A recent order from China...

This user has no status.
This user has no status.
Member
Aug 2016
73
18
107
A recent order from China went quite south unfortunately and I am curious whether or not anyone has had similar experiences. Long story short, I placed an order with Prott (This is actually not his fault in any way and it's quite likely he is out of pocket as a result) but essentially, I placed an order for Long 5 + DHS NEO National BH/FH, a beautiful new Li-Ning racket case as well as a commercial version of the 2015 world championships jersey for China. Because the jersey wasn't immediately available (I made it clear to Prott how urgent the order was as I was supposed to be attending a tournament over the weekend) Prott kindly decided to send the Blade/rubbers/case the day of the order and send the shirt the day after. I was surprised by this as I am aware of the cost of making a DHL Express delivery and given the shirt was only $12, I was impressed.
*However*, what I wasn't aware of is the fact that, despite Prott's efforts, given that the items came from mainland China and were sent via Hong Kong, the items were sent via a third party company. This third party company (going by their business standards, this is a third world* company), instead of sending the order with the Blade/Rubbers/Case, waited until the shirt arrived so that they only had to send 1 delivery and make extra money on the delivery fee because of this. As a result, instead of my order being dispatched on Monday it was dispatched today in late afternoon meaning it won't arrive until Monday. It's because of this that I will be missing my tournament which is a real shame and whilst I have considered attending with my current setup, it's age combined with rubbers that went long ago mean that there is essentially no point. I used DHL for another order and that quite literally was next day delivery.

I assumed this was a result of Prott misinforming me that he had sent the items on Monday however, after speaking with him, he gladly provided proof that the items were given to this third party company on Monday (I would have been surprised by Zhang just straight up lying for no reason when he could have simply sent the items the day after, when the shirt was available) meaning that this is entirely the fault of 'TakeSend', which as far as I can tell is a pretty large company in China. I'm not sure what I expected, but from a country where foreign spies are quite literally dragged from offices and executed in the courtyard, such laziness and disregard is surprising.

Naturally, this isn't Prott's fault in any capacity and this should not reflect on the website Prott.vip nor should it be a reflect of Zhang himself, but this is kind of bullshit.


TL;DR Don't bother, I'm just annoyed and English.
 
This user has no status.
This user has no status.
Member
Dec 2016
261
197
498
I have ordered a lot of stuff from China, largely through Aliexpress. I have never had a single problem with any delivery. This gives them a much better efficiency rating than Amazon either here in the UK or the USA. In fact Amazon USA have done things that really wind me up (when I was living in California): Amazon co uk have been very good in correcting or compensating for errors, but still make too many for my liking. And I know they think it's good that they make deliveries on Sundays, but I always feel that I am trapped in the house until they arrive. And leaving stuff out in the street? Not good.
 
  • Like
Reactions: James Livesey
AliExpress is amazing. The price is by far the lowest I have encountered apart from tabao, which requires a Chinese card. I have found eBay Chinese shops to be the fastest, never in my experience taking over a week, however, nothing from AliExpress has taken over 2, and the pricing is unbeatable. Like commercial h3 for 12 quid? Almost 50 percent cheaper than from teesport.
 
  • Like
Reactions: darucla
This user has no status.
This user has no status.
Member
Aug 2016
73
18
107
It's a genuine shame, I am not entirely sure why Zhang, the guy who runs prott.vip was using a private courier to get the shipment to Hong Kong from mainland China and then post it via DHL Express to the UK; it seems pretty unusual but I'm sure he has his reasons for it.
Regardless, because of the fact a $12 shirt wasn't in stock (after I had placed the order I had a feeling there might be issues as the shirt was a random addition and there was so many it was hard to believe the shirt would be in stock as they are probably made in a factory to order) meant that the insane amount I had spent on the national rubbers and the long 5 won't arrive for the weekend despite spending $30 on delivery which is no small sum!

Either way, I am looking forward to using the long 5 but frankly this will be the first time using a national rubber as well as blue sponge!
 
This user has no status.
This user has no status.
Member
Aug 2016
73
18
107
Nothing like a good old rant. In all seriousness though, PROTT is a great site and sells items that aren't available anywhere else and, aside from the clothing (If you buy a Li-Ning shirt for $12, it's your own fault for not realising it's fake -_-) everything is genuine and he does an incredible, and I mean incredible, deal on Ma Longs rubbers/blade (DHS Hurricane Long 5 and NEO National Blue sponge 40 degrees and NEO National Orange sponge 37 degrees) for $250 which is insane. PROTT also sells the Li-Ning cases that you can't buy, even from the official Li-Ning store!
Honestly, this is just HongKonger's for you; they are a totally different breed to the mainland population (Han Ethnicity) and doing shit like this is straight out of the "HongKong: How to be a gormless twat" handbook
 
This user has no status.
This user has no status.
Active Member
Jan 2017
815
645
1,666
Read 2 reviews
I ordered from prott.vip a few weeks ago, also with DHL Express and it was actually completely handled by DHL Express. Sorry to hear about your experience :/
I can only recommend prott.vip
 
  • Like
Reactions: Suga D
This user has no status.
This user has no status.
Member
Aug 2016
73
18
107
PROTT is an excellent shop; I have sung his praises and I will continue to do so, this was in no way his fault and should not be a reflection on the service he offers!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Suga D
Top