Published 25th Jan, 2022

By Emmanuel Uti

On June 9, 2021, Ochui Obi, an entrepreneur, was surfing the internet when he saw a high-power phone that caught his fancy. Nine days later, Obi bought the phone, Mate 45 Pro, but someone would scam him.

Bestgrad Store, the phone seller, had announced not only a powerful phone for an affordable price, but also payment upon delivery. Customers also had up to seven days to pay back if the phone did not meet their expectations.

Using Speedaf Express in Abeokuta, Bestgrad delivered the phone to Obi, who paid N53,120 on the spot. However, as he unboxed the phone, he noticed there was a problem.

“I charged the phone and put it on, and I immediately realised that it was substandard. It was not what Bestgrad advertised. The camera quality and display quality were poor. It was as if they had cloned a good phone and sold a substandard one. The phone easily got hot, and the battery ran down faster than it should,” he told FIJ.

With the assurance that Bestgrad would refund his money, Obi called Speedaf Express Logistics and told them he would like to return the phone. A top staff member of the company reached out to him, collected the phone, and assured him he would return his money.

“He said he had processed it and even gave me the tracking number, and when I checked the number, they had returned the phone,” said Obi.

Obi kept chatting with Bestgrad Store on WhatsApp to know how and when he would get his money since he had returned the phone, but they told him his money was on its way.

When Obi came to the realisation that Bestgrad might have scammed him, he reached out to the logistics staff member who returned the phone and demanded his money. But the staff, he said, always told him to be patient.

“There was a time when Bestgrad wanted to pay off everyone that returned the phone, because it was indeed substandard. But till now, they have not paid me,” he said.

“Later, I saw the same phone being advertised. I noticed the same store opened the page and was selling it. So I sent a message to the Speedaf office in Lagos for a refund. I think the logistics company knows the seller. If they really returned the phone, why haven’t they refunded me? Now I can’t hear from them. All my emails bounce back; they are unreachable.”

FIJ placed several calls to Bestgrad via the WhatsApp number they used in communicating with their customers last year, but it did not connect. FIJ also sent a text message to them, but they had not responded at press time.

Bestgrad customers complaint — Bestgrad customers lament on Complaintsboard

A careful look at the Bestgrad Facebook page shows that there are fewer than 15 posts, with the first being on April 15, 2021, and the last being on September 15, 2021. This may mean that they set out to fleece people.

This is consistent with complaints from other Bestgrad customers on a complaintsboard, and the company’s reviews on Facebook. “They just delivered X3 NEO phone to me yesterday, but I’m very disappointed with the good because it’s far from the picture posted on their page,” said a Facebook User. “They don’t respond to messages because they know what they are selling is a complete fake product.”

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