Topic: Somebody is trying to steal batch 1 Avalon shippments from DHL! - page 2. (Read 12580 times)

BitSyncom,
With utmost respect to the bitcointalk forums and to the entire Avalon team, I think it would prove to be most judicious for any foreigners outside of mainland china to watch the Ai Wei Wei documentary "Never Sorry," to get a better picture of the government we're dealing with here.  Realize the hand that BitSyn and his team have been dealt and be grateful we've come this far in a community drenched in controversy and deceit.  I dare say Avalon has put more then their pocketbooks on the line with these batches.  I think since we've entered uncharted territories it's becoming a learning experience for everyone.  I thank the OP for sharing this with the community to give us insight on what to look out for.

No, EMS is NOT your local post office.   It is the name used by each countries post office for their Express Mail Service.   Since these shipments originate in CHINA, it is China post UNTIL it is handed to customs in your home country, then you can track it.   If you track it before all you see is outbound from XXXX.    And, please do go and try to call China Post and say you are Joe Blow from XXXXX zip code and do you have a package coming my way.   Let me know how that works for you.

I suspect that you are not telling the truth here. China's DHL custom support states that they do not have any policy to determine what products can be export from China, but they follow the government regulation.

In accordance with China's customs, all you have to do is just to declare what you are exporting if you have a CR (Custom Registration) code.

That means DHL cannot directly refuse to ship the Avalon product if you declare to China's customs what you are doing.

Perhaps that explains why you need an additional agent paid by bribery to export your products. You are exporting electronic products without to declare to China's customs. Who possibly declares is your agent and that is why you are so persistent to not provide a tracking number for your customers.

http://www.dhl.com/en/express/shipping/customs_support/customs_paperwork/customs_guidelines_china.html


http://www.ec.cn/trade/declaration.shtml

EMS is your local post office. They can look up packages in EMS system. I regularly receive EMS from India and China and many other countries. All of ours are sent registered mail, it is essentially under lock and key. You need to make friends with your post master.

*lol* Bad support makes it secure... great... ok... i would like to use it... except they have a problem with vanishing packages at their post stations. Some shipment provider does have such problem...

I trust that the Avalon team has learned from Batch 1 that tracking numbers are needed.

No need to beat a dead horse.

Yes, EMS has great security, it is like google's (impossible to contact for help).

Thanks. I hope they have more strict policy for changing receiving address.

I wouldn't report it, I would dress red/yellow and pay him/her a visit in a week or two..

Guys, shipping those things all over the world is not so simple as some of you seems to think.

Problem acknowledged, they are workin on it: enough said

And remember this is a public forum before posting.

Sounds good if you try another solution.

But these agents are another person that would know the recipients address and, if its really so easy to change the recipient, could change it via phone or email. Im not sure what i should think of these agents when you guys say that dhl cant ship it but this agent somehow gets dhl to ship them. I mean is it forbidden or not? If its forbidden then how can he do this legally?
On the other hand i dont see why it should be forbidden. Ready made PCs are sent out daily. And they have a psu included. Is it maybe something with insurance?

Then... this agent gets the tracking number in the moment he gives it to dhl. That means if he doesnt give it to avalon its simply bad service. I mean you have to call him and ask? What self employed person is this?

I chose shipping with EMS. Im not sure what this is but i hope its not a company where someone can call and change the address, without any proof that he is the real one, easily.

Im not sure but in my country dhl can come to ones house and pick up the package. Doesnt that work for you? It sounds easier and safer than giving it to an agent that ships it then. And i wonder anyway where the savings in shipping comes from. He works for this and is still cheaper than the normal shipping? Where is this agent paid from? I would like to know his business model. Really strange this all.
Plus the savings in shipping. Im not sure how much was charged for shipping of batch 1... but i assume it can easily pay any shipment.

I really really hope you guys find a solution.

What i would like to know is the legal status. I mean avalon could say that they shipped and could proof that it reached its target. If its not the same address then avalon cant change this because in theory only the receiver should be able to change that address. I think the legal problem would lie in dhl then because they let some random person change the address. But even when you would go to court you could only get back your investment if any. Thats a pain in the ass when you know you could earn way more when you got the machine.
In my opinion... if dhl is so insecure it cant be used. Or at least it could only be used if there isnt another solution for the target country.

Great to hear!

It all comes as part of responsibility of doing a business. I am actually thankful to you guys for doing this, but being polite is a big part of doing business. It all depends on how you want to be remembered in Bitcoin history.

nice but this still doesn't take care of your first group of customers that that need  tending 2
get on the mining bandwagon so they can compete 4 the next batch . There the ones that sponsored the whole batch 2 and batch 3

This is good to hear - I had no idea Chinese New Year was such a big thing or would have an impact like that. I really hope as a batch 3 customer things will go smoothly for everyone in the upcoming batches and we won't see issues like we saw for some in batch 1.

I think it is safe to assume that by default simply because we don't have a chinese new year in between and the Customs backlog that came along with it to deal with. I think we just pulled their leg too much earlier during pre-CNY to get these units out now they are just not being too helpful.

Does this mean orders will be shipped out quicker and with tracking numbers right away for batch 2 and 3? This is all we want to know really.

We already switched. part of growing pains, not that I expect any body here to understand.

I, for one, would be willing to pay more BTC if that were an issue. I already paid near $200 for shipment, what's another 1 BTC?

If it were an option, I would be the first to choose to have my Avalon shipped without fans (I already opted for no power supply) - if this meant that it would be handed off to DHL directly instead of through a proxy (so it'd be quicker) and I received a tracking number the moment it was shipped. I already have high quality Delta fans that I use in my GPU miner that I'd retire so this is a no-brainer. Can something like this be offered?

I don't know if you've looked at the self-reported loss in the other threads, but it looks like 30% of batch 1 Avalons have still not made it out to customers. This is a significant number. While not everyone who ordered an Avalon is on the forums, that is more than concerning. I'm sure a prompt tracking number would have prevented these issues and I urge you guys to look at solutions for batch 2 and 3. If what it takes is a little more BTC or losing the fans, I'd be all for it, at least for my order. There is a problem but there are solutions so take a look at what people are saying - I am confident that there is a solution that will work for everyone.