What's up with Zebralight Customer Service?

[ben65]

I have a H600c Mk IV that was great until it died, after very little use. Too many other flashlights

I have contacted Zebralight and they said to send it in for repair/replacement, even though it was a few weeks out of warranty.
Great! Way to go Zebralight!

So, I mail them the flashlight and it arrives to them in Texas on November 12, 2019. On December 7, 2019 they say "Yes, we received the light, and it will be shipped to you in about six weeks. Sorry for the waiting." Seven weeks later I contact them, and on January 24, 2020 they answer "It will be shipped to you in two weeks. Sorry for the waiting".

Since then, nothing. No response to two emails inquiring what is going on.
It's now 6 weeks after they said "...in two weeks", and no flashlight and no communication.

Any ideas what I should do?

Thanks in advance,

 

[GoVegan]

Being a Chinese light and going by memory here, all repairs are sent back to China. The 6 week schedule would also seem to confirm this.

Well you might want to tune into the news on TV about China, it's work force and all flights out of the country (not sure how the company ships though, sea/air).

Also you might want to disinfect it when it finally comes back to you.

 

[Connor]

After weeks in transit the only thing alive will be your fear though.
But yeah, Corona virus. Everything you order from China will probably arrive much later than usual.

 

[Lumen83]

Their customer service was terrible to me too. I purchased a headlamp from them and it arrived DOA. Couldn't get a hold of anyone to help out. Finally they ended up agreeing to refund me and they wanted to charge me to send it back. Charge me to send back a light that was dead on arrival? Are you kidding me? I'll never buy a ZL product again. Too many horror stories and people having issues with their lights here on CPF. Too poor of an experience for me personally. There are better alternatives, in my opinion.

 

[twhb_]

What timing, I decided I'd wait until today to complain publicly about this, and here you've beat me by hours.

I've been waiting on an order since Jan 22. ZebraLight hasn't responded to me in over a week. A timeline:

Jan 22: Order placed on zebralight.com. Item was marked as "backordered", so I did expect some delay.

Feb 2: Having received an order confirmation but still no shipping confirmation, estimate, or other contact, I open a support ticket requesting only a ship date estimate.

Feb 2: ZebraLight replies "Your order will be shipped in three to four weeks from today. Let us know if you can't wait and would like to cancel or replace it with another model. Sorry about that." A longer wait than I'd like, but I'm happy with the reply and decide to stick it out.

Mar 1: Four weeks have passed with no contact. I ask if they have any update on my order.

Mar 5: Still no contact. I contact ZL again asking for any sort of contact, even if they're still unsure about the ship date.

Mar 9 (today): Still no contact. I've contacted them again requesting they cancel and refund my order.

COVID-19 delays I'd understand, but that doesn't mesh with never mentioning the virus, a confident estimate of 3-4 weeks, or an empty customer service desk. I hope everybody at ZL is alright.

 

[euroken]

FYI, I've had multiple ebay orders getting cancelled by the sellers after weeks of waiting with no correspondences.

Coronavirus scare is serious and quarantined populations are not even supposed to leave the house/apartments in China. As someone who's been told to stay home by the employer and the employer's clients in the state side, I can tell you that it can be difficult to keep up with simple daily work tasks. And this is even WITH the ability to work from home.

There are many people who can't afford to stay at home and don't have the means to work from home. If few weeks turnaround time was the original estimate, my guess is that it will take few months at least to fulfill back log of orders/services.

Hope you all stay safe.

 

[Jimmyboots]

I would just email them in 2 weeks and then again 2 weeks after that. Set up a phone reminder. I don't think there's much more you can do at this point.

 

[Tachead]

I think people need to calm down a bit, as things aren't going to be normal for a long time due to Covid19 and are likely going to get much worse. In China alone, many factories are empty and closed, people are staying at home and not going to work, people are sick and/or dying, there are quarantines, travel bans, etc. Shortages are imminent and a ripple effect will be seen across the world. Only time will tell how bad it will get. My suggestion is to ask for a refund and not order anything from China for a while. Things are going to get bad here guys, this is only the beginning...

Sent from my SM-N975W using Tapatalk

 

[archimedes]

This thread is turning into a generalized "Jeer" and the main LED Flashlights discussion forum is not really the place for that.

OP has the likely answer, as pointed out above, so I think we'll close this now before it mutates further.

If there is a specific concern later, that can be addressed in the usual "C'n'J" venue, if and as it may be appropriate.

Thanks all.