Michael H.

THE GOOD NEWS: After more than 30 days of back and forth messaging with Gearbest (GB) I finally received a refund for 30 KN-95 masks from a total of 110 actually ordered.
THE BAD NEWS: GB tried to make me deal with a sub seller of theirs named NICHE. The Customer Care and that might be an oxymoron, of NICHE sent me numerous messages which were in no way relevant to my missing masks. They sent numerous requests for photos of the packaging and individual masks which I luckily had. I am convinced they were playing a delay game in hopes I would, out of frustration, give up. I finally told (GB) that they were the seller I ordered from directly and they had to take responsibility for the missing masks, not some company (NICHE) I never heard of when I placed the order. GB finally started communicating with me. Their messaging was slightly better than NICHE but they too seemed to be playing the delay game in hopes I would not meet the PayPal (PP) deadline.
This became very frustrating when after NICHE and GB messaged me separately, they would send me a refund but not until I closed the case with PayPal. My only leverage with them was my PayPal Case. Due to PP timing rules I had an upcoming deadline and so I closed the CASE. Within 2 days I was notified the refund was on its way from GB via PayPal to me.
Conclusion: The total refund was for around $38. The masks I did receive were of good quality. Why, you might ask, did I spend so much of my time with all of the back of over a month period over $38. I am 81 years old and retired. I am stuck in the house what with the Covid-19 thing.
Lessons learned: Make sure you take comprehensive photos of received items and packaging thereof. NICHE did complete the delivery. The problem was that they were totally wrong as to the number of masks in the individual smaller packages. Seemingly easy to communicate, but they made it infinitely more difficult.
MORE GOOD NEWS: The K-95 masks seem to work in regards to the horrible air quality caused be the California fires.
POSSIBLE BAD NEWS: Gearbest, Niche and PP may refuse to ever deal with me again. OR IS THAT GOOD NEWS.