Some Vendors

A while ago, it was my son's birthday, and I thought I'd get him one of the JXD 7300's. I thought it would be better than the JXD 5110, it is bigger and I thought it would be more useful. I waited too long to order it from China, so I looked for a US vendor. I had no luck finding a US vendor. I thought I might be OK getting it express shipped. 

I ordered it on a Thursday, and paid the extra $30 for 3-5 day shipping. The device arrived 15 days later. The correspondence with the company was challenging. On Sunday they sent me a note:

Since the value for your order is a little expensive, to protect the safe of your paypal account,

we want to confirm some info from you, hope your kindly understanding.
1st,  Could you pls confirm your shipping address whether correct or not

Well I appreciate that they are worried for my safety, but $144 isn't that much, I have spent way more than that on Paypal before. I also realize it is already tomorrow in China, so my Thursday order was really Friday early morning, and the Sunday correspondence was really Monday, but follow along. I did tell them that it was me, and that I thought my Paypal account was verified. I responded on Sunday, which I am sure they got on Tuesday. Their response Monday at 2AM my time was:

May I know when do you expect to receive the parcel? then I will arrange a shipment, since normally we will ship the order within 3-7 working days.

Ok, shouldn't they expect that if I paid for 3 day shipping I might want it really soon? What is there about 3-7 working days before they ship it? Holy cow, it seems really obvious now I am not going to get the thing in time. So I decide to look for a new vendor, maybe someone in the US. I look, and there is a vendor in New Jersey who has 10 of them listed on Ebay. I decide to order the one from ebay, and try to work something out with this Chinese vendor.  

I sent the following message:

I expect to receive the device by Thursday 10/10/2013.

The response I got was:

Hi friend,

Thanks for your email.

I will ask the warehouse to ship it by Thursday, pls wait patiently.

Hope your understanding in advance.

Best regards,

This is almost comical. I want it by Thursday, so they will ship it by Thursday? Maybe they know it is yesterday here in the US, so they can ship it and it will arrive Tomorrow? By now, I've had enough, since this won't make it even the week of my son's birthday, so I am ok with cancelling the order. Remember the first message, they weren't even sure it was me, they ought to be cool with me cancelling the order. I send a note back:

I wanted it at my house on Thursday!

Can we just Cancel this order?

Wow, that seems pretty clear. I am asking, not telling, but I have things arranged, and I no longer want the unit from them. Their response is:

Hi friend,

Even though we ship it yesterday, it is impossible to arrive you in one day. It will usually will take 3-7 working days via DHL.

We will urge the warehouse to ship it in 1 day, is it OK?

Looking forward to your reply.

Best regards,

Did they ship it yesterday? Am I in a time warp? I realize they are adjusting days, and this message I got on Wednesday, I know I don't want it. I did send them a note, that I thought was pretty clear:

If you are going to ship it anyway, then it doesn't matter.

It will be late, and I will just give your company a bad review.

I'd rather you not ship it, refund my money and we both
go away disappointed.

Is this clearer? "I would rather they not ship it and refund my money". I felt that was pretty clear. They did send one more note:

Hi friend,

Thanks for your email.

We will ship it today, pls wait for a while patiently.

It arrived 9 days later. Unbelievable, did they expect me to say good things about them? What do you think, did I miss something? I've bought most of my Arduino stuff from China, and I expect those things to arrive at my house 2-3weeks after I pay for the item. This took 2 weeks using express mail! I don't get it. 

I'll share the vendors name, if you ask.