I paid with Paypal processing payment via my credit... good idea, I should do that too.

All Hifiman CS repeatedly saying  past two days was: it is their policy: "Warranty Policy: 30 days refund: shipping cost is not refundable.  1 year replacement: Customers will pay shipping cost." as per on their product page. 

Shucks, I ordered the RE-400i for my daughter two days ago now I read this !! Fingers crossed.

I believe if hifiman list the words on head-direct.com, the policy applies to all purchases off their site.   

I raised a dispute with my credit card, and have all my email communications ready for Citi. To me, it's not about money, it's about what is right. The policy is unjust and unfair. 

So, how about some update?

On January 21, Hifiman CS received my returned RE-400i. As of end of today (January 31), I have not received any refund yet, not even a partial one. Nothing was posted to my card account, and no communication from the customer service on whether they actually send me any money. I received a ping from "teamhifiman" on  head fi but at the end Chen (man behind teamhifiman) asked me to deal with the customer service directly... and then no more communication from Chen afterwards.

The customer service wrote on January 27 "We have contacted our manager about your experience and agreed your request, while I'm afraid you may not be able to receive a full refund as there involves a sum of handling fee in paypal transaction process which couldn't be refunded. " to which I agreed, and I asked Hifiman to improve their policy going forward to cover the full shipping costs upon DOA (after confirmation, minus whatever fees etc).... but, as of today, no refund yet.

but hey, what an experience. I recommend that going forward if you'd like to buy Hifiman products, deal with a reputable reseller. I will keep you posted on what's next.