A Forum is a terrible thing to waste! Dhgate, a lesson for new and old members!

[daytona4me]

A forum is a terrible thing to waste! Dhgate, aoobuy, cqout, a lesson for new and old members!


I put my money to work for YOU, the members of RWI, in an attempt to teach everyone a valuable lesson. You get what you pay for, and there is no exceptions! RWI is safe, DHgate, Alibaba and many other “wholesale” replica and chinese product websites are NOT.


There is nothing that irritates me more than a new or old member who goes in search of the holy grail of sources, an obscure replica dealer found in the vastness of the web who sells high end replicas for a small fraction of what the dealers at RWI sell them for.


My irritation does not come someone wanting to be frugal with their money, I can completely understand that! My irritation comes when they actually take the plunge or entertain it long enough that they expose other members by their thread asking “Has anyone purchased from ______” as if expecting someone to say that they were far better in price, quality and reliability as the dealers found here on RWI.


I recently seen someone make comments with respect to some Hublot they found on DHgate for a $60-$70 . I decided that my test will be far more valuable to forum members than the $140 I would spend doing it. I knew that what I would receive was not what was advertised but something far less, but it would give me a chance to document the process from the very beginning and provide pictures of advertisement to delivery and product received.


First lets go to the advertisement as found on DHgate. The dealer has 106 user feedback and it is 98% positive. Please see the picture below and notice the promises made in the advertisement Remember, a scammer is going to try to put your mind at ease. If you pay close attention you might pick up some “Hollywooding” or “Overselling” in their attempt to seem like a good person to deal with.


Let's review the promises:

1. !!!New Arrival !!! Authentic Hublot Big Bang for $79.52
2. Ceramic Bezel
3. Asian Valjoux 7750 Automatic Chronograph Movement, 21,600 beats per hour.
4. Functional Sub-Dials
5. Sapphire Crystal w/AR Coating
6. Display back with sapphire crystal
7. “”””” Best 1:1 Hublot Available “”””””
8. (NO Damage)
9. All of my products are 100% same as the photos, what you see is what you get!!!

The majority of replica sellers found on the internet will use pictures of GENUINE watches. This seller was no different. The sellers on RWI do not, they are not allowed!


Obviously I did not expect to receive a genuine watch nor did I really expect to receive this watch with a 7750 in it for $77.52 .


And similar expectations set by the seller for the second watch I purchased.








Now this picture is a picture of a replica watch, one that does have an Asian 28,800bph in it.
Just because you see a picture of a replica watch does not mean it will be the replica watch that YOU receive.


So let's review what I did receive...


The packaging looks similar to what our dealers send




It's got nice little boxes inside, however, this is simply another attempt to put the buyer at ease that what they just received is of high quality. Why not spend $0.20 to help prevent a chargeback?



Here is a watch that is NOTHING like what was advertised.






So what's wrong here?

1. It does not have a ceramic bezel, it has a plastic or resin bezel
2. It has a mineral crystal with no AR coating
3. It has a 21J movement with faux chronographs
4. It looks nothing like what was advertised, nothing at all
5. It has a closed caseback

Worst of all, I overpaid for it, it is only worth about $50 (western retail price, probably $20 Chinese local price)


And the second watch...




Same junk but even worse!


I wont even go into all the problems here but everything I listed above... same thing... and look at those strap screws.... OMG!


I have filed a dispute with DHgate, I dont know what it will result in but I would love to punish this guy for scamming people (even though I knew what was going to happen).


It is likely that there will be some reason why I wont get my money back, I could dispute it with my credit card company but I really dont want to alert them to my purchasing activity. I will likely sell them in the for sale section for $50. The money spent on these watches was 100% for the forum and this thread.. the money loss is irrelevant.


Although you may luck out and find someone who sells something for a little less than the dealers here, is it worth paying a little less and assume a massive amount of risk? The answer is NO , and many have paid lots of money to find that out!


The Forum is a Terrible thing to waste, you were lucky enough to find RWI & we worked very hard to find & test the dealers found here, we work very hard to keep them honest, and your peers, all 20,000 of them have used these dealers and reported their findings. Why waste such a vetting process for a hope and a prayer that you lucked out beyond imagination and found something for nothing?


I hope everyone reads this tutorial, God knows I paid enough to bring it to you.

[COLDI]

Hmm this looks familiar..

G get a hold of me...I tried this same thing too...and actually want to tell you what the seller did.

[Fiddo]

Very informative!

Great information! Horrible looking watches!

I was wondering about DHGate and some of the stuff I have seen there. My doubts are now confirmed.

Thanks for taking one for the team!

[tangle]

thank you for this post, I have been a RWI member for only a short while and all the watches I have bought in NYC and in the UK in the past have all been junk, I know they were cheap but still even so they are not even accurate replicas. I have ordered a GMT IIc from PT and looking forward to getting a really good replica. It is very interesting to read what could have happened prior to joining RWI.

Thsi is an excellent forum, the only problem is just how addictive it is!

tangle

[markharris]

great post
as you say you get what you pay for
you pays your money you take your choice
a cant understand why people will buy from other than the trusted dealers to save a
few $$$$$$$ and then complain about the s**t they get
most of all if we have a problem later with a dealer we have the backing of RWI and the mods and admin a big thanks to these keeping us safe with our purchases

[watchman1]

I'm glad you did this. I know better and was ALMOST tempted to give them (dhgate) a try, simply because of the prices. Luckily for me my common sense kicked in and I didn't do it. Now after reading this post, I don't have to wonder if the merchandise was good, now I know its crap. I hope everyone (especially all the newbies) reads this post.

[ahw676]

Keep in mind too, that this was a purchase made by someone who knew what he was doing and what to expect. Imagine if you're a noob and don't even know the right questions to ask or what you're supposed to receive. You'll get raped and never know it. And this is what they're counting on.

D4ME, thanks for doing this for the board. This needs to be mandatory reading for anyone who joins RWI.

[btocamelo]

Great Post!...as they say, caveat emptor...it's true that so many people try to find that elusive deal on the internet...instead visiting forums like RWI, where all the information and dealer ratings are here...all that leg work has been done here!

[midasmook]

If this doesn't convince members (new and old) to stick with our trusted dealers then nothing will and they will deserve what they get if they go outwith. Well done Greg for doing this, way beyond what you should have to do.

[ryanh]

Thanks DT, this is why so many of us noob's got scared away before we found RWI - I know I did. I just received my pam 111h yesterday from DT - and it is AWESOME!!
(yes I know, pix are coming, I'm still reading the "how to take pictures of watches" threads).