Avoid buying from Anker

#1

TL;DR:
I’d recommend avoid buying from Anker, because in case of faulty hardware, you will recieve approximatley 50% refund and you will be left with faulty hardware.
Support won’t treat you seriously, replaying with copy pasted messages while trying to reach agreement.

On 11 January 2021 I’ve placed order on AliExpress on Anker Official Store for thier Soundcore Motion+ speaker. The speaker arrived two days later.

Everything was fine, except low bass frequencies (between 80Hz and 40Hz). I’m listening mainly to bass music, and almost on every song I can hear some continiously tickling / vibrating sound, which is very annoying and makes music from speaker unaudible. It’s probably loose woofer in the cabinet or it’s just hardware defect. As shown on video, when to bass goes lower below 80Hz, then this vibrating sound raises and fades out below 45Hz. In real life you can clearly hear it, as also on video.
For me it’s a real problem, and I’m not going to use my speaker because is faulty, also i can’t disasseble it, because I’ll loose warranty.

Video:

I’ve contacted Anker on AliExpress, whether they can replace it with a new one, because I really want to have that speaker working, or if it’s not possible, fully refund so I can buy a new one.
After three days of playing around with recording videos which include all of thier troubleshooting tips, they offered only 30% refund. I wasn’t satisfied with that option so they offered 50% refund and it was the only option which they could offer to me.

I was suprised, because there are a lot of opinios, that in case of trouble they are not making problems with replacing a product or fully refunding. Returing my speaker to China in times of pandemic would be hard for me and could probably cost me more than the speaker costs.

So I’ve decided to contact official support on support@anker.com (#29360597), I’ve described that I can’t reach agreement with their store on AliExpress, I’ve included videos and described the whole trouble. But I had to repeat the whole process from the beginning with recording videos again to the same troubleshooting tips which I’ve arleady covered in videos to store on AliExpress. So probably 4th time I’ve described my whole trouble with speaker again and recorder again new video. And it took me about 8 days since I wrote to Anker at the begging of the process to finally recieve again the same copy pasted message that they can’t offer more than 50% refund, they can’t hear the trouble sounds and they are sorry for inconvenience.

I was really frustrated at this point, because it meant that all opinions about refunding 100% of price or seding replacement are fake. I gave up and accepted the 50% refund, it was the only thing which I could do, but I’m not satisfied from the final result of the whole process, because i want full refund so I can buy a new one if they can’t send a replacement.

This is my experience with Anker. Even if company inspires confidence in new customers like me, you may not be that lucky and in case of faulty hardware support won’t treat you seriously. You’re buying at your own responsibility. You can find more people like me in reviews of their SoundCore Motion+ speaker on AliExpress product page.

1 Like
#2

Shame you had problems with your purchase @maciej86
I have many Anker products and have only ever had a fault with a cable, that was replaced in the same week as reporting.
There does seem to be a theme here of people venting their frustrations with Anker purchases through AliExpress.
Ali looks after any warranty claims of Anker products purchased on their site which I think is where the frustrations start.
Although, as I was always told growing up, cheapest isn’t always the best and you pay your money and take your chances.
Was there a reason you didn’t purchase direct from Anker or from Amazon?

#3

I live in Poland, and AliExpress Anker Store looks very promising, there are a lot of positive opinions and shipping is directily from Poland, so I recieved my speaker after two days.

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#4

As amazon doesn’t deliver direct to Poland i can see why you went through AliExpress.
I have used Ali before @maciej86 for small electrical parts and components and have had good experiences.

Will you be buying a new speaker soon?

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#5

So you refused 100% refund by returning, but accepted 50% refund to keep. So you disliked the product so much you kept it. You dislike Anker so you much you kept it.

Seems very generous of Anker and the opposite conclusion is formed.

2 Likes
#6

@carmelaaachia Returning the speaker costs more than the speaker (about 100$ + custom duties) and I can’t be sure whether it will arrive to Anker Warehouse to China. Also Anker mentioned in E-Mails that they refuse to cover return costs, so it’s not possible option for me right now. I accepted 50% because it’s better than nothing. And generosity of Anker stays in opposite of opinions about them which you can find on the internet.

@paulstevenewing Right now I don’t have money for a new one.

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#7

So the problem is AliExpress, not Anker. Don’t buy from AliExpress is the conclusion, or to be precise don’t buy Anker from AliExpress.

Why did you buy shipped from China? Why did you not buy from somewhere nearer? Was it cheaper the method you chose?

Given this is a public forum, we don’t want to say anything untrue.

2 Likes
#8

Anker is Anker, it doesn’t matter whether they official store is on AliExpress, Amazon or on their website.
About shipping, I always chose the cheapest option, is it something wrong with me that I’ve chosen the cheapest option? I don’t think so.
When I stopped messaging with Anker on AliExpress and sent email to official support, I’ve recieved message on AliExpress, that they saw that I’ve wrote to their official support so they will continue proccess via E-Mail, so it means that AliExpress itself is not a problem.

#9

Partially true.

When Anker Offcial, Direct, in country sells, they factor in a certain % of returns, hold stock for that, and factor that in the selling price, usually making it higher cost to buy locally.

When you bypass your local country official distributor, you get a lower cost, the risk that Anker took on your behalf then becomes your risk.

So the issue here is you chose a method to save cost, then didn’t want the consequences of your decision.

Is that correct?

50% refund seems very generous. The conclusion seems, so the thread is wrong, to not buy from AliExpress, but do buy from Anker.

#10

Buying SoundCore Motion+ from official local distribution in my country is not possible, I’m not able to buy it in regular electronic shop. The best option in that case was AliExpress.

image

This is what Anker replied to me and it should cover all of your doubts.

#11

Good have the further information.

So the conclusion is:

  • do buy from Anker. They offer 50% refund
  • don’t buy from AliExpress.

Is that fair?

#12

The conclusion is:

  • Buying on AliExpress is 100% fine
  • If you will recieve faulty hardware, the only refund you can get is 50% (for example people in reviews on AliExpress on SoundCore Motion+ product page was describing situatuions, that they recieved the speaker and buttons were not working, and also they recieved only 50% refund)
#13

I have always been satisfied with returns or refunds from Anker.

1 Like
#14

As mentioned by several others (and in several other similar topics) the issue is due to the selling and refund rules of Ali Express, which Anker (and any other company selling on the platform) must abide by.

While it is unfortunate that you have received what appears to be a defective unit, blaming Anker as a whole for following the rules of the selling platform you chose to buy from is a tad unfair.

6 Likes
#15

I’ve gotten a few of their speakers,cables and chargers and so far no issues. Based on my experience I’ll continue buying their products.

@maciej86 did you try escalating the issue and possibly talk to a manager?

#16

As @ndalby mentioned Anker has to follow the rules of the trade site they sell on. So sure it it Ankers official store, but it is Aliexpress warranty process they have to abide by in order to sell on their platform. Which in this case is either a partial refund and you keep the product or you send it back for full refund. Unfortunately because of aliexpress policy it is generally not in favor of the consumer and often times the manufacturer/ seller gets the blame for adhering to the sites policy. And in this case is it fair to the manufacturer because they are just abiding by the rules that are governed to them.

Future reference, check out the return policy for any site that you buy from as it may differ from the manufacturers policy.

3 Likes
#17

If I’m wrong just ignore my reply (maybe I didn’t understand you well)

The warranty process looked like is going outside AliExpress, Anker offered me 50% refund before I even confirmed, that I’ve recieved my product on AliExpress. They requested serial number, PayPal account and video showing trouble and thats all. I didn’t open dispute on AliExpress (if i open dispute i must follow AliExpress Refund Policy), I was only messaging with Anker. It seems that the warranty process was going on Anker, not AliExpress policy.

#18

Regardless if it’s handled via Anker or through aliexpress, the product was purchased on aliexpress hence they have to adhere to their policy regardless as they have to recoup their loss from aliexpress and let them know of the issue.

1 Like
#20

Why is the above post flagged? Seems fair comment.

Seems to me the issue is buying from AliExpress. Anyone who does so has to accept the risk if a unit is defective that they have to pay return shipping costs.

Either don’t buy from AliExpress or decide if the risk worthwhile. Just don’t put it all at the foot of Anker for your decision.

I have bought from AliExpress, not Anker product, I knew about the return policy cost, and bought knowing that risk.

#21

I don’t understand why my comment above was flagged, in the post which I’ve linked someone had similar situation and full refund even on AliExpress policy was possible, so it is related to my post.

Also I don’t understand, why Anker after exchanging 19 messages with me didn’t mentioned, that they can’t refund more than 50% due to AliExpress policy, but due to “to the way our system is currently set up” and due to “please kindly understand”.
I may not know AliExpress policy that well (I know my bad by I may), so they could simple explain it in first message, that they can’t refund more due to AliExpress and that’s all, it’s not their fault but they are limited by AliExpress and discussion ends. If they would so, probably i wouldn’t be writing on this forum.