It was some time before CNY, a company from Koln, Germany first sent me deposit for an order. It took 1 week to get to my company account. Before the 1st shipment (by air), I asked for balance amount. this time it took only 4days to get to my company account.

And the last payment was sent (this company even sent me a remittance slip) on 13 Mar. But up to today (23 Mar), the payment still haven't arrived in the account. It is so strange and weird to me. For the last decade I have been working with European customers. This is the only one I worked with took so long to wire the remittance here.

I don't know if that remittance slip is real or fake. Now I'm worry if this payment (USD 6000) will ever arrive. Can anyone tell me how long it could take for remittance from Germany?

The time a bank transfer takes depends on the number of intermediary banks who participate in the transaction. Therefore if your bank is not in direct contact with the buyers' bank they will need an intermediary bank. I would guess a transfer time of 4-5 days from Germany to HK is completely normal.


Concering payment proofs the bank slip you mentioned indicates only that the buyer has told their bank to pay you. They can withdraw their money order the same banking day, it is possible that they made a mistake filling in the bank details or, they simply don't have enough money on their account for transfer. Check if the bank details they sent the money are right and ask your own bank if they know about the fate of this payment.


Next time ask for the SWIFT copy of the transfer. This is issued by their bank by fax and is a proof that the amound invoiced was actually removed from their account and you can expect receiving it in a few days. This can be forged however (if your buyer is a scammer).


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Payment still not received and this customer reply to me after thousand of pushes "bank made a mistake and the money is still stuck here."

Thank you Gabor for the suggestion. This German guy sent me another bankslip but I notice that is came from his "C" drive in the "temp" folder. So, I asked him to ask his bank to send me a SWIFT copy directly. After 3hours, still no fax received yet. I'm crossing my fingers now, hoping this German company just want to delay to pay instead of scam.

 

 

Still no payment!!!

I think we should have more topics about "professional scamming buyers".

I think this man is pulling your legs. A SWIFT copy is sent directly to you by his by fax, by his bank.



Did you deliver anything to him? If not see if you find another buyer. If yes, report it to the German Chamber of Commerce and the German Police.


Maybe he only has some monetary problems, which can happen to anybody. However sending you false banking proofs is forgery, and a criminal act in any country.



c[ ]

Goods are on the way to Germany. Fortunately I haven't sent the B/L to him yet. But it is custom made belts for "air berlin". I cannot find another buyer except "air berlin". And they are so big which I have no idea where and how I can get the right person to talk to.

In fact, I did send an e-mail copy to German trade commission. But I received no reply from them.

I tried to call this guy but he pretended the phone connection was bad. He picked up the phone, as soon as he heard my voice, he hung up. The next second, I called my friend in Germany to see if the line was really bad but it was loud and clear. My friend call this guy for me but he just say "I paid already" to my friend. Now I can only wait to see if the 2nd payment is for real or not. Finger crossed.

Good that you still have the B/L so you are the owner of the goods.


You can find Air Berlin here:


Telefon: +49 (0)1805 - 737 800 (0,14 €/minute) 24 hours

Telefax: +49 (0)30 41 02 10 03

Web:      www.airberlin.com


Maybe if the payment is not OK you can try to sell the belts directly to Air Berlin at your price. I think if you call the hotline you can ask for the leader of the Purchasing Department to discuss with him. You can be paid and they will be glad to have their promotion belts a bit cheaper than from the German agent.


c[ ]

The agent once said to me that big company in Germany do not do business with China supplier directly. He said that they only deal with German agency. I'm not sure if this is real. But payment still not received yet. I'm getting very worry now. And right this moment, I don't think I'm not in the position to contact air berlin yet. I feel like I'm sitting on buring charcoal.

Well if that is what he said, it is not the first untrue statement from him. Just for sure check who could be your direct partner at Air Berlin.


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Thanks Gabor as always!!

The good news is I receive payment at last. But I didn't delay to send this guy the B/L. It is confirmed that the B/L is delivered.

So, now should I post the company name here to warn other factories to be careful when/if they are going to do businesss with them?