Have been using Ali Express for years. Many shipping vendors are contracted with Pakistan Post or FedEx, DHL for last mile delivery. I would say with exception of few cheap products, never lost anything. Not all Ali Express sellers are same, some do occasionally give wrong Tracking numbers, so I don't know if they actually shipped or it was never sent, but I was always able to get refund for things that I did not receive. So, with 95% rate of receiving parcels (I would not receive 1 out of every 20 parcels), and getting refunds for the remaining 5%, I was 100% satisfied with their delivery method.
Now few months ago, they started to offer free or cheap shipping through Cainiao. This is where things have started to get worst for buyers. I ordered multiple items from Ali Express, and was notified that there is a delivery issue on some of them. Others were still showing as in-transit. From what I can understand Cainiao does not have presence in Pakistan, so they used CPEX for last mile carrier. Interestingly the contact numbers they have for CPEX (03212675330/021-34550350) do not answer at all. I tried different times of day, different days of week, no luck at all. Anyway, I was finally able to locate an Ex-employee of CPEX who told me that they went out of business in Rawalpindi and sold out their operations to another company SpeedAF. This is where fun starts. I was able to get hold of SpeedAF main number and was told that they tried to call me for delivery but could not get hold of me. This was the first lie, and then they tried to deliver but could not find my address. This was second lie, you type my address in Google maps, and it gives you directions to my gate. Anyway, since the delivery failed, I was asked to visit their Center and collect the items myself. Although it would cost me for fuel and time, I ended up going to their center and collected the parcels. There I saw many others who were asked to come and collect their parcels, shows that this is their normal practice. Not what you would expect. Anyway, I got the first shipment, all the shipping charges were under $1.
Next parcel was delivered to my home, and I had paid $5 for shipping.
Now, my last few packages were 'Free shipping'. This is where I found "SpeedAF" the worst company ever. The didn't try to deliver, put status message on tracking that the address and phone numbers are incorrect and returned the parcels from their Karachi Center. On calling their main number, I was assured many times that it will be sent to Rawalpindi for delivery but that never happened. They never returned it to Ali Express either, and now I can not claim refund or get my package. I have tried to call their numbers for Rawalpindi so I can come to the Center to pickup, but the staff answered first few calls with assurance that they will take care of it, and then stopped answering calls. Poor Customer service and lack of ownership in SpeedAF.
I am still working with Ali Express to get refund, but it is difficult because of the Tracking Status that SpeedAF has provided. I saw some earlier comments that we should be thankful that Ali Express is shipping to Pakistan and not complain. Well, that is not true, we are not defrauding Ali Express, the problems is Pakistani staff of SpeedAF who is not providing the services they are being paid for. Pakistan Post was much better albeit small rate of missing parcels which you could claim refunds. But SpeedAF took the business under the pretext of providing better services, but never delivered. Greed and Bad Service is no excuse. My experience is limited to Rawalpindi, very possible that other cities are not experiencing issues with SpeedAF, and they should get more business. All new entrants provide competition and improve customer service. But in my case they are not providing the services that they are being paid for, SpeedAF should be reported to Ali Express so that either SpeedAF gets their act together or stop getting business.