My candid feedback:
1. the product I received is not actually the correct one that I ordered
2. When the steps were unboxed it was discovered that one step had a dent in it.
3. No English installation manual is provided. instead they emailed me a narrow and long JPEG image with all the steps with a rough translation to English. they should provide a normal PDF document with the instructions properly laid out in English so it can be read and printed easily. the JPEG image could not be printed.
4. The service manager, Xu (goes by Sean), is very good and responsive. he was always willing to help with installation questions.
5. The company made it very difficult to replace the dented step so I just accepted keeping the unit. their process is very unfriendly to customers and not professional. if I wanted to just replace the one step with the dent then they demanded I return the entire setup (both steps and motors) to Alibaba and claim it under insurance to make Alibaba pay me back