Stop Shipping from Taobao – It’s Not Worth It (featuring Infinity Freight Solutions Ptd Ltd and Last Mile Delivery Pte Ltd)
This is a post to tell ourselves to stop shipping from Taobao, because it’s not worth it. You lose more money than you save.
TL;DR version – We got Sfinex to ship our Taobao stuff, which subcontracted to Last Mile Delivery Pte Ltd, which subcontracted to Infinity Freight Solutions Pte Ltd. Infinity lost our stuff, we were compensated far below the value of our stuff and what we were told was possible. To make matters worse, both companies just constantly went missing, uncontactable, at times were rude and aggressive, and just displayed a lack of business ethics. There has been an update where we got our money back in strange circumstances, you may wish to jump straight to it if you prefer.
This is an ongoing story of loss parcels, except this time the entire order went missing.
Regular readers will remember that we previously raved about shipping from Taobao, but we became more cautious after our shipper MRC lost a few of our items. We lost around $150 then.
Fast forward to today, we’re probably going to lose more. Here’s another disappointing tale of shipping using third party forwarders and having either incompetent or dishonest couriers.
The story of our missing items, starring the mysterious Infinity Freight Solutions and elusive Andy Leong
We shipped around $200 worth of items over air through Sfinex. They have this option to ship via actual weight rather than volumetric weight. Which is good because the cost is low.
We shipped some time after the 10/10 sales, so we didn’t get stuck in the “hot season”.
Everything appeared fine, the parcel went through the standard shipping from China, clearing through customs on both sides. That’s when the nightmare started.
Parcel reached Singapore, but there was no update
We just monitored here and there, as and when we could. After it reached Singapore it became strange. A few days after it cleared Singapore customs, there was completely nothing on our parcel. Usually shippers would call or text you when they were going to arrange delivery.
But no.
We then called the delivery company, Last Mile Delivery Pte Ltd. We tried many times before finally getting through. They’re the ones who are in charge of delivering items from the plane to your homes.
We said we only wanted them to arrange with us and update us on our parcel. They gave us two numbers, someone named Andy Leong and an unnamed admin supervisor.
Courier company disappeared
We called Andy and the admin supervisor. We must’ve done so at least 20, 30 times. And left tons of Whatsapp messages.
They were all read.
No replies.
This didn’t look good, at all. We were worried. The last time we lost stuff, the shipper was very honest to tell us that 2 items were missing. This time around, nothing.
We had to do something. We turned back to Last Mile Delivery Pte Ltd to ask. This subcontractor led by Andy, Infinity Freight Solutions Pte Ltd apparently received many complaints and they were late. Andy was told that they only had a day left to deliver everything. The Last Mile Delivery lady said we would receive our stuff by then.
We were like, ok, why don’t we self collect our items? But we were told the parcel was already on the delivery van and making its rounds.
They didn’t deliver
But they didn’t deliver by the deadline. So we continued to text and call Andy. Still didn’t work.
In our desperation, we googled his phone number. Strangely enough we did find an Andy Leong, which we later confirmed had the same surname as Andy from Infinity Freight Solutions Pte Ltd.
We called Last Mile Delivery Pte Ltd again. Again they said they told Andy to deliver everything and Andy would comply.
We weren’t feeling very sure, so we also went to Wechat Sfinex to tell them to apply pressure on the courier company as well.
Dishonest attempt by Infinity Freight Solutions Pte Ltd
During our conversation, Sfinex told us that the tracking system said the delivery was completed. It was impossible because we didn’t receive anything, but Sfinex’s system said the parcel was “delivered” on 30 Oct.
This was ridiculous. We called Andy, he still didn’t pick up. It was definitely the correct number. We called Last Mile Delivery Pte Ltd, they said that was atrocious by Andy and conveyed to Andy that there was a problem with my parcel.
We finally reached Andy
After all the panicking, somehow we managed to reach Andy subsequently. He picked up the call and said he’d deliver the parcel by 10pm. We were so happy we cut short dinner to return home to wait for the delivery.
But it never came. We should’ve suspected something was wrong because he never asked for our name or address. Only my phone number was in his record, which he didn’t bother to reply to.
Meanwhile, we learnt from Last Mile Delivery Pte Ltd that Infinity Freight Solutions Pte Ltd’s system was down, so the latter marked all parcels as “delivered” regardless of delivery status. Apparently there was someone else with the same problem of non-receipt of items. In short, this whole problem arose because Infinity Freight Solutions Pte Ltd lost all ability to track items, and the driver either lost the parcel or took it with him.
Andy said it wasn’t him
The no show upset us and we called Andy again the next day. After many attempts we managed to get him. He denied that it was him who spoke to me, and asked us to refresh his memory.
When we told him the problem, he said he couldn’t help us. It was a different team handling the issue. He said he had to escalate the problem to customer service. Andy denied that his system was down. He said all parcels were delivered, as shown by the status update.
Andy kept harping on how he needed to solve the problem we raised. He wouldn’t give any reasons for why we couldn’t contact anyone from his team or why no one informed us that our parcel was missing. Apparently, non-receipt is different from non-delivery, and his team couldn’t handle a non-receipt claim.
He wanted us to send him a “black and white” Whatsapp text so he could escalate the matter (no matter that it was already escalated). He said he was doing us a favour. At this point, he was a bona fide asshole to make himself seem like doing the client a favour, which often is the case for shitty contractors or service providers. It’s always the customers’ fault and the contractor is the angel who’s helping out of goodwill.
Sent the text, but…
We sent the text he wanted, but he again didn’t acknowledge it. We had to call a few times and asked Last Mile Delivery Pte Ltd to tell him to acknowledge it.
Then he finally did.
Meanwhile, Last Mile Delivery Pte Ltd people said Andy was talking nonsense. They only liaised with him, there was no other team involved. Sfinex said the courier company had tons of complaints and did things improperly.
Subsequently, we received a call from Infinity Freight Solutions Pte Ltd that our case was being investigated. An Infinity lady called us a few times, to ask “did you receive your parcel?” and “we’ll update you again“.
Our parcels were missing
So we just received a call to update us that the parcel was lost. And Infinity Freight Solutions Pte Ltd hid behind the fact that they informed the Chinese side (Sfinex). They refused to say what had happened, only that they had “done their part”. We requested to speak to Andy, but he was apparently in “a meeting” and never responded. Andy switched off his phone.
At this point, Sfinex said we’d likely lose out quite a bit monetarily, as their compensation will not cover much.
We essentially paid Sfinex money to throw away our items
To be rational about this, we essentially paid Sfinex money to throw away or lose our items.
There’re many doubts:
- Why was it impossible to contact Andy and his admin supervisor?
- Why was it impossible to contact Andy and his admin supervisor when our items were still confirmed to be inside the delivery van?
- Were the parcels listed as delivered so we didn’t notice anything and they can claim innocence, that it was already delivered?
- Why would our parcel be listed as delivered at 3am in the morning, if as Andy claimed their system wasn’t down?
- What is the role of the driver in this situation?
- Did the driver steal the parcel? Did Infinity Freight Solutions Pte Ltd investigate? After all, the compensation value is always lower than the value of the goods.
Andy will never answer these questions. On our end, we need to prepare for the eventuality that we can’t get a single cent. Sfinex can only refund money to our Alipay wallet, but even that might be impossible because our account is unverified.
Only someone like the Punisher can find out the truth of what really happened and whether they were out to cheat us. We did the next best alternative, report it to the police. But it’s unlikely anything would come out of it, it’s essentially a small case where no one got hurt and doesn’t warrant police resources.
What happened next
The shitstorm got worse. We were offered only $70 as compensation by the Chinese, even though Last Mile Delivery previously said the goods were covered up to $200. Andy and his staff Daxter went missing, as usual.
So we tried to challenge both sides. And it turns out that upon stressing them, Last Mile Delivery said that the $200 limit is not applicable to us, because they were sub contracted by Sfinex. They also accused us of not choosing private settlement and leaving the case to Sfinex.
That was a lie because we were never offered private settlement. Every step of the way we were told that the Chinese side were the ones to settle, even when we kept badgering for an update.
Put simply, Last Mile Delivery and Infinity Freight Solutions have really questionable ethics and way of doing business. The money lost is not a large sum, around $100. The items also weren’t critical.
But it’s just proof that there’re some companies that are poorly run, are ethically unsound, and provide poor service (if your job is to deliver something and the whole thing disappears, then you suck at your job).
So we hope this is a warning for everyone who engages shippers who use Last Mile Delivery Pte Ltd and Infinity Freight Solutions Pte Ltd – don’t, unless you want a bunch of unprofessional, rude, and morally questionable people handling your stuff.
Morale of the story
At this point in time, the desire to buy from Taobao, to do shipping from Taobao must have dried up. We’re losing more money than we’d ever save.
If you do still want to use Taobao, try your very best to avoid those involved above. At its best, Infinity Freight Solutions Pte Ltd is the most incompetent courier company who gets away with it. At its worst, they have questionable ethics in terms of customer service and possibly is abetting shady practices (in terms of getting to the bottom of the matter for problems they cause) when it comes to courier services.
Last Mile Delivery Pte Ltd receives less blame, but we must still fault them for putting us in harm’s way by engaging a contractor (Infinity Freight Solutions Pte Ltd) it knew was shitty and incompetent. Same thing for Sfinex, which said that it turned to Last Mile Delivery Pte Ltd because it got swarmed with orders.
Anyway, let our story warn you of Taobao’s hidden dangers, helped along by truly questionable couriers and dear Andy.
Update
We got only $70 in compensation from Sfinex. Non-negotiable.
After this post went up, 2 drivers made comments here which accused Last Mile Delivery of shady practices and complained about unfair treatment. The language was colourful, to put it mildly. Those comments have since been hidden out of respect for the drivers and the company – it seems that they might get into trouble and they are also locked in a dispute with the company. We’ve no wish to get in between their dispute.
Andy then contacted us to urgently request that we take down the post/comments. For some reason he very kindly refunded us the loss we incurred. We suppose it was out of their goodwill. They didn’t have to do it. But they still did it. Good for us!
We do wonder whether the matter would’ve ended this way if we didn’t write this post and the comments weren’t made. Probably not.
We still have no idea whose fault it was that our items got lost/stolen.
We won’t take down this post, but we will put up any statement that Last Mile Delivery has to offer if they decide they want to.
Hi Pewpewpew, I’m sorry for what happened as it’s super frustrating to lost what you purchased online and a waste of time to chase where it is. (Happened to my fiance too and a TV was gone during the delivery by Ninja Van).
Maybe you can consider ezbuy instead. Not as cheap as taobao though but my parcels have thus far reached me in good condition (but my items is probably not as many).
Ikr! We considered ezbuy but we heard a lot of bad reviews, especially after they had a spat with Taobao and their warehouses constantly got blacklisted. We know if people who swear by them and we’ll definitely keep them in mind for future use. For now we’re going to take a break, the quality of stuff and the risk of losing your stuff is just too great at the moment. We’ll write another post on all our metal stuff (not kidding) rusting like they were made of iron, instead of the 304 stainless steel that they are supposedly made of.
Infinity freight solution is the worst experience i had in my life!! dont mentioned about the parcel missing or such.. Like you mentioned andy leong did even bother to settle any issues at all and he will give lots and lots of excuses and reasons just to cover his shit.. he also not being professional for his role at that company which is such a shame for a guy running a business.. he will manipulate and turn the situation around to make him look as if he is the victim and we are the suspect for all this issues.. a simple word for andy leong he is a coward that doesnt want to man up and settle any issues raise to him or his “team”..
Just chanced upon your site and I think it’s really informative especilly for future house buyer like us. I’ve so far been using ezbuy with no issues but have not bought furniture with them. So far, they delivered. Just make sure to avoid those special sales period where I think the parcels were delayed alot
Appreciate the feedback! We’ve used ezbuy once or twice, but that’s about it for us. They also do lose stuff, like other forwarders. Just always be careful and split your shipments!
I’m so glad i found ur post. I’m a supplier to infinity freight solutions. Thwy haven’t paid us since lastvyr july, and this Andy Leong keeps wayang us for payment date. Dishonesty definitely runs inside that business. I pulled up their company profile. Apparently they’re registered with a paid up capital of one million to an indian lady who lives in Yishun.
I share you sentiments Louise!
We did a delivery for him in May last year & didnt get a single cent! He made up crap excuses & we went down to his office a couple of times but no avail. I think he dont know Dishonesty will lead to poverty!
Andy Leong, lol he full of excuses. Im the direct employee also didnt received my salary, told me will pay, then he delayed it, then he become popular on media lastly said was told by the lawyer not to contact us as the lawyer will sent letter of settlement for the payment of our salary, yet the letter still didnt come. Well a sweet talker.
Andy Leong is a cheater, con man, scammer
LMD lost my parcel and they refused to pick up my call since yesterday. I cannot seem to reach the guy anymore. Apparently, he told me he declared item as “lost” and will get his China mailing office to contact me. I did not receive any of such calls. I suspect it was a lie to close off the matter. My parcel was gone since 13 March 2019. Is he Andy? It was a valuable item, I wonder if they stole it. However, when I track via his website today, it was shown delivery status failed as nobody was in. Bullshit. My helper was definitely in. If so, why did they not attempt to deliver again after 13 March? He told me the parcel was lost. No idea why his status was because no one was in. What a coward.
Sorry to hear about your loss! You might want to drop an email or text to your shipping company? LMD is unlikely to entertain your phone calls or texts based on our experience, so they’d probably leave it to the shipping company to settle any compensation.
The same thing happened to me. I was trying to Google to look up this company called LMD when I chanced upon your post.
The quality of Taobao overseas delivery has plummeted. Not the first time that they either didn’t check properly to ensure all items are in. Otherwise it’s delayed delivery. No updates etc. Didn’t even tell us which courier company has the goods; how can we even track the packages down?
My most recent experience is the entire shipment is still MIA. Not simply one or two items, but the entire batch. Ordered in early March, took more than 1 month to arrive in Spore (acc to app updates) and then some “funny” courier guy (actually he was damn impatient) called on last Friday night if he can deliver by 12am or the next day. I said I don’t know if I can’t wait till 12am; if u can deliver tomorrow then tomorrow lah…. my god…. no news then…
Called the impatient guy again at 4pm Saturday and he said 7pm …called him at 10pm and he sounded irritated and he asked for my name and address and said my item was not with him?!
Asked for his company contact details and he gave me only an email address. I emailed them and they replied Tuesday asking for my tracking number.
Taobao has never given me any global tracking number in the first place! I don’t even know which company has the item cos the email address looks weird and the courier guy is always impatient to hang up.
I called the impatient courier guy again just now and he said he is delivering for LMD and there is no phone number. That’s why I am on Google trying to hunt for more clues.
This really sucks!
Thanks for sharing your experience, indeed it is frustrating, makes you wonder why this continuously happens if they know it’s a problem.
Andy Leong is a old cheat. Never pay to supplier and do this to customer. Always
Hello pewpewpew, sorry to disturb, may I know if it is possible for you to tell me what’s Last Mile Delivery Pte Ltd contact number? I have delivery with them and I’m kinda worried now after seeing your post and that I have no updates etc. I’ve tried to find ways to contact them but I could only come across their email and their online chat is always offline. Many thanks!
Sorry we deleted their numbers, so we don’t have it already! 🙁
Tel: +65 6304 8034
Gosh i stumble upon this page as i was finding ways to get hold of a person of my lost parcel by Last Mile Delivery Pte Ltd. Going through EXACTLY what this post had mentioned!! Damn them irresponsible souls.
Thanks for sharing, did you get your stuff eventually?
oh no, i was thinking of using Sfinex as my agent.. but their Singapore agents seem quite colourful, upon reading your article above.. is there anyway to know whether are they the only appointed ones or i can appoint my own clearance here at Singapore?
Unfortunately you cannot. But if you ask for Roadbull it should be fine, just make sure to tell the Sfinex customer service folks that you don’t want LMD.
I’m also fedup with Last Mile Delivery, this time person in charge is Joanne. I ordered 3 items total weight almost 60kg so I opted for sea shipment, end July 2019. On 23Aug the first small parcel a key holder box came, & the whole shipment was then labelled as signed & received. I got a shock as I only received 2 out of 3 items. I complained to Taobao online & LMD delivered 2nd item, an oven, on 6Sep. On the spot we got the delivery guy to call office & they confirmed still remaining 1 package, a high rack for the oven, cost RMB1600+. Office told the guy it would be delivered either on 7 or 9Sep. Until today, 25Sep, it’s still not delivered. I contacted TB online & through their Spore Hotline 31633159, the guy was very friendly & helpful. I sent him photos of what I’ve received, & my WhatsApp exchange with Joanne (87496082) on 12Sep, where Joanne confirmed package still in the warehouse.
I waited 2days & this morning I got a shock when TB texted me to say courier company had proof to show i signed receipt of 2 items including the rack. I’m so mad. I already showed them photo I received oven & keybox, but rack still not received. Now LMD lied that I’ve received & signed for the rack. I’m really mad! Will call TB again shortly. Those who wanna complain, call Hotline, it’s faster than online chat. As for Joanne, don’t expect any reply or answer to your calls or WhatsApp,she also bochap kind. I can’t believe our service standard is so lousy, China side practically zero problem ever since I started buying from TB 2 years ago, always problem with delivery here.
I am now encountering the same issue. Bought 2 chairs and 2 cushions. Only cushions arrived. The delivery lady, a nice Malay lady told us to check with the company and she will also drop a note to them. I chatted with taobao customer svc who gave me 2 sg numbers belonging to LMD, but I got no reply after whatsapping the hp number although it was read.
About an hour and a half later, the Malay lady called to inform me that the 2nd package is still with the company and that they will arrange for delivery next week. Very impressed with her svc and thankful for her kind actions especially since today is a saturday evening.
Have been buying from taobao for so long, this is the first major cockup possibly because it’s one of the rare times I order a bulky item. Hope will receive the parcel next week. LMD needs to buck up.
Last Mile Delivery Pte. Ltd, is really a cheater!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, report to police
Totally agree!! I find it funny that their company has a monkey logo.. now I understand, they are doing Monkey Business!!!
That was in insult, buying from online will have online buyer rule and regulation. Dont assume every company is doing monkey business. Only know how to be keyboard warrior. I think you only suitable to go retail and buy your stuff.
Why you asking people to go and report police? Cheat you what? Your money? Dun buy online la. Go retail and buy your item la. Your item cost alot? LMD need your 1 package money? You very funny le
OMG! Im still waiting for my parcel to arrive from Last Mile Delivery Pte Ltd, is this really a SCAM! they are ignoring me and not replying any whats app and call. The tracking is also not working and one of the number 87496085 is not valid!!! I requested refund from TAOBAO but they are me to keep waiting. Been waiting since 25 may!!!!!
have you got your parcel finally? I’ve been waiting since 31/May
It showed that my parcel was received,but i did not receive any thing from this company.I contacted Taobao customer service and they said that this company would contact me.This company did contact me and said that they would give me an answer but i did not receive any news from them.Scam company is it
Unfortunately it’s unlikely you’ll get your parcel back, you might need to discuss compensation.
I have a parcel from taobao and the agent directed me to LMD. it was last seen that my parcel was out for delivery since 3rd June. it’s 12th now and no news.
My taobao parcel hasnt updated for many days and like the previous comment, the agent directed me to LMD. the tracking number was shown invalid when i tried to enter it in their website and they did not pick up any phone calls either, after seeing ur post, i’m very worried that they have lost my parcel too.
That was the main problem for us – no communication and the whole operation seemed like a scam because our parcel was shown as delivered when it was not. You might need to contact your agent for compensation and stay away from LMD in future.
Why always is LMD issue? Can you guys be more fair to LMD. LMD only a last mile doing delivery. If the tracking number is invalid, what can LMD do? Also there alot of circumstance that phone is not picking up. I also a buyer from TB and using LMD for delivery. Yes, i do agreed that their number hard to get thru, so i went to live chat and email. They do reply me very fast. Sometime we need to be more flexible and find alternative way to handle problem.
Hey im not sure if you will be notified of this comment? but is there any update for your taobao parcel? Would like to keep in touch to learn more about your situation. I am probably in the same situation right now. LMD just told me that they lost my parcel today.
My 57kg worth of goods was also lost also by LMD . They have another name ZTO according to the China site .. now I also don’t know why can be done … I went down to LMD warehouse and they claim they nvr received my goods so how can they deliver item to me ? But according to the logistic company and my tracking item is in sg it have been 1 mth and there is no update.
Sorry to hear that. You probably need to get the China side to process compensation, i.e. partial refund.
Item didnt arrive singapore, that not the issue with the company. Maybe you want to check with china shipper about it and dont comment here regard to LMD. They can sue you on it. By the way 57kg item is not delivered by them, their delivery only up to 50kg.
By the way i also facing issue with LMD CS Joan. Recently their CS had been improve. Joan no longer with LMD, i went to their Office to pass my reject order, they have more then 4 CS now handling call, live chat and Email.. Good job LMD. Think they can be much much better
I used Dex-I which subcontracted to Last Mile Delivery Pte Ltd. The service is the worst I have experienced as well. The parcel was handed to them on Monday, but a delivery attempt was only made on Wednesday. I left a note for the courier to call as I was away for a short while, but the courier did not call. I was promised a delivery within the next 2 days. It was again not delivered. Responses from the customer service is always “It will be delivered” but no confirmation on dates!
I too recently had the unpleasant opportunity of Last Mile Delivery / ZTO Shipping handle my parcel. Unfortunately the company I bought from engaged an air shipper who then engaged this “firm” when the parcel cleared customs. I lost $1,100 SGD in the value of the parcel — for which they never could “find” — yea.. we know how that works.