Wesley Stephen, a web developer resident in Benin, has narrated how Jumia, an online shop in Nigeria, failed to issue him a N165,000 refund after he returned a product that didn’t meet his expectations on November 14.
Stephen told FIJ on Monday that he ordered a Redmi Pad SE from the platform on November 8. One week later, he visited the store’s pickup station, which is also in the city to pick it up.
He explained that when he unpacked the item, he realised it fell short of his expectations as the tablet does not use a SIM card.
“This feature was not stated at the point of purchase but I wanted a tablet with that feature,” Stephen told FIJ.
He said he then decided to return the item so Jumia could issue him a refund and he would use it to purchase one with a SIM card feature.
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“According to Jumia, the return timeline for my region, Benin, is four to nine business days. I returned it on November 14 and the agent picked it up from the pick-up station the next day.
The product.
“This is so that the after-sales team could verify my claim and, within four and nine working days, initiate a refund.
“Also, if the item does not meet the quality check, they were to send a notification for it to be returned.”
One of Stephen’s emails to Jumia.
The web developer said that since he returned the item, Jumia had not been forthcoming about his refund and had only been making excuses.
He also stated that his efforts at getting the online store to respond to his messages about his refund have been frustrating.
“The deadline for issuing a refund has since elapsed but I didn’t get any notification from Jumia. I have been calling them and sending messages and emails but I do not have a significant response.
“All they have been saying is that they are sorry for the inconvenience and have escalated the issue.
“This is all they have been saying for over one month since I returned the item. If I message them via live chat, it takes them about an hour to respond, and when they do, they send me the usual template responses about inconvenience, similar to the previous ones. Sometimes, they even close the chat while it is still ongoing the moment they hear I need my refund for that order number.
“Jumia has been telling me stories for over a month. It is nearing two months and I am still struggling to get a refund for just one item.”
READ ALSO: 4 Months After Delivering Bad Product, Jumia Turns Blind Eye to Customer’s Refund Request
When FIJ called Jumia on Monday, the customer care representative who didn’t give his name admitted that Stephen’s complaint had been lodged with them but their quality team was still checking and reviewing it.
He further said feedback would be available for him between 24 and 48 business hours.
“I can see that the customer has been calling us regarding the refund since November 15,” the customer care agent said.
“I can see that ever since then, we have explained to the customer that the item is undergoing a quality check with our quality check team and the last time he called regarding this was at 8:31 am today. Also, the feedback he got was that the item is still being checked.
“All necessary parties that need to be assigned to the resolution, our logistics team, have been added. The customer’s refund has not been processed because we need to carry out a quality check to see if the reason why the item was returned is valid.”
He also stated that the customer failed to examine the product’s features well before making the purchase.
The customer care staff claimed that if the customer had not unsealed the Jumia package he would have received his refund faster.
“We do list our product features; he didn’t look well when he was ordering the item. If he hadn’t opened it from the Jumia package, I believe the quality check would have been done faster,” he said.
“But I don’t know what is holding up the quality check. I will now reach out to the team, as the issue is taking too long and the customer wants feedback. In the next 48 business hours, there should be feedback.”
Responding to Jumia’s feedback, the web developer said they were inaccurate as he stated that there was nothing on the product stating it had no SIM slot.
“When I ordered it there were no comments on it. It was not stated that it wasn’t using a sim card, if it was at all, it wasn’t visible,” he told FIJ.
“They claim the quality check takes four to nine business days. But after nine business days, it has been a month extra, but they are still claiming quality check.”
Stephen added that despite his numerous calls and communication with them, they never mentioned that the quality check was taking too long because he had unsealed the pack.
“What they’re saying now, they never mentioned to me,” he said.
“Items are 97 per cent unsealed after purchase and then sent back for returns if there is an issue and all this falls within the return timeline. So the reason they’ve communicated to you now is very strange.
“Even their statement now is contradictory to their actions thus far. If they claim that the no SIM feature was stated on the package and ‘my return reason is that it doesn’t use a SIM card’ everything else was returned in its original packaging in less than 24 hours. Then what exactly is their quality check team checking for the past 30 days?”
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