Ezbuy 11.11 (2016) Nov Promo Clueless/Stupid Chat Staff No Solution System Jam Hang

12:16pm Ezbuy chatbox hang. 2:58pm website cannot access. Not surprising. Ezbuy is so predictable. If bet it'll be jammed today, will win. Even better than lottery.

Someone on Facebook said that even right at the start from 00.00am to 1am onwards today, already couldn't access.

3:35pm, chat staff Heather says their system "down".

That's why earlier, I submitted my 双11狂欢价 orders. Trying to beat the crowd. According to Taobao, buyers can add to cart first before 11 Nov.  But I forgot that Ezbuy's free shipping for first 1kg & free agent fee is only on 11 Nov. No Ezbuy staff reminded me.

One of the items is Sensitive Air shipping.  So that's not eligible for their free agent fee, free shipping (for first kg) promo.  But it has the 双11狂欢价 seller's promo. So a few days ago, I asked Ezbuy chat whether I can order it. She said Ok. But for many days after that, no order placement. Meaning, it can only be ordered on 11 Nov. No remark from purchaser at all.

Ezbuy chat staff was wrong & did not inform me that it can only be ordered on 11 Nov.

Yesterday 10 Nov, I submitted 2 additional orders. Purchaser said the 双11狂欢价 only on 11 Nov. Asked whether I want to proceed with current higher price or "chargeback". I said just order on 11 Nov. However, I forgot that their free agent fee & free shipping (for 1st kg) will only apply in their system on 11 Nov. Purchaser did not mention & did not reply.

This afternoon, I asked Ezbuy chat staff whether I can cancel the orders & get refund now so I can submit again for them to get purchaser's attention to order & for their free agent fee & free shipping promo (applicable today only).  Didn't get any solution from chat staff "Carmen".

Notice that this chat box is 11.11 "special" & they are not entertaining normal orders with problems. When I saw this, I  already knew this was bad. Commonsense. How can you do this? Some customers need help urgently with their "normal" orders. For 1 day, they can't ask about their orders? *shakes head* China people really... do things differently.

In their Ezbuy Facebook, a customer is quite upset about this because she's having problems with delayed order/s & Ezbuy staff just shoved her off saying all enquiries are for 11.11 orders only.

Notice that "Carmen" is unable to cancel the orders & issue refund? She needs to ask purchaser? Odd because previously, staff can easily refund me as long as it's not yet ordered. In the end, she solved nothing. Not surprising. I didn't thank her.

Luckily, I only gave them cheap orders. Total only $15+. I dare not give them more expensive items to order. Not on this 11.11 day. They cannot handle the chaos. Plus their China local delivery will be swamped. Things are going to get missing.

At 12:16pm, their chat Zendesk (currently their new chat box) hung for about 15 minutes. Unable to reconnect until it somehow managed to get fixed.

I hate that she calls me "dear". So stupid & unprofessional. She's using it to mean "亲" in China Chinese. It means "comrade" "dear".  

I said I have another order to ask about. Can I ask?  (because I just read in Facebook that they shoved off a customer who asked about her "normal" order.).

As of now 2:16pm, I'm still not seeing any order remarks about my items. I don't think the purchaser has time to look at my order.

3:34pm:  I asked chat staff how's my cancellation of the orders so I can order again. A different chat staff "Heather" replied:

7:57pm: Problem very instantly solved by Anelice on chat. She immediately gave me the refund. I don't know why the previous 2 chat staff couldn't do it.

I wasn't able to save the chat conversation because the chatbox hung right after she told me she had refunded into my a/c & asked me to check.  I couldn't even submit "ok, thanks very much" to the chatbox that immediately went into "reconnecting" mode.

When I refreshed the page, the chat box was fresh again with no previous conversation.

With the money back into my prepay (available amount)... I think I better not spend it. Not today, with all the jamming going on (in their Ezbuy Facebook). And they said they will be featured on TV tonight & advise people to buy before 5pm to avoid the crowd. That's just nuts.

Even if submit new order, it won't be processed until tomorrow. By then, the Taobao 11.11 promo prices will be gone. But I think same as last year, Ezbuy should be able to get sellers to still sell at 11.11 prices at least for another day.

So that hurdle can be quite easily passed. But what about their China delivery? The whole country's delivery "system" will be swamped. Normal time already the delivery men throw things & lose parcels. Now will be worse. Already, my 2 small items that the seller dispatched 4 days ago, still not received at warehouse. And Ezbuy chat staff can do nothing about it.  Normally, it takes only 1-2 days to reach warehouse.

And Ezbuy warehouse won't have time to check incoming items.  From the Ezbuy e-mail apology, the marketing manager explained that Taobao sellers contribute to the problem by lumping different customers' things together & sending out to the warehouse. It makes sorting at the warehouse very problematic & cause delays.

That's because Ezbuy is SLOW.  How can they not be able to order in time?

Now it's only 10:24pm. The Taobao 11.11 sales price still on until end of the day. Ezbuy said they increased manpower. It's their obligation to be in time for every customer's order.

Ezbuy extending the free agent fee promo till tomorrow is a separate matter that is under their control. The 11.11 selling price sellers' promo takes priority.

Saying they cannot place orders in time before the 11.11 sales promo deadline is being a lousy agent. Unprofessional. No excuse, more so because they are promoting themselves as a big name company.

Sample comments from Ezbuy Facebook:  Click to enlarge.

I'm actually concerned about the $54+ in my Prepay (available amount) in my a/c. I kept screenshots. I'm always concerned about leaving money in Prepay. Can't trust Ezbuy. Who knows what will happen. I usually don't have so much money in my a/c. This time is because of the refunds &  my top-up thinking that I'll be buying some items (but ended up not buying.).

I always have to repeat 3 times to 3 different Ezbuy chat staff for any problem.  And as mentioned before, their chat staff (customer service) is just a front smile. Nothing gets done.

They give stupid replies & have no power over purchasing or warehouse. So, they don't know why your item still hasn't reached warehouse or whether it's lost. Don't know why your order hasn't been purchased. Don't know why warehouse hasn't shipped out your things.  Don't even know about Prepay matters.

For cart items, it happened to me on Thurs night when I added a new item. The entire cart of items disappeared. Everything came back when I deleted the new item.  Before this, I didn't know the entire cart of items can disappear. Not surprising, however.

For adding funds... Ezbuy already advised people to add funds early.  I added funds a day before by ATM. Safe & good way to add funds. A bit troublesome but there's receipt. Even without receipt, it's fine because I fund it manually once only.

12:57pm. 12 Nov:  It's always interesting to look at Ezbuy Facebook buyers' comments. Can be quite funny. And informative. 

I was reading Ezbuy Facebook posts while waiting for the live chat to attend to me. Right after reading his post below, the live chat came on with Ice.