Has anyone had good (or bad) experiences with these services?

I’ve had the same thing happen. I once ordered a pair of Bluetooth earbuds and the status didn’t update for 19 days — I legit thought it was lost. That’s when I started using third-party tracking platforms. Some of them actually pull data from multiple carriers and update faster than AliExpress does. For example, if the final delivery is handled by USPS, I’ve noticed updates appear much sooner here: tracking for usps. What I do is copy the AliExpress tracking number and paste it into Track.Global or 17track — they often show extra status steps like "arrived at customs" or "handed over to local courier", which AliExpress sometimes skips entirely. It’s not magic, but it gives me some peace of mind, especially for more expensive orders. Oh, and make sure you’re copying the correct number — sometimes there are two tracking codes in your order info and only one of them works with external services. Learned that the hard way!