I was excited when i found The5kShop and i even included them in a post, i thought finally i can buy nice accessories without breaking the bank. I immediately signed up and read through the shop's FAQs, Terms & Conditions, Payment system, Shipping & Delivery and Office address, it was all acceptable by me. I proceeded to check through the site and followed them on Instagram. Not long after finding them i placed an order on their website on March 26, 2015. My order was supposed to be delivered to my friend's house in Lagos.
On their site, it says delivery takes 2-3 working days so that was my expectation. I called my friend 3 days later to find out if my order had been delivered and it hadn't so i placed a call to The5kShop. Their customer service over the phone was good, i have to say, they listened to my complaint and apologized for the delay in delivery and said it was due to the elections. The excuse was understandable and i decided to wait till after the elections to call them again if my order was still not delivered.
I called on April 15th to find out why my order had still not been delivered, they confirmed my details, delivery address and order, apologized and said their system shows my order had been dispatched and should have been delivered. They said they would contact their courier service regarding the package and get back to me shortly. Toh, no wahala na. I called my friend whose address my order was to be delivered and he reconfirmed to me that nothing had come.
The call back came and i was informed that the courier service had misplaced my package. O.O *cricket sounds* what does that even mean. I got an apology and was told my money will be refunded to the account i had paid from. "We are also running at a loss due to this" the person on the line from their office said. I'm thinking, yeah sure and i hope you hold the courier service accountable for that, i don't want my money back though, just the items i ordered. *sigh. When will buying stuff online in this country and having it delivered be straightforward.
I tell them i don't want a refund, i will just order anothe set of items and get them picked up from their store, at least e no go vanish in transit with this option. What could possibly go wrong ba? I pick another set of items that cost the same amount as my previous order. I get a call later that one of the items is out of stock, *SIGH*, no biggy, i had read about this on their site in the FAQ Shopping section (Unfortunately, although our systems showed available stock when your order was placed, when we checked our warehouse, we found that the product was not available. Therefore we will be unable to send this item to you, if payment has been made; your money will be refunded immediately)
I replaced the out of stock items with something else. I was already out of Lagos so i arranged for a trusted courier service to pick it up for me and deliver it to my friend. To avoid any issues, i called the5kshop and informed them my items will be getting picked up and the date, I read out the items i ordered again so everyone is on the same page. On the day of the pickup, they called me to let me know the courier service was there to pick up my order, i once again read out my order and its collected and delivered to my friend. You can just imagine how fucking angry i was some hours later when i receive a call from the5kshop that ONE OF MY ORDERS HAD BEEN MIXED UP!!!!! I mean cammmmaaannn! I literally reacolld out the orders over the phone before it was collected. *SIGH* I got an apology and was told to please send my courier person back with the item to get it replaced, that's 2 trips i would have to pay for. No way. I let them know that would not work and sent them the address and contact details of the person my order was delivered to so they could sort out the error they made. Long story short, i never heard from them again and was stuck with an item i did not order and cost #200 less.
I called on April 15th to find out why my order had still not been delivered, they confirmed my details, delivery address and order, apologized and said their system shows my order had been dispatched and should have been delivered. They said they would contact their courier service regarding the package and get back to me shortly. Toh, no wahala na. I called my friend whose address my order was to be delivered and he reconfirmed to me that nothing had come.
The call back came and i was informed that the courier service had misplaced my package. O.O *cricket sounds* what does that even mean. I got an apology and was told my money will be refunded to the account i had paid from. "We are also running at a loss due to this" the person on the line from their office said. I'm thinking, yeah sure and i hope you hold the courier service accountable for that, i don't want my money back though, just the items i ordered. *sigh. When will buying stuff online in this country and having it delivered be straightforward.
I tell them i don't want a refund, i will just order anothe set of items and get them picked up from their store, at least e no go vanish in transit with this option. What could possibly go wrong ba? I pick another set of items that cost the same amount as my previous order. I get a call later that one of the items is out of stock, *SIGH*, no biggy, i had read about this on their site in the FAQ Shopping section (Unfortunately, although our systems showed available stock when your order was placed, when we checked our warehouse, we found that the product was not available. Therefore we will be unable to send this item to you, if payment has been made; your money will be refunded immediately)
I replaced the out of stock items with something else. I was already out of Lagos so i arranged for a trusted courier service to pick it up for me and deliver it to my friend. To avoid any issues, i called the5kshop and informed them my items will be getting picked up and the date, I read out the items i ordered again so everyone is on the same page. On the day of the pickup, they called me to let me know the courier service was there to pick up my order, i once again read out my order and its collected and delivered to my friend. You can just imagine how fucking angry i was some hours later when i receive a call from the5kshop that ONE OF MY ORDERS HAD BEEN MIXED UP!!!!! I mean cammmmaaannn! I literally reacolld out the orders over the phone before it was collected. *SIGH* I got an apology and was told to please send my courier person back with the item to get it replaced, that's 2 trips i would have to pay for. No way. I let them know that would not work and sent them the address and contact details of the person my order was delivered to so they could sort out the error they made. Long story short, i never heard from them again and was stuck with an item i did not order and cost #200 less.
All this hassle for 1 earring and 2 sunglasses. wasted phone credit, time, energy and lost money(albeit not much).
My experience with them left me with a sour taste especially as it was my first time ever shopping from them. *First impressions...
Will i shop there again? Yes, if i happen to stumble on something i like, because they do have nice stuff at an affordable price. Next time i shop with them i'm gonna take precaution though, i will definitely not be going for their delivery option, i will rather pick up from their office and reconfirm my order before leaving their shop so my order does no get misplaced or mixed up. Also i will keep in mind that the stuff i order may be out of stock since their site doesn't update realtime what's left in their warehouse as indicated in their FAQs section. Hopefully their service will improve and be more seamless or maybe my case was a one time slip up * shrugs.
Toodles!XooX
After reading your post I have to say that you have the most patience of anyone I've heard of. I would never shop with or deal with a company that had that level of incompetence, and yet you are willing to still buy from them. I applaud you for that, but warn you to be warry about their true level of service.
ReplyDeleteKurt Bohling @ Philadelphia Mail Room
@Kurt even i was surprised at my patience, sadly most Nigerians will have had a similar experience at least once while trying to shop online. i'm all about second chances and i'm hoping that was a one-time occurence. i'm in no hurry to repurchase from them though and if i have to i will definitely go for something inexpensive to test if they have improved their delivery.
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