Tech/maintenance Zheng Hao Music is Dead!

[stitch]

Maybe they have fallen out with uk buyers could be they have problems with uk customs

No reason to think so. Any delay due to UK customs is nothing to do with them. The problem seems to be on the supply side.

 

[gladsaxisme]

My thoughts on this is about the customs thing is where you get a note through your door from the post office stating there is a parcel for collection with a customs charge and delivery charge to be paid and depending on the cost of that the purchaser might decide to just not collect and report a non delivery to PayPal but who knows

 

[Pete Thomas]

My thoughts on this is about the customs thing is where you get a note through your door from the post office stating there is a parcel for collection with a customs charge and delivery charge to be paid and depending on the cost of that the purchaser might decide to just not collect and report a non delivery to PayPal but who knows

That is unlikely if the parcel is tracked - the tracking tells the seller that it was delivered, or refused, or delieverd but nobody to sign or whatever. In that case Paypla (believe it or not) will side with the seller.

This has happened to me and Paypal can follow the tracking link and see a deleivery was attempted.

 

[saxyjt]

Maybe they have fallen out with uk buyers could be they have problems with uk customs

Nah! I'm in France and had no delivery. Simply because the merchandise was never sent. The order status went from paid to production and stalled forever. Never shipped. I tried to contact them several times with absolutely no reaction whatsoever.

On the other side, MM as well as IC are very responsive, but more expensive. Quality, reliability and proper communication, or customer service have a price.

 

[Ivan]

Maybe they have fallen out with uk buyers...

Nah! I'm in France and had no delivery...

I've got it!

They won't send to UK...

...or to any Frenchman who admits he speaks English

 

[gladsaxisme]

That is unlikely if the parcel is tracked - the tracking tells the seller that it was delivered, or refused, or delieverd but nobody to sign or whatever. In that case Paypla (believe it or not) will side with the seller.

This has happened to me and Paypal can follow the tracking link and see a deleivery was attempted.

The other thing is that if you don't go and collect them they are returned to the sender in which case I suppose the seller has to refund the payment under PayPal rules and I have no idea if this is the case but if you were a seller and had a few things returned like this it would be better not to deal with the country you were having problems in because your margins are not huge. I don't know if other people are still managing to get supplies from them and then there is the cost of postage maybe that makes it uneconomical who knows,all I'm saying is there could be lots of reasons and they might still be going strong

 

[stitch]

I'm saying is there could be lots of reasons and they might still be going strong

Shipping costs and customs delays are to be expected and outwith ZH's control. The problem seems simply to be them taking too long to despatch orders. Once actually shipped, everything's fine ... it's just that the period between receiving an order and getting the goods out the door is way too long, and not responding to emails doesn't help.

 

[andmarka]

I placed an order there on 11.11.2019, on 12.11 the status changed to production and today 13.11 to shipped and I could even track it.
But it was sent with China Post, not with Singapore one as stated in the oder status. So let's see.

I ordered only pads. Maybe the problem pops up with orders containing other staff, e.g. that might be produced by other parties.

Today I received my order!
Delivery to Switzerland was unexpectedly fast. 🙂 Just 8 days.

 

[JayeNM]

Interesting. Am glad for you.

Strangely inconsistent behavior from a seller though....

 

[andmarka]

Interesting. Am glad for you.

Strangely inconsistent behavior from a seller though....

Let's ask people, who've got problems, to share what they've ordered, only pads or something else?

 

[Ivan1975]

Please recommend a company for saxophone pads. With quality as well as price as ZhengHao Music pads.
Thank you

 

[antonjazzsax]

Hi everyone. I though I'd share this here. I've ordered some repair supplies from Zheng Hao on the 18.02.2020. Today it arrived (15th of April 2020 - I live in Austria). Considering the times of Coronavirus it could be worse IMHO. I've had the similar worries because there haven't been any confirmation email and no one replied to my emails. The order arrived incomplete. The leak LED tester was not there and on the "Bill" everything else has been checked with the pencil!!!, except for the Leak Light. However on the Package I've found the Chinese phone number which I decided to call. The Chinese woman responded and confirmed that this is Zheng Hao Music. I explained the situation, she apologised and said that the supplier probably didn't have the item. She said I can apply for refund through PayPal (arond 14$). As I got curious I started asking, how they are doing and why such delays and no communication. She apologised again and said that her husband is running it all by himself (Looks like he is more like a dealer, ) and doesn't catch up. She also said I can always call but processing through website is happening automatically and still faster. So my impression is: NO they are not out of business (at least yet). And YES they do have some troubles with smooth supply, which might be temporary or, not. So it might still be worth checking with them as I can imagine that it might get normal once agin. At least there is a way to get in touch with them via phone. Here is the number in case someone would be interested in their products in the future +8613818182862 All the best to all of you and stay well!
Anton

 

[saxyjt]

Thanks for this Anton.

I guess there is an element of culture here that I am struggling with. How can you not ship an order for 4 months and not communicate? Ignore your 'repeated' customers emails?

Then why go through PayPal for a credit? If they did not ship, they should credit you!

Apologies are no excuses for such a poor customer management. But then again, I guess that's not yet part of the culture...

 

[JayeNM]

I agree.

I am glad some of you received your orders, and apparently not in terrible turnaround time (although one was incomplete).

Regarding the 'partial refund' for the never-supplied light...the onus is on the merchant simply to refund the buyer, period. They COULD do this in 30 seconds by simply logging into their Paypal, finding the transaction, and sending back the $.
No need for buyer to 'apply' for a refund thru Paypal (you can't actually do that, anyway...all you can do is either message the seller ...or open a dispute, there is no 'apply for refund' procedure).

So that just isn't an acceptable reply from the company, sorry.

The fact is, others did not receive their orders, or received them quite unacceptably late...orders which were placed well before the virus hit.

Moral of story here....find a supplier that communicates and has a good track record of filling orders.

There's a point where dealing with this simply because they are a very cheap source is no longer much of a good reason to use them again...

 

[antonjazzsax]

There's a point where dealing with this simply because they are a very cheap source is no longer much of a good reason to use them again...

I totally agree on that. I would not buy anything from unreliable source knowingly or willingly either. Moreover after all this if I would EVER consider buying ANYTHING from them again I would tripple-check the situation first to make sure things go right, because as you say, it just isn't worth it. However I think it's still worth keeping an eye on that business, because things might change. As far as I can tell, it is not an "element of the culture" but a poorly managed or more specifically a very understaffed company (a one man business), which doesn't excuse the poor business behaviour but I personally am not looking to be pleased really. Practically speaking either it's worth ordering from them or it is not. We, customers, decide. As far as I can tell from my experience and from what has been shared here, if someone ends up ordering from them without being prepared (like I was) it's not worth waiting for too long, and they don't seem to answer emails unless it's a PayPal dispute. In that case looks like the best way is to simply call them after the order has been placed and ask/insist to take care of it ASAP and if that doesn't help, open a dispute and get the cash back through PayPal after 6 weeks. That said, at this point I would not do it again, unless I'd see the improvement. Hopefully people won't get stuck as much after all this buzz and I'd love to see the Zheng Hao back on their feet again. Let's see. Best. Anton

 

[Ivan]

I guess there is an element of culture here that I am struggling with. How can you not ship an order for 4 months and not communicate? Ignore your 'repeated' customers emails?

You don't love the uncertainty?

 

[dreadnet]

Emailed ZHmelody.com and received a reply in 2 days stating that the do have saxophone pads in stock and that they deliver to UK.

Is it worth the risk in ordering?

Cheers

 

[Ivan]

Is it worth the risk in ordering?

Do you feel lucky, punk?

 

[MMM]

Emailed ZHmelody.com and received a reply in 2 days stating that the do have saxophone pads in stock and that they deliver to UK.

Is it worth the risk in ordering?

Cheers

Why not order from Dawkes or Windplus? You would be supporting a family business and be able to receive your goods quickly and if you need to return or exchange anything it is not an issue. You don’t have to be a business or VAT registered to order from these companies.

 

[SaxBoss]

Why not order from Dawkes or Windplus? You would be supporting a family business and be able to receive your goods quickly and if you need to return or exchange anything it is not an issue. You don’t have to be a business or VAT registered to order from these companies.

I, for one, are inclined to agree with you all from the Northern Hemisphere. If I was in your shoes I would follow that principle. Quality, Availability, prompt service with overnight dispatch and postage, low cost of shipping, small quantity buys, friendly familure voice the other side of a phone and genuinely a great experience.

But being "down under" there just isn't that distributor of sax equipment, tools, consumables, replacement parts that is easily available.
We have order large quantities of Pads from Italy or the USA; pay a fortune in shipping costs (sometimes to the tune of equal to the cost of the full set of pads); wait the very least for three weeks for it arrive, if one pad is incorrect, you have to order a replacement with no hope of ever returning the faulty unit; all the while keeping the client on tender hooks as he/she hasn't got their beloved horn to practice on.

That's why we sometimes have to make an executive decision and take a risk to order from an Asian supplier and chuck out what is not of A1 quality.
But that's the life of a repair tech down under, is it not?