Nwafor Maradonna (not real name), an Abuja-based woman, paid Afialink N4.6 million for a car purchase in September 2022, but the company has failed to deliver the vehicle or refund her.

She told FIJ that earlier that month, the company posted the picture of a 2011 Mercedes Benz GLK-Class GLK3504MATIC on its Facebook page and she sent them a message on WhatsApp to signify interest.

Afialink’s Facebook post

After negotiations, Nwafor contacted the business owner’s sister-in-law to confirm the authenticity of the account details the company sent her. Nwafor told FIJ she did this because she was wary of being scammed. When his sister-in-law confirmed it, she sent N4.6 million to a GT Bank account named “Lordbex International Company Limited”.

READ ALSO: Man Who Paid Afialink N6.6m for Benz in 2022 Has Not Received It

The car didn’t arrive, and there was no word from the company about what caused the delay.

After months of silence, she began questioning a staff member of the company, who told her via text message that they had encountered issues while clearing her vehicle at the port. The message read:

READ ALSO: 9 Months After Taking Businessman’s N3m, Afialink Has Not Delivered Car

“The container that has your car has been around for a while, and my boss said he would call all of you who have your vehicles in the container to pay your clearing fees. But the delay we have right now is due to the container that came ahead of that one.

“We already started working on clearing that one, and at the point of physical inspection by the Nigerian Customs, they discovered that there were only two cars in the container while the documents were showing four cars, and the container was queried.

“We later traced the problem to the port where it was loaded. We discovered that US Customs had dropped the cars, but the agent did not tell us. The US Customs even wrote a letter to the Nigerian Customs, but they insisted on amending the documents, which the shipper has been unable to.

“That is the cause of the current delay because we need to sort this out before proceeding to another. I’ll forward you the copies of the letter from the US Customs to confirm what I am saying.”

In October 2023, she began requesting a refund, and the company asked for her account details, but no refund has been made since then.

“He no longer responds to my emails, and none of his phone numbers is reachable,” Nwafor told FIJ.

FIJ first sent Afialink an email on March 11, and the company responded.

“Please, she was not scammed. We are working on getting our cars out of the port. The increase in customs clearing fees affected everyone. Please ask her to give us till the end of this season,” said the company.

That same day, the company emailed Nwafor: “Madam, the car you bought is N12 million worth now. Would you rather wait for us to finish it or refund the money? N4.6 million can be refunded. I have asked the agent to speak with you several times. If you truly want your refund, that can be done, but who is losing?”

She agreed to wait till the end of March for her refund, but there has been no refund.

On Thursday, FIJ emailed the company again, but they did not respond.

FIJ has published no less than six reports about Afialinks. In all of them, sources complain about how the company failed to deliver their cars or refund them after paying millions of naira.