Note: This blog post was published on February 2014. I have a more updated 2015 Lazada Philippines review here.
A little over a week before Christmas, A informed me that his family will drive all the way from Tuguegarao to spend Christmas with us. We were just settling into our new home then so all we had were a few small pots and pans, two serving spoons, four sets of cutlery, four plates and bowls and four drinking glasses. Obviously, everything we had then was only good for our family of four.
But since A comes from a big family, I knew I had to buy extra plates and cutlery for their stay. Since I have no helper, I decided that I will order my cutlery online together with a Shake N Take for making the kids’ smoothies.
I’ve been waiting for Cash Cash Pinoy to sell Shake N Takes again, but they weren’t selling any that time. So, I decided to check out Lazada Philippines. I saw that their cutlery were on sale, so was the Shake N Take. I immediately ordered a set of cutlery and one Shake N Take. That was on December 16, 2013.
The next day — December 17 — I received an email that my orders have been shipped and that I should expect the package at my doorstep within 3-5 days since our location is outside Metro Manila. I stayed home most of the week waiting for my package. By December 22, no package arrived. I shrugged it off thinking that maybe the courier has a load of packages to deliver due to the holiday season.
Christmas passed, my package didn’t arrive. The shoes I ordered from Zalora, however, arrived right on time — which is awesome. Anyway. New Year passed too, but I still didn’t get my package. Finally, on January 16, a month after I made my purchase, I emailed Lazada Philippines about my orders. My email exchange with a Lazada Philippines rep went like this:
A template reply. Fine. I just waited for three more days for feedback. After three days of silence from Lazada Philippines’ end, I sent a reminder about my concern. And their reply:
I wasn’t sure if the rep was saying that my order has been shipped or if it has been delivered to me, which during this time, hasn’t been.
I eventually called Lazada Philippines on January 23 to follow up on my items. The rep told me that there was a system glitch, hence December orders weren’t delivered right away. He also assured me that the pending items were already for delivery and that I should expect the items, or at least an update, within 2 days.
I waited, and waited, and waited. I still didn’t receive my items. I was getting frustrated because hello, I can’t leave the house until I get the package! On January 27, I called Lazada Philippines once again and was told that my items are already on their way. Yay!
Unfortunately, after another four days of waiting, I saw no sign of Lazada Philippines. Not a call, not even an email. So on January 31, I called again — very frustrated — and informed them about the number of times I’ve called and been told that my items are already on their way. The rep said that upon checking, the items have been delivered and ACCEPTED by me the day before. What the hell?! I told her that the items are not with me, but she insisted that I accepted the items already and that it is no longer their problem, but 2Go’s.
I wondered if one of my neighbors accepted the items on my behalf (because I paid for the orders already). But before turning into The Hulk and attacking my neighbors, I figured that I should call 2Go — the courier that supposedly delivered my package — for confirmation. Lo and behold, upon getting in touch with 2Go, I was told that my package was never sent by Lazada Philippines to them.
Extremely upset and disappointed at the kind of customer service I got, I called Lazada Philippines and informed them about what 2Go told me. Thank God that the rep who answered me isn’t a lazy one. She “investigated” my case and found out that the items are still with Lazada Philippines and that their in-house courier will deliver my items the next day. True enough, and finally, the items arrived on Saturday, February 1.
While I appreciate the help of the last Lazada Philippines customer rep I spoke with, I am very disappointed by all the others who handled my concern. Now I’m wondering if they really ever checked and followed up on my case because had they done something to resolve the issue right away, I bet my items would have arrived way, way, way earlier — not 42 DAYS LATE. Yes, I counted!
This isn’t very good customer service. It was my first time purchasing items from Lazada Philippines and I experienced that! Nakaka-trauma, nakaka-stress! I am not discouraging people from buying from Lazada Philippines because I’m sure that not everyone experienced the same kind of service that was rendered to me. But, I am calling out to Lazada Philippines for improved customer assistance.
UPDATE: I am very happy to inform everyone that Lazada Philippines contacted me about what happened. It is good to know that they listened to what I had to say and used it to improve customer experience. Two thumbs up, Lazada!
Read my more updated Lazada Philippines review here.