[email protected]
Feb 23 (7 days ago)
to me
Hi,
Thanks for your email.
Sorry for the inconvenience.We have to ship from our factory China.We've sent your package out after getting your payment.It is on the way to you.Would you mind waiting patiently?Thanks for your understanding.
Regards,
Sunny
I have messaged you asking for a refund of this product as your website shows an australian post icon but products are sent from singapore taking too long to arrive and also incurring an import fee for me which is not stated. This is unacceptable and I will report you unless I receieve a full refund NOW!
Please not there are already bad threads about your website online. http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/1472696 and http://www.google.es/support/forum/p/gmail/thread?tid=481bffc8a3b80de9&hl=en.
So I will be taking this as far as I can!
From Seller - Xianghua Luo24/02/2012 20:26 AEDT
Hi,
We are sorry we have to ship from our factory China.We confirmed we've sent your package out after getting your payment.The tracking number is RF077364727SG, Please check your order status as the follow link:
http://en.4px.cc/ and http://www.singpost.com/index.php
Please try again later if it's not available temporarily.
Usually the delivery will take 7 working days.We hope you can understand a little delay possibly.Thanks for your patience and understanding.
Regards,
Sunny
From Buyer - Joe Harris29/02/2012 18:06 AEDT
Where is this product coming from? The tracking says Singapore but you say China? Again your website clearly states Australian Post Symbol, I don't want to incur an import fee. Its has already been 8 days and still nothing? Website does not even show it as posted. I will wait, but as there are a whole lot of wesbites claiming no show of products or products coming from yourselves being completely inaccurate I will be taking this up again!
Joe Harris
to au.batteryshop
Hi,
I have received the battery which I was very glad of, and surprisingly
no tax surcharge was requested from me.
However, unfortunately it seems to be faulty. I have just spent the
last 6 hours charging it and whenever I remove the battery it
registers as completely empty still. I have tried removing and
reinserting and tried rebooting and charging again but nothing.
What can you do?
Thanks
Jo
SO FAR NO RESPONSE! |
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To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, 7 March 2012 5:49 PM
Subject: Re: URGENT - Fw: RE PURCHASE BATTERY - ASUS N61J ** 2012020799973 LAA008
Hello again,
So are you now telling me the address which
was given to Paypal (from somebody in your
Company), who in turn advised me to send
to China, is incorrect?
Also, can you please explain to me why the laptop battery
was sent to me with an Australian Postage Label,
if Australia Post classifies batteries as "dangerous
goods”, and now refuse to post the package overseas?
I don't understand any of this!
======================================
________________________________________
From: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, 7 March 2012 4:56 PM
Subject: Re: URGENT - Fw: RE PURCHASE BATTERY - ASUS N61J ** 2012020799973 LAA008
Dear
Sorry, all the return products must be returned to our Factory in Hong Kong, after tested by our
Technical department to be approved faulty items, then can exchange or refund.
Thank you for your understanding.
Should you have any questions, Please feel free to contact me.
Have a nice day with best regards
Best Regards,
Susan
http://www.au-batteries-store.com
===============================================
----- Original Message -----
From:
To: [email protected]
Sent: Wednesday, March 07, 2012 2:22 PM
Subject: Fw: URGENT - Fw: RE PURCHASE BATTERY - ASUS N61J ** 2012020799973 LAA008
To whom it may concern:
I was instructed by Paypal to return the
laptop battery I recently purchased from
your Company, to a Chinese address.
Australia Post refused to post it because
it is classified as "dangerous goods".
However, your package displayed an
Australia Postage Label (with no return
address).
Could you please supply an Australian address
for me to return the battery I purchased recently. |
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Why dont all of you just inform either your credit card comapny or paypall and inform your not happy with the product or never got it
They immeditly give you the money back
Forget asking these scamers to give you the money back get the people who tranfer the money to them to get it back for you
You have a 12 month window to set a compliant and it becomes the job of the scammers to prove you wrong
whice they wont cause there scamers
SImple no? |
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Hi,
I have had some success getting a refund from these guys. I have listed the issue before above but wanted to update you.
My purchase from them was through PayPal and I was rather annoyed to hear that my order was coming from China too. I truthfully didn't expect to receive it after reading these blogs and logged a dispute with PayPal immediately. When it did arrive it was obviously used and faulty. I would plug it in and it would say "plugged in, not charging" on my machine and never held charge. I continued to correspond with the website via PayPal and e-mail and was given some ridiculous troubleshooting to try before asking to return the product to an address in China. When I protested at the cost of this they asked me for another $20 which I told them I would not send.
In the end PayPal informed they had decided the dispute in my favour (I sent links to this site too advising they also investigate the user in general) but I would have to return the item. I reluctantly spent the $25 to return it to their address in China, I had actually expected it would cost much more but this is still money I won’t get back. And used the postage description “laptop accessories” to avoid the dangerous goods issue, which they had told me to do. Finally after all that (a month or more of two’ing and fro’ing) the seller issued me a refund (without being forced by PayPal). I think they probably did this as they realised that PayPal would issue one anyway and it would probably put them on a red label list with them.
It took over a month from my order to resolve this and I think I was lucky as I went through the right channels. I would never advise ordering from these guys but put under some pressure they have refunded.
(Although probably not relevant in a frustrated rage I found a “request money” option on PayPal where I could use their e-mail to request the refund amount from them. I spent a good 5 minutes spamming them with money requests as well, just out of frustration over this issue. Although it won’t do much I suggest it to others as I am sure it is rather annoying. Which is exactly how I wanted them to feel).
Good luck to all those others trying. |
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Scrap that last comment about them refunding the amount before PayPal did. I just received an e-mail from PayPal saying they had processed a refund and will try and negotiate any further expenses from the seller on my behalf.
I assumed the seller had initiated the refund as PayPal had informed me that they would not refund the amount until the item had been marked as received by the seller and there was no way that my return parcel would have arrived in China by now as I only posted too days ago.
Way to go PayPal and hope this puts a bad mark against there name. |
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I too bought thinking this was an australian company as it has a brisbane address as its location. It took a long time to arrive and when my daughter plugged the charger in she got an electric shock and it stopped working totally. I asked for them to refund the charger and they said it will have to be returned with a tracking number. The return postage was around $30 without a tracking number and about $70 with one. I chose to not put on a tracking number and really shouldn't have bothered. After many emails back and forth - (also with Susan) they still haven't received the charger and I doubt i will get a refund for either the charger or the postage back (which she said would also be refunded)
I paid by mastercard so I don't think I can do anything more about it. |
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| I paid by mastercard so I don't think I can do anything more about it. |
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| I'm in Canada and had the exact same experience. The website shows Canada Post but it came from Singapore and didn't hold a charge. They told me to return the battery which I did 6 weeks ago and they at first said they didn't receive it back and now they just don't respond. Big FRAUD! |
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I purchased a 9 cell battery to replace a regular battery in a Dell Laptop. Dell's price was $180 which was outrageous, that astronomical price led to me search for a better deal elsewhere. The price I paid at battery-shop.com.au was only $70 including postage, so it seemed like a bargain. Well, you know the old saying - you get what you pay for.
The battery arrived in good time, but it wouldn't charge. I had several emails back and forth with Sunny and I tried everything he suggested. My husband is pretty good with computers and he couldn't fix the issue. Sunny said to return the battery to him but asked me not to put that it was a battery on the customs slip. I had to write that it was a laptop accessory. After reading a comment above I now know that this is because you're not allowed to send batteries into China! It cost me around $30 postage to send the battery back - this was at my expense!
Weeks passed by and I hadn't received my replacement battery so I emailed Sunny and he said that he would post the replacement that day. Everything seemed fine at this point. He always answered communications and he was helpful.
The battery arrived and this one did charge when plugged into the laptop so I thought that all was good. However, it only holds a charge for around 2 hours. That is less than the regular old battery that we had in it initially. My other daughter's 9 cell Dell battery is around 5 years old and that holds a 5 hour charge still. I emailed Sunny to let him know that I wasn't happy and, you guessed it, he no longer replies to my emails. I sent a follow up email but no answer again.
So, perhaps I would have been better just biting the bullet with Dell and paying the $180. I am $100 out of pocket for a less than average product. However, judging from some of the comments above I am lucky to have a product at all.
I also thought that the product was from Australia. The website has the Australia Post logo on it. I thought that I would be safe as I was covered by PayPal in the event of a dispute, however, Sunny managed to string the whole process out just long enough for it to be too late to lodge a dispute with Pay Pal.
Avoid this site at all costs! It's just a rip off! |
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| Just a warning to those lured by the offers from au-battery-charger.com - don't buy from those folks if you don't want to end up with the wrong battery (or a very cheap reproduction that doesn't fit) and a lousy customer service. Looks like an Australia-based company but actually run by someone in Shanghai and ships from Hong Kong. |
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