Never again, terrible experience

So I didn't listen to others and ordered a relatively expensive item (400$) from Aliexpress (AE), it was sold by a store with good feedback so I thought I'm safe and that AE will support me in case of issues. I was wrong.

I received a new item but was dead on arrival. And here the problems started.

• I went to request a refund but I was not able to request it due to an unknwon error, support was not able to help and it took 7 days or so to raise the rewuest. Maybe it is due to a window from when the order is cofirmed recieved? Just guessing.

• In the meantime, I was talking to the seller who tried everything possible to convince me to not raise a dispute and they they will fix the product for me remotely, I refused. At the end he provided me with an address to ship the item back to and confirmed he will cover shipment cost.I had to send it from Europe to China so shioment cost was not negligible. Refund request through AE was not opened yet, so I went ahead and shipped the item back.

• Refund request opened and here my fight starts with AE. For 5 times, they rejected the refund request and their solution was "no refund". Despite providing a video showing that the item I received was not functioning, it was a mini PC that didn't even power on. Spent 3 weeks emailing them and complaining. All I was getting was a robotic response, no refund with some BS text, no details, no reasoning. After 3 weeks, they approved the refund request and I got my money back.

• In the meantime, the product was recieved by the seller who stopped responding to me, his store was closed few days later.

• Got back to AE requesting refund for return shipment cost. For like 10 times over 3 weeks, I was getting the same robotic response, that the item was not sent back. I provided the proof, address provided by seller, the tracking details confirming that the package was delivered and picked up by the same person's name provided by seller. But no, AE keeps saying that according to them the item was not sent back.

• Here it was not about the return shipment cost anymore but about how stupid they can be to keep sending the very same email over and over again, ignoring my questions and refusing to explain why.

• After an email full of swearing 🤬, I got an email by someone who requested more information confirmation from the post office about the package and costs. So I provided it. Response? no refund for return shipment costs. That was today.

Moral of the story, pay a bit more and order from your local store. With this terrible customer service, they should not be allowed to make business. Anyway, for me it is not worth it and I will never be order from them again. Absolutely terrible.