#Crimewatch: How JUMIA Scammed Me of N85,000 in a “godfearing” Way

Is JUMIA really a scam?

Maybe. But I recently have a bad experience with JUMIA which is burning me emotionally and I decided to share first of its type on this blog.

Maybe you know of this trick scammers use to lure their victim;

For instance,

• They will tell you there’s a particular amount of money in a foreign country which they supposed to have access to. But because the owner (who’s mostly a relative) has willed all the money and properties to help those in need.

And they want you to have access to all that money. You will be happy if it was your first time seeing such message.

OR

• Someone might just say they’re calling from your Bank because your account or ATM card has issue. And they’re ready to help you sort it out and bla bla…

THE BOTTOM LINE:

They will first act as “angel of peace”, posing to be the best in position to help you. Maybe you’ve seen such on your email address, text message or through direct phone call.

That is what most of these companies we know are doing.

At the inception of their business, they will give you every reason to trust them, they’ll convince you that they’re the best plug among others.

But once they gain that trust and stand, they will start misbehaving.

All Banks and Telecommunication companies in Nigeria are like this.

But it’s so sad to see that JUMIA has joined them!

Whenever you hear or see “JUMIA”, you think of nothing than a great shopping site disrupting African countries like Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana etc.

Same thing applies to MTN and some banks in Nigeria.

I don’t know maybe you’re a scammed victim of one or all of them, but I am.

A lot of people are victims but are ghosted or silenced because their voice isn’t deep enough to be heard. Only few people who takes their ranting to social media platforms like Twitter or Facebook got noticed and maybe helped.

I have been operating this blog for some years but after my encounter with JUMIA, VFD Bank and MTN.

I decided to add a “Crime Watch” category to speak and document our (you and I) experiences with these multinational companies, banks, Ponzi schemes and anything crime happening in Nigeria (which has been confirmed).

If you’ve been scammed by any company or anybody before, kindly share the proof (screenshots and any other proof), narrate how it happened exactly and forward to Admin (AT) olgade.com.

I will go through it and inform you if it will be published or not.

Now, let me talk about how 3 big brands scammed me in a “god-fearing” way. After this post, you can share your opinion or experience too.

Let me start with JUMIA first;

Is JUMIA Legit? How I was Scammed by JUMIA

Jumia is no doubt the top shopping sites in Nigeria.

The reason for this is because of the platform, how it is designed, you have access to almost any product you need because there are thousands of vendors and thanks to the channel of distribution at JUMIA.

With these reasons and many others, Jumia is top-rated in Africa and can boast of million of visitors (buyers) per month.

Personally, I’ve been using JUMIA for years. I liked JUMIA and recently, I wrote about money-making possibilities on JUMIA which you can also read here.

But after JUMIA gained a strong stand in Nigeria, they no longer care about trust and customer satisfaction, which were two of the main reasons why people like myself choose JUMIA.

I’ve been using JUMIA for years even till last week until they give me a reason to stop and try other shopping sites. Let me tell you what happened;

On June 13, 2020:

I decided to use JUMIA to procure an office chair. I found the type of an office chair I want to buy at the rate of N79,000 and the shipping fee was N5,970.

NOTE: The N5,970 shipping fee is ridiculously high as opposed to the N1,300 I saw before placing the order.

STRATEGY: Start checking the before and after cost of shipping fee and note if they’re extorting you here or note. The logistics part of the business is one of the ways JUMIA make money, which is okay. But always checkout for this, to avoid being extorted.

I did not care about that, what I cared for, was the actual office chair.

So, I paid the total amount of N84,970 for the chair.

The office chair should be delivered between 2-3 weeks.

On June 24, 2021:

That’s after 11 days of placing the order on Jumia, I received an email that the order has been cancelled and the refund has been completed.

According to the email, the refund can be seen in my JumiaPay account.

I was okay with that, and ready to use the refund to buy another items on the same JUMIA. But on getting to my JumiaPay account that same day, nothing is found!

“Well, maybe they sent the money to my bank account already”, that was what I thought.

Because I used WEMA Bank to pay, I will need to wait for 3-7 business days before the money will be fully reversed to my account (according to what Jumia said).

I immediately took from the money I budget to renew my house rent (which will expire of July 31^st, 2021) to purchase the same office chair on HOG Furniture. And the chair was delivered in less than 5 days!

RECOMMENDED: Read my review about HOG Furniture here

I waited for 10 business days but nothing as refund in my account!

On 1^st week of July, 2021:

I contacted Jumia and I was asked to contact my bank.

I contact my bank, but they keep telling me no refund has been sent to my account.

I visit the branch office of Wema Bank many times, I call the headquarters a lot of time too, but no solution.

Funny things,

• Jumia keep telling me to wait for 48 business hours every time I contact them. But the 48 business hours they’ve been telling me has turned to 48 days!
• I recently chatted with one of the customer care agents via live chat, she immediately ended the chat after getting my order number. I sensed maybe this is a plot between them.
• I contacted them through email, the message was automatically closed in less than 3 seconds

I keep contacting JUMIA and WEMA bank simultaneously to get the refund as to quickly renew my house rent before it expired. But all to no avail.

On August 10, 2021:

This is now the 48^th days since JUMIA said the refund has been sent to me and 59^th day since I placed the order.

The 48-hours turned to 48-days ?

Well, I contacted JUMIA again and the same national anthem was sung to me again “We will get back after 24 to 48 business hours”.

But I’m tired of waiting.

Well, I’m still waiting but till date my N85,000 is gone!

My Opinion: It is either JUMIA is a now a scam or the system they use to automate their service is no longer reliable.

For instance, Quartz (here) reported that:

“The company has disclosed it recently uncovered instances of improper orders placed and subsequently cancelled on its marketplace platform wrongly inflating its order volume.”

“Some of the improper sales practices, the company said, were carried out by its own personnel in “Jumia Force,” its network of commissioned agents.”

The Punchng reported the case of such fraudulent acts being pulled at JUMIA before.

What if there are still some people at JUMIA carrying out some of these scam activities.

But whatever! Either it’s an internal personnel or not, it doesn’t change the fact that my N85,000 is with JUMIA. I have contract with JUMIA as a registered business entities in Nigeria NOT an internal personnel. And that contract is breached!

I thought I was the only one facing this issue with JUMIA but I’m not. In one way or another, people has been complaining too. Check their Facebook page.

CONCLUSION: This is a personal Experience with JUMIA

In general understanding, JUMIA is still the best shopping sites in Nigeria (No cap).

But like my English Language teacher in secondary school used to tell us “The more the words, the more the mistakes”. In JUMIA context, “the more they keep growing, the more their service is regressing” and they seem not to care about this.

Let’s say like one million people visited Jumia per month, and about 700,000 people purchase at least an item. But 10,000 people are not satisfied in one way or another, the may choose not to care because they have more than 600,000 people who’s not complaining.

And that not caring is a problem to those who’re affected. Like in my own case, I had to look for a way that actually affected me before I could renew my house rent.

This is not a defamation or derogatory blog post and it’s not sponsored by anyone. But I’m actually disappointed with JUMIA as what they did extremely affected my finance management.

I don’t know who to explain to, but the best way I can reach people is through my blog. At least 1,000 people will learn from my experience. And that 1,000 will tell at least 1 person each!

If JUMIA refund me today, I’ll update this blog and let you guys know (You’ll be notified if you subscribed).

Again, if you have any experience like this with anybody or any company, kindly type, put screenshot and send to me via admin(at)olgade.com

Don’t be ghosted like that, yarn it!