Gotway factory communication problems

[9Bot1]

Long story short, I placed a group buy order with a few people on this forum(who I don't blame one bit) and @Jane Mo and @Linnea Lin Gotway have been saying they haven't received my wire transfer. I placed it through Bank of America on Nov 15th and it was deposited into their account on Nov 17th.  I've been in contact with Bank of America's Wire investigations department now for about a month. I was going to post this earlier but was waiting until they received a concrete response from Gotway's bank that the money was indeed deposited into Lin Hong Gui's (Beneficiary) bank on November 17th. Well here is the response from their bank. Not sure what else I can do but to out them on here and their facebook page. I don't want anything from them but my money back. They can keep all the wasted time.

 

[Donafello]

3 hours ago, 9Bot1 said:

Long story short, I placed a group buy order with a few people on this forum(who I don't blame one bit) and @Jane Mo and @Linnea Lin Gotway have been saying they haven't received my wire transfer. I placed it through Bank of America on Nov 15th and it was deposited into their account on Nov 17th.  I've been in contact with Bank of America's Wire investigations department now for about a month. I was going to post this earlier but was waiting until they received a concrete response from Gotway's bank that the money was indeed deposited into Lin Hong Gui's (Beneficiary) bank on November 17th. Well here is the response from their bank. Not sure what else I can do but to out them on here and their facebook page. I don't want anything from them but my money back. They can keep all the wasted time.

 

I hope they go ahead and settle up with you as they should. 

And I hope someone at gotway is reading this because I am sure you have lost a ton of sales due to what I am about to say. I would have loved to order from Gotway directly but the lack of customer service is what made me spend $400 more and go elsewhere. First off the prices I was quoted from jane and lin where completely different and we're apart by $200. Also their quotes for shipping were totally different and when asked genera questions there answers were always completely different. Also anytime I emailed them questions I would either not here from them or they would answer only one of the many questions I had. That lack of service is what stopped me from buying from them because god forbid there was a issue i would have lost my marbles and personally flew to china if i received the same kind of treatment I was giving. I ended up buying from ali express and was very happy how everything turned out. More importantly my questions were answered within minutes every single time. I think Gotway and their employees really need to get things straight because they are leaving money on the table by not selling directly to us and letting us buy from a seller thats probably paying $400 less then what we would buy one for. 

Now I know their are a lot of people that have had a good experience with Gotway so I am just speaking on my experience with them. 

[Marty Backe]

I hope it works out for you. They seem more active on the Facebook page, particularly the Gotway page.

I guess it's to save a few bucks, but I don't understand why people don't buy from a dealer. Buying direct from China just seems fraught with danger. There are respected sellers represented here, where all the major brands of wheels can be bought and in your hands within a week.

[9Bot1]

5 hours ago, Donafello said:

I hope they go ahead and settle up with you as they should. 

And I hope someone at gotway is reading this because I am sure you have lost a ton of sales due to what I am about to say. I would have loved to order from Gotway directly but the lack of customer service is what made me spend $400 more and go elsewhere. First off the prices I was quoted from jane and lin where completely different and we're apart by $200. Also their quotes for shipping were totally different and when asked genera questions there answers were always completely different. Also anytime I emailed them questions I would either not here from them or they would answer only one of the many questions I had. That lack of service is what stopped me from buying from them because god forbid there was a issue i would have lost my marbles and personally flew to china if i received the same kind of treatment I was giving. I ended up buying from ali express and was very happy how everything turned out. More importantly my questions were answered within minutes every single time. I think Gotway and their employees really need to get things straight because they are leaving money on the table by not selling directly to us and letting us buy from a seller thats probably paying $400 less then what we would buy one for. 

Now I know their are a lot of people that have had a good experience with Gotway so I am just speaking on my experience with them. 

 

1 hour ago, Marty Backe said:

I hope it works out for you. They seem more active on the Facebook page, particularly the Gotway page.

I guess it's to save a few bucks, but I don't understand why people don't buy from a dealer. Buying direct from China just seems fraught with danger. There are respected sellers represented here, where all the major brands of wheels can be bought and in your hands within a week.

I've bought several items directly from manufacturers in China before and never experienced customer service like this. From now on I'm buying all my wheels from local dealers only. I don't mind paying a $300-$400 premium but when it's more than that I'll just hold off on buying the wheel.

[Marty Backe]

4 minutes ago, 9Bot1 said:

 

I've bought several items directly from manufacturers in China before and never experienced customer service like this. From now on I'm buying all my wheels from local dealers only. I don't mind paying a $300-$400 premium but when it's more than that I'll just hold off on buying the wheel.

I'm curious, if you don't mind my asking. What was your anticipated savings over the American 'retail' price? E.g., if you were trying to buy an MSuper 820 that would cost ~$1500 in the States, what was your final cost if bought from China?

[9Bot1]

@Marty Backe I was buying an msuper v3s+1600wh + seat+extra charger for $1400. Just the wheel was retailing for $2,000 here. Now they're selling for $1,850 which is a little more reasonable. It's still a hefty price tag to pay for local support, but I think it's worth it.

[jer]

 

Have you tried ringing them, or finding someone who speaks chinese to ring them on your behalf.

Is there some slight of hand meaning that the money has ended up in an account which is not Gotway's, but someone who appears to work for Gotway.

Gotway do seem to be less active on this forum for the last few weeks, which maybe is a sign of other problems

I hope you are able to sort the problem out.

Jer

[US69]

I heard a lot annoying stories about customer "service" at gotway....like you don't get warranty from Jane if you purchased from Linnea...and otherwise around!

but if this story is true, i think it can't get any worst!!!

@9Bot1

as I understand each one of the group buy send his own money to factory? Did the others use the same bank account? Do they get their wheels?

[Hunka Hunka Burning Love]

Hopefully it was just a miscommunication where the right hand didn't know what the left hand was doing?   Gotway needs to get this corrected as soon as possible since they have a fairly good reputation on the forum here.  

@Linnea Lin Gotway /  @Jane Mo please help this member out?  It's too bad someone messed up this group sale,  but hopefully they can make it right. 

[z3n]

@9Bot1 I'm sure as a legal company, Gotway has it's own official company bank account which should be used as all payment transactions instead of using a single individual bank account.

Don't they?

[US69]

1 hour ago, Hunka Hunka Burning Love said:

Hopefully it was just a miscommunication where the right hand didn't know what the left hand was doing?   Gotway needs to get this corrected as soon as possible since they have a fairly good reputation on the forum here.  

@Linnea Lin Gotway /  @Jane Mo please help this member out?  It's too bad someone messed up this group sale,  but hopefully they can make it right. 

haha.... A miscommunication for nearly a month now??? The Transfer was on 17.November....

From the amount of Money sent (1333 bucks), which you can see in the E-mail, it seams that every Group buy member sent his Money himself to Gotway...and not the "organizer" messed something up.....

 

@9Bot1 Share some more informations, please.....see my questions before.....

[Alien Rides]

Not enough information here to judge, though it seems like a poorly coordinated group buy if you only sent 1333.03.  I've send money to Gotway no problems, but it's typically easier to go through a dealer.

[9Bot1]

13 hours ago, jer said:

 

Have you tried ringing them, or finding someone who speaks chinese to ring them on your behalf.

Is there some slight of hand meaning that the money has ended up in an account which is not Gotway's, but someone who appears to work for Gotway.

Gotway do seem to be less active on this forum for the last few weeks, which maybe is a sign of other problems

I hope you are able to sort the problem out.

Jer

I tried calling them and no answer

11 hours ago, KingSong69 said:

I heard a lot annoying stories about customer "service" at gotway....like you don't get warranty from Jane if you purchased from Linnea...and otherwise around!

but if this story is true, i think it can't get any worst!!!

@9Bot1

as I understand each one of the group buy send his own money to factory? Did the others use the same bank account? Do they get their wheels?

Yes we all sent it separately. The first time I sent it it got returned because the benificiary name had to be a person and not Gotway. So I went into the branch and did it using the branch managers help and a copy of another members wire transfer paperwork to make sure it was right this time. I called a few days later and they confirmed everything sent correctly. Now it's coming on a month and all I get from Jane is "we didn't receive it yet" and "contact Lin" I emailed Lin and called and no response. Everyone else received their wheels. They have also been looped in to the emails so I have witnesses. Hopefully someone can chime in.

[9Bot1]

18 minutes ago, Kevin Grandon said:

Not enough information here to judge, though it seems like a poorly coordinated group buy if you only sent 1333.03.  I've send money to Gotway no problems, but it's typically easier to go through a dealer.

If that isn't enough information to judge, please let me know what would be? It's a message from their bank that it was deposited into their account. The group buy was coordinated fine. It's Jane/Lin/Gotway's fault for ignoring the situation day after day.

[US69]

15 minutes ago, 9Bot1 said:

I tried calling them and no answer

Yes we all sent it separately. The first time I sent it it got returned because the benificiary name had to be a person and not Gotway. So I went into the branch and did it using the branch managers help and a copy of another members wire transfer paperwork to make sure it was right this time. I called a few days later and they confirmed everything sent correctly. Now it's coming on a month and all I get from Jane is "we didn't receive it yet" and "contact Lin" I emailed Lin and called and no response. Everyone else received their wheels. They have also been looped in to the emails so I have witnesses. Hopefully someone can chime in.

ok....thats disturbing!

judging on this and other stories..i would guess that lin and Jane are not real employed...

they always act as they are just sales agents...living on sales percentages!

whatsoever..every time when its getting nasty....they just went into nirvana and vanish

[US69]

@9Bot1

i dont want to judge ...but it seams -to me!!!- you have proof enough..

so i would spread out the word on FB, too.

 

to go a month witthout response....and this pingpong between Linnea and Jane..thats a shame and they have done that to often!

[Marty Backe]

21 minutes ago, KingSong69 said:

<snip>

judging on this and other stories..i would guess that lin and Jane are not real employed...

<snip>

@jrkline visited the Gotway facility less than a month ago and got a tour from Lin or Jane, I forget which. So they probably are real employees.

[Tomek]

I also had good experience ordering from @Jane Mo. Knowing how things can go in China, there's a chance your payment got stuck somewhere in their banking system (mine was rejected the first time because of the wrong currency and it took my bank a while to figure out what happened). This doesn't excuse Linnea and Jane, but communication has never been their strength. I really think they should put some serious effort to resolve it, even if it's their bank's fault...

[jer]

 

1 hour ago, 9Bot1 said:

If that isn't enough information to judge, please let me know what would be? It's a message from their bank that it was deposited into their account. The group buy was coordinated fine. It's Jane/Lin/Gotway's fault for ignoring the situation day after day.

With the paper trail Gotway should be in a position to respond, so a little crazy why they don't. 

They could say hell  that's the wrong account or whatever

One of the reasons I got a Gotway was they were/are  quite active here.

I hope they can resolve this as they are do have a bonafide product.

Jer

I assume you phoned them at the right time of day and they are not in national holidays.

 

[US69]

56 minutes ago, Marty Backe said:

@jrkline visited the Gotway facility less than a month ago and got a tour from Lin or Jane, I forget which. So they probably are real employees.

Ok, fine...

Thing is...they dont act like that....there have been a ton of stories now, that one is rejecting warranty...because the wheel was bought from the other....or...different prices ..or...different answers..playing pingpong with the customers! read donafellos post above.

the only thing they do together? Thats vanish and be quiet..

 

 

Now that here is a new version of "ask the other"...and i really got herpes from such stories..

[16bitSprite]

I was more than happy to pay the extra on my wheel to make sure I was dealing with a trusted local seller. If any part of the sale went dodgy, I knew I wouldn't be liable and could take it up under my countries laws. As it happened Milbay the seller I dealt with was super knowledgeable and extremely helpful. The whole transaction was smooth and had no issues. Having said that, I still feel it was still worth the extra to have the peace of mind when paying such large amounts of cash. I look back at it as travel insurance for my wheel.

[Cloud]

I feel bad for @9Bot1.  I dont think gotway had any intention to pocket the money and not send the wheel, but i do believe that Gotway need to be more responsible and put in more effort into sorting out this situation with their bank. Simply saying that they did not receive the funds, stopping there and not caring any further is not acceptable. They need to actively investigate what happened and not just leave this part to the buyer. They also should provide daily responses so that the buyer doesnt have to seek them out every day. This would improve their image in the community in terms of the customer service quality and accountability. The fact that the buyer had to post this on the forum speaks louder than words as to the manufacturer's responsiveness.

i am sure this will get resolved in the end but putting the buying thru this for so long is not fair

[Adel]

Sorry if I'm not familiar with ordering direct from China, but why these transactions involve bank to bank transfers instead of credit card transactions ?

[Cloud]

47 minutes ago, Adel said:

Sorry if I'm not familiar with ordering direct from China, but why these transactions involve bank to bank transfers instead of credit card transactions ?

This is per the manufacturer's request.mthey dont accept certain types of payment. Its usually either bank transfer or wire transfer thru western union or such

[Tilmann]

Hi @9Bot1, I can relate to your irritation - been there twice. I purchased a Mten from Jane in summer 2015 and a Msuper V3 from Linnea in August 2016. 

I paid for those purchases via Western Union into Lin's personal account. Both transactions went through a phase of 10 days each, when WU insisted the payment was completed and Jane or Linnea would not confirm receiving it. Instead, I got all sorts of confusing questions and requests. In both cases, the successful credit to Lin's account was confirmed after about 10 days and the respective wheel was shipped shortly after. With both shipments, GotWay prepaid EU import duties and taxes, so I incurred no additional cost on delivery.

Comparing your bank slips, I noticed one difference: apparently, your payment was addressed to CHINA CONSTRUCTION BANK, BEIJING. I was specifically instructed to address the payment to CHINA CONSTRUCTION BANK, GUANGDONG BRANCH (postal address: Tianhe District, Guangzhou Pearl River New Town, China on the road south power dispatch communications building 1).

I visited GotWay in May 2016 in Shenzhen and met Linnea and Lin in person (Jane was not in the office at the time).

So much for my knowledge of facts, all the rest is second hand info or speculation:

• It does not seem to be unusual for smaller Chinese companies to use the bosses personal account for payments. Many such small enterprises don't have a corporate account. Neither Jane nor Linnea seem authorized to make inquiries regarding this account. If for any reason Lin is not available or "busy",  you're stalled.
• While Linnea is in good command of english, I don't think Lin is. On my visit, the conversation with him did not go far beyond "Hello". When corresponding with Jane or Linnea I doubt, the sense of urgency I put into my requests to clearify the transaction on the receiving side ever made it to Lin. My impression: "respect for the boss" makes it inappropriate for an employee to push a superior into action.
• Jane has been exclusively in charge of GotWay's  international market and customer communication throughout 2015, Linnea joined GW in April 2016 having worked for an EUC dealership before. I sense a certain rivalry between the two. As nobody else in the company seems to speak english, the resulting contradicting messages to the outside world are likely not realized and nobody interferes. I don't think that's strategy, but two uncoordinated individuals with different personalities and different approaches to business.
• Apparently, there is quite a bit of bureaucratic red tape in the Chinese banking system. That includes restrictions to receive payments in foreign currency. A lot of the delay with my second payment seemed to be caused by the fact, that I sent a Euro amount, but the credit to Lin's account needed to be in RMB. In the end, it probably just took one phone call from Lin to authorize the currency change and the money was credited. Before that, we went through all sorts of drama to change the currency from my end or reverse the transaction and initiate a new payment in RMB (all impossible with completed WU transactions).

Bottom line: I don't think, GW is intentionally trying to cheat you. They're just incredibly onerous to deal with and probably don't even realize the amount of frustration and loss of credibility this causes with their international customers. 

What can you do? I am optimistic, your payment can be cleared from the receiving side if the required requests are made to CHINA CONSTRUCTION BANK even though your payment may have ended in the wrong branch office. Only Lin can initiate this. I believe your best option would be to send him an email in Mandarin with all the details and urge him to act appropriately. Better than google translate would be some translation help by a fellow wheelie who speaks Chinese (there are some in this forum). I think, Lin's email is donald_gotway@kebye.com, but I'm not 100% sure. (Edit: Thanks to @Cloud for correcting me on that one)

If you want to compare account no. and SWIFT codes with my payments, please PM me your regular email address an I will send those infos to you (the data is in .png format and I don't know how to send that by PM).

Cheers & good luck!

PS: I had some trouble with a flawed battery in the Mten purchased from Jane. GW paid in full for a repair in country through 1RadWerkstatt under warranty!