BY: Walker
Published 2 days ago
A printed photo of a drill is at the center of an alleged scam that left a Georgia man perplexed, to say the absolute least.
In November, a Savannah man did what hundreds of millions of Americans do every year: he bought something online. But Sylvester Franklin did not get what he paid for.
Franklin decided it was time to some new tools, so he logged onto AliExpress, and ordered a drill.
“They sent me this. A picture is what they sent me,” Franklin says.
That’s right: Franklin ordered a drill from AliExpress- and what he got was a printed photo of the drill he ordered. But it gets worse.
“I paid $22.47 for a pressure washer, and this is what I get,” Franklin says. “It’s a screw.”
Franklin has been going back and forth with AliExpress since he ordered the items in November, still hasn’t received a refund.
WTOC Investigates started looking into AliExpress. We found the company is a subsidiary of AliBaba, sometimes referred to as the Amazon of China.
In 2021, the Office of the United States Trade Representative added AliExpress to its list of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy. The website has a D- rating from the BBB, and in 2024, the State of Georgia’s Consumer Protection Division (CPD) received three complaints against the company.
One of the people who complained, saying they “never received the item purchased.” Another, saying they were out over $400 after their item was sent with a “fake tracking number” that was never delivered to them. In all three instances the shoppers said they tried to get their money back from AliExpress, but none of them did until they reported their stories to the CPD.
Franklin has tried to get his money back from AliExpress, and tried to get a chargeback from his bank, without any success. He says he only spent around $40, but wants others to take a lesson from his story: this picture may be worth a thousand words but not the 40 bucks he paid.
“This is not good. This is real bad. All this is bad, you know what I mean? Don’t scam nobody. I don’t like to get scammed, because you spend your money, you want to get what you paid for,” Franklin says.
So what can you do if you’ve found yourself in a situation like Mr. Franklin?
*Contact customer service with the company and see if you can get a refund that way.
*If that’s not working, start the chargeback process with your credit card issuer.
*File a complaint with the Georgia Consumer Protection Division. All 3 people who filed complaints against AliExpress in 2024 got their money back after speaking with the agency.
*Lastly, be careful where you shop. It’s always a good idea to check Better Business Bureau ratings, and reviews of companies, before you buy something online.
via: WTOC
