Bad experience at Marble Mountain, Da Nang

[Philad]

On a recent visit to Da Nang, my wife and I went to Marble Mountain and viewed the beautiful marble sculptures on display. Taken (in) with the apparent value for money, we purchased two large marble urns on stands from "Ut Lan Art & Stone Sculptures". We photographed them and paid for packing, shipping and insurance to Australia. The two crates duly arrived six weeks later only for us to find that the seller had substituted the urns that we had purchased with broken urns that had been glued back together. No claim on insurance as they were not damaged in transit and of course no reply to our EMails from the seller. I blame myself as this was an impulse purchase and I did no research beforehand - always remember "Buyer Beware!"

[John Bull]

I'm guessing you had the foresight to pay with your credit card.

In which case your card company has the same liability as the seller, and you should be able to get your money back.

 

The card company of course has the clout to get their money back from the seller by threatening to withdraw their merchant facility.

 

Or is it possible that a shipper damaged & then repaired in the hope of avoiding liability? In which case the insurance is valid.

 

BTW, another caveat with large & heavy purchases is to check delivery terms. Often this will be only as far as a port in the buyer's home country - still some distance & expense for a buyer in Alice Springs or Salt Lake City.

 

JB :)

[John Bull]

I'm guessing you had the foresight to pay with your credit card.

In which case your card company has the same liability as the seller, and you should be able to get your money back.

 

The card company of course has the clout to get their money back from the seller by threatening to withdraw their merchant facility.

 

Or is it possible that a shipper damaged & then repaired in the hope of avoiding liability? In which case the insurance is valid.

 

BTW, another caveat with large & heavy purchases is to check delivery terms. Often this will be only as far as a port in the buyer's home country - still some distance & expense for a buyer in Alice Springs or Salt Lake City.

 

JB :)

[John Bull]

I'm guessing you had the foresight to pay with your credit card.

In which case your card company has the same liability as the seller, and you should be able to get your money back.

 

The card company of course has the clout to get their money back from the seller by threatening to withdraw their merchant facility.

 

Or is it possible that a shipper damaged & then repaired in the hope of avoiding liability? In which case the insurance is valid.

 

BTW, another caveat with large & heavy purchases is to check delivery terms. Often this will be only as far as a port in the buyer's home country - still some distance & expense for a buyer in Alice Springs or Salt Lake City.

 

JB :)

[John Bull]

I'm guessing you had the foresight to pay with your credit card.

In which case your card company has the same liability as the seller, and you should be able to get your money back.

 

The card company of course has the clout to get their money back from the seller by threatening to withdraw their merchant facility.

 

Or is it possible that a shipper damaged & then repaired in the hope of avoiding liability? In which case the insurance is valid.

 

BTW, another caveat with large & heavy purchases is to check delivery terms. Often this will be only as far as a port in the buyer's home country - still some distance & expense for a buyer in Alice Springs or Salt Lake City.

 

JB :)

[John Bull]

I'm guessing you had the foresight to pay with your credit card.

In which case your card company has the same liability as the seller, and you should be able to get your money back.

 

The card company of course has the clout to get their money back from the seller by threatening to withdraw their merchant facility.

 

Or is it possible that a shipper damaged & then repaired in the hope of avoiding liability? In which case the insurance is valid.

 

BTW, another caveat with large & heavy purchases is to check delivery terms. Often this will be only as far as a port in the buyer's home country - still some distance & expense for a buyer in Alice Springs or Salt Lake City.

 

JB :)

[John Bull]

Hmmm.

'scuse the stammer.

Gremlins in the keyboard, methinks

 

JB :rolleyes:

[Keith1010]

I am sorry you had that problem.

 

Keith

[Pushka]

We had a few issues with scams in Vietnam too. I'm not sure the cc will reimburse for something like this. But worth a try I guess. Bummer

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[EmsMom]

We bought pagoda lamps at Marble Mountain. After about 6 months of going back and forth with the tour guide we used and the vendor, we finally received our pagodas. They were fine but we had to pay another $100 at the receiving warehouse plus some other fees. Then we had to go to the customs office for their release and then a warehouse for pickup. It was a real pain and no great bargain. American Express said they would cancel the charge if we didn't receive the pagodas but since we did receive them that wasn't necessary. I would never purchase something like this again....By the time we paid the extra charges. wasted a lot of time trying to get the items and going to pick them up, it really wasn't worth the trouble. I'm sure we could have bought similar items in the US at a comparable if not lower price.

[Philad]

I'm guessing you had the foresight to pay with your credit card.

In which case your card company has the same liability as the seller, and you should be able to get your money back.

 

Hi John,

 

Stammer excused! You are right, I paid with a CC and am negotiating with the card company but not holding my breath. The local shipping costs (in Oz) were $650 which made things even worse - the urns weighed 200kg each. I have tried to EMail the vendor several times but keep getting the rejection notice that their inbox is full. The insurance was to the dockside here in Adelaide and the shippers insurance company were very sympathetic but no offers to re-imburse.

 

Phil

 

Thanks everyone for your kind words but on the upside we otherwise had a great time!

 

Cheers!!