Two weeks ago, the mil asked me to order a board game called Rummikub from Lazada. She had played this board game in Hong Kong and has fallen in love with it. I did a search and found out that Rummikub is available at Lazada but it’s shipped from China. I ordered it anyway as the mil was raving about how fun this board game can get and she looks forward to playing it with her 3 grand daughters.
Fast forward 10 days later. The parcel was delivered to us yesterday. When the mil unboxed it, she found out that the four display panels for the number cubes were mal-manufactured. The two stands for the panel cannot be secured tightly onto the holes and the ledge supposedly for the number cubes is so narrow that I can even blow the cubes off the ledge. The printing of the word ‘Rummikub’ is upside down on the four panels. The mil was so disappointed with the purchase.
So what’s next then?
I spent the entire afternoon yesterday chatting online with Lazada customer service to find out about the procedures for returning the product. Each time I needed to ask a question, I had to wait on queue for at least 15-20 minutes, by which time, I would have gotten busy with work (and forgotten that I was on queue as there’s no notification to prompt me, other than stare at the computer) or not in front of my desktop computer anymore. Thus, I wasted my entire afternoon, just to find out how to send the parcel back to Lazada to get a refund. I am not a noob shopper at Lazada; I’ve been shopping at this online platform for several years now but it’s my first time returning an item to them.
In summary, all I can say is that if you are a first timer trying to send a defective item back to Lazada, it would take you hours to find out. Once you know the steps to follow, it takes some time to get about with it. If you are too busy or have no patience with the procedures, my advice is to discard the item and don’t feel sorry for yourself for being unlucky to have received a defective item.
First, you will need to print a Return Label at the Lazada website. This took me some time to figure out where the link was to have the label printed. Printing the item was a tad tricky too. I tried printing several times in different methods before I figured that I had to download the form, save it on my desktop and print it out. Paper, ink and more time wasted = money wasted.
Second, you will need to box up / wrap up your item and insert the Return Label on the parcel.
Third, from the Lazada website, you will have to choose how to send the item back to them with postage charged back to Lazada. Choosing a ‘Near You’ location (aka Return Hub) was the most convenient for me but as I had no experience on how to get about doing it, I had to call the appointed Lazada courier agent at my neighborhood to ask for instructions.
Fourth, download a NearU app onto your mobile phone. Why the heck the need to download this useless app on my phone?!
Fifth, key in a bar code number that’s printed on the Return Label into the NearU app on your phone. I omitted this step as the Lazada customer service staff wasn’t sure what to do and the agent / Lazada courier agent at my neighborhood (which is a pharmacy) didn’t inform me as well. This caused me two wasted trips to the pharmacy this morning. More money and time wasted! The first time when I went, the pharmacy wasn’t opened yet. The second time when I went, I was told that I had to print out another form, which contains a QR code, and attach it to the parcel! WTF!!
GAWD! Lazada must have made the return procedures super troublesome to deter shoppers from returning defective items to them! That’s not very smart. Coz some impatient shoppers will only switch online shopping platforms!
As of typing this post, I still haven’t gotten around with printing the QR code, that’s sent from my phone to my email.
See the ‘mahfan-ness’?? I hate anything that’s time consuming and troublesome.
Tomorrow, I will have to make a third trip to the pharmacy / Lazada courier agent to drop off the parcel, after which, another email will be sent to me for parcel tracking purpose.
Hopefully the defective item reaches Lazada by next week. I can’t wait to get my refund! Mind you, refund is via crediting of the amount into my Lazada Wallet, which means that I will have to use the money to buy other stuff from Lazada.
Is this going to deter me from shopping online at Lazada? Probably not. I just have to be extra careful and make sure I choose a product from a seller with lots of positive reviews and 5 star ratings.
If you do not have a printer at home, then forget about returning your item to Lazada. It would be too tedious and costly to get the two forms printed just to send an item back to Lazada, unless you can get someone to print for you.
Cheap and thin plastic stands that won’t lodge tightly onto the panel. When the stands are attached to the panel, the panel is almost 90 degrees upright, thus the cubes will fall off with just a cough or sneeze that you make!
There’s no way the number cubes can stand on this panel! Note that the words are printed upside down as the panel has to propped up the other way.
This is how the actual panel should look like.
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