Generic Lego Compatible Santa Minifigures

Recently, I talked about how it is now taking many, many months for items to get delivered from Aliexpress.  I ordered some generic Lego compatible Santa mini-figures towards the end of December, 2016 and  I finally got them the last week of April, 2017.  Yup, that's four months later.  I was pretty sure that these were lost or not delivered.   I expected to get them around the end of January to feature them in some pics around my Its-Not-Lego town.   I guess I will have to wait until next year before I can display them again.

Before I put them away, I decided to customise them a bit.  The Santa above is original, except that I switched his yellow hands with black ones to make them resemble gloves.  I might paint the bottom half of his legs black to simulate boots.

I had some extra mini-figure heads, so I figured I'd mess around some more.  Here's two more Santas, maybe they will work in my Lepin Grand Emporium (acquired, but still waiting to be built), next year.

Hey, wait a minute, we don't have that many openings for department store Santas.

I recognise those kids.  They usually take pictures of the scared and crying kids sitting on Santa's lap and then you charge you an outrageous amount for the crappy pics.

Equal opportunity says that we can have a few female Santas as well.

Well, that's it, thanks for checking out my Santa gang.  Methinks they are all heading down to the Caribbean or Mexico for their summer vacation.

 If you want to get your own little Santa minifigures, you can still get them on Aliexpress.  You can get 5 of them for only $1.65 USD.  That works out to only $0.33 cents each.

If you order them now, you might even actually get them before this coming Christmas!!  heh.

Lepin Bricks Are Dangerous!

The website bogusbricks.com has nailed it.   Lepin Bricks are dangerous!  They are dangerous to Lego's entry into the Chinese marketplace.   If I were Lego, I'd be worried too.

http://cphpost.dk/news/business/fierce-copyright-battle-mars-legos-push-in-china.html

Lepin bricks are also dangerous,  because they must have baked in some addiction chemical into the bricks.  After I buy one cheap set, I can't stop, and then I buy another, and another.

It's not just Lepin bricks that are dangerous, there are other bootleg brick brands you need to stay away from:

Bela
Enlighten
Lele
Kazi
Sluban
Wange
Hsanhe
Gudi
Decool
Sheng Yuan

So remember, don't be an idiot, pay a lot more for Lego bricks, because the Ole Kirk Kristiansen family that owns Lego aren't rich enough.  They only have a few billion dollars of net worth.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-03-13/lego-builds-new-billionaires-as-toymaker-topples-mattel.

My Aliexpress Account Got Suspended!

It all started with this message I got from Aliexpress.  I tried to raise a dispute on an item I had not received.  I ordered the item back in January or February but it still had not arrived.  Most times, items take a long time to ship or they are not shipped at all.  It seems to be happening more and more these days.    

In past years, you could open a dispute knowing that your purchase was protected by the Aliexpress Seller Guarantee that said you would be refunded if the item you purchased wasn't received.  At first it was 30 days, now it is 60 days.

I think the problem I am encountering is that because the shipping is so slow, several months to be exact, I have had to open a number of disputes for non receipt of items.  Because after 60 days, you just don't know if you will ever get the stuff you ordered from Aliexpress.  

So now they have blocked me from making any further disputes, despite the seller guarantee that they offer.   I tried to contact Aliexpress support below but they were no help.  I contacted them twice to no avail.  Here's my recent chat log with them.

View Message History

Invo_18:35

Hello,I am a service consultant Invo_

Invo_18:35

Thank you for contacting AliExpress. My name is Invo. How may I help you?

me18:36

hello, i contacted aliexpress support last week about inability to raise dispute. i was told it would be resolved by tuesday. it is now thursday and i am still not able to raise a dispute. please help.

Invo_18:37

I see.

Invo_18:37

May I know your name and order number please?

me18:38

order number is xxxxxxxx.   name is me.

Invo_18:38

Thank you for the information you have provided me

Invo_18:38

May I know why do you want to open a dispute?

me18:39

because i ordered this on feb 27 and it is now 60 days, and i still have not received the item.

Invo_18:39

I am sorry to hear that you still have not receive your order. Rest assured that I will help you with this. 

Invo_18:39

May I know if have you tried to contact the seller about this issue?

me18:40

yes, initially he offered to refund, but i said i could wait but now i'm thinking it will be another two months will be too long, so i would like to get the refund.

me18:41

unfortunately the system will not let me raise dispute and i don't know why

Invo_18:41

Thank you for confirming this to me.

Invo_18:41

I am sorry to know that you were unable to leave a feedback or open a dispute. Rest assured that I will help you with this.

Invo_18:41

May I know what was the error when you tried to open a dispute?

me18:42

some message about my account is disabled

me18:42

but i don't know why

Invo_18:42

Can I have a screenshot of this error messages please?

me18:44

me18:44

what is the security concern regarding my account?

Invo_18:45

Thank you for the screenshot.

Invo_18:45

Please be informed that your account was still enable in our system, however our system disabled this action since many of our buyers do open a dispute and abusing the protection of Aliexpress.

Invo_18:46

However this concern is common since you are not the only affected many buyers in Aliexpress was affected to so don't worry.

me18:47

so i need to legitimately raise dispute for items that are not received and taking over 60 days, how can i do it?

Invo_18:48

To fix this may I know your email address please?

me18:48

 my email address is xxx@xxx.com

Invo_18:49

Thank you very much.

Invo_18:50

Sorry for the inconvenience, I just checked our system and there's no existing report in our system.

Invo_18:51

In this case  I will send a reactivation request for your account to be enabled again, would that be great for you?

me18:51

thats what the last person said but nothing happened.

Invo_18:52

Exactly since there's no report, don't worry rest assured that I will talk to that agent for you.

Invo_18:52

Do not worry, I have already submitted a request to our system to activate your account in the site.

Invo_18:52

Kindly wait for our Higher Department to follow up to you within 48 hours through email for the confirmation. 

me18:52

please reactivate my dispute function, i will take screen shot of this conversation in case this issue is not resolved in 48 hours.

Invo_18:53

Yes of course, you have the rights for this and don't worry I already sent it for you.

Invo_18:53

Our system says: 

me18:54

is there a way i can check the status of my account?   how can i check it?

Invo_18:55

Yes you can only check it by trying to open a dispute, however it will be done after 2 working days.

me18:56

but by then my orders will have already passed the dispute period, and i have not received those items.

me18:57

so what can you do to help me with this problem?

Invo_18:58

Oh don't worry about that because once the protection time is over, Aliexpress will be given you an extra 15 days of protection time, meaning you still have lots time to open a dispute.

me18:58

can you not raise the dispute on my behalf?

Invo_18:59

Oh I am sorry but it was impossible since we need to open a dispute using your account.

Invo_18:59

Don't worry because I already did what's best for you.

me19:00

if my account issue is not resolved in 48 hours, how can i escalate this issue?  do you have a supervisor for me to deal with?

Invo_19:01

Oh take note it was 48 business hours.

Invo_19:01

Meaning Saturdays and Sundays are not included.

Invo_19:01

Yes of course we have

me19:02

please advise what the procedure will be, should this issue not be resolved to my satisfaction?

me19:03

i need to know how to proceed if i don't get any results in the next few days.

Invo_19:03

Yes.

Invo_19:04

Please don't worry because I never had an issue that was not resolved, also I already provided your information to our higher department once it was done you will be able to open a dispute again.

Invo_19:04

Because I never encountered a issue that was not solved by requesting to our higher department.

me19:05

what is the higher department?  you must understand i dont want to keep doing this.

me19:05

can you tell me what the higher department is and what it does?

ca105334501319:06

and how they can resolve my problem?

Invo_19:06

Higher department is the one who approves the request from lower department.

Invo_19:06

We are only from lower department.

Invo_19:07

Yes because they have the power to enable or disabled, also we are requesting to higher department for the refund as well.

Invo_19:09

So it means they are the one who handle this issue and our job is to forward the issue, also take note that I sent it urgently for you, because I know how important this for you.

I am sorry to know that, but I hope you understand that I already did my part and my best for you, I hope you can appreciate it as well since, I am only from lower department.

Invo_19:11

Also please don't worry because this chat has been documented already.

Invo_19:12

The reference number is the order number you provided which is : xxxxxxxxx

The following morning, I received the following email from Aliexpress ...

Dear custom:

AliExpress is committed to the principle of good faith and the protection of the interests of both buyers and suppliers. To maintain a safe and fair trading environment, our duties and responsibilities require the investigation into areas of clear dishonest trading activities, such as consumer fraud and counterfeiting operating to the detriment of consumers and reputable traders.

After we review your account activity in the Aliexpress Buyer Protection program, we regret to inform you that your account has been suspended considered to be at high risk of Abusing the Buyer Protection Programs. This is because your associated accounts were found continue to violate the Buyer Protection Program rules.

We do not allow:

·         Claiming that an item is ‘not as described’ when the item condition is consistent with the description in the listing.

·         Claiming an item hasn't been received when it has arrived. 

·         Opening a case when you have already received a refund from the seller or reimbursement from your payment provider.

·         Opening a case against a seller to retaliate following previous disputes.

·         Threatening to open a case against a seller in order to get a discount or additional goods and services, when the item arrived in the described condition.

·         A pattern of excessively opening Buyer Protection cases.

To learn more visit: Rules about Abusing the Buyer Protection Program

If you have any concerns or questions, you may go to the Customer Service and Connect to our agent.

Best Regards,

AliExpress.com Online Trade Security Department

Once you have received this notification, you are in a no win situation with Aliexpress as there is no apparent re-instatement of your account.  Customer Service will not be able to help you either.

In fact, it seems to be happening to a lot of people who open a dispute and then have their account disabled.  You can see more evidence of this here:

https://www.trustpilot.com/review/www.aliexpress.com

For now, it seems I can still buy items off Aliexpress but just can't dispute anything anymore.  So be very careful when opening disputes on Aliexpress, or you will have your account suspended like mine was.