Felix Oluwatobi Olowokere, an Ibadan-based student, has accused Jumia Nigeria, an online shopping platform, of refusing to refund N197,200, the price of a laptop he ordered in March but was never delivered.

Olowokere told FIJ that he was debited the said amount while attempting to pay for the order through Jumia’s online application.

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“I was debited but Jumia claimed the transaction was not successful at its end,” he said.

“I then made another payment through the bank transfer option. This time, the transaction was successful. I later received an email from Jumia that the order was unsuccessful and cancelled.

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“I received a call from their representative, telling me not to worry about my refund. He also said he could place another order for me, and that I could pay on delivery instead.

“With the urgency to get a new laptop for a project I was working on, and the assurance I got from their representative concerning my refund, I felt encouraged to make the second payment for the same laptop. I also believed that the refund for my first unsuccessful order would be processed quickly.”

The student said he waited endlessly for Jumia to refund the money for the first failed transaction but they refused.

“I sent several messages to them on Twitter, yet there was no headway. I could also see from their Twitter feeds that so many people were complaining of almost the same issue,” Olowookere said. 

The student said it had been over 50 days since he made the transaction, yet no positive response from Jumia.

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“I keep getting the same robotic reply from their agents to exercise patience. They keep telling me to wait for 24 or 48 working hours, that their finance team is on it. I have been waiting for 24 to 48 hours for almost 2 months now,” he said. 

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FIJ sent an email to Jumia, but they had not responded to it at press time.

“They have caused me great pain for 52 days of withholding my money. I have missed important deadlines just because of this money they haven’t refunded,” Olowookere further said.

“I’m so exhausted; I don’t know what to do anymore. I doubt if I will ever patronise Jumia again once my money is refunded.”