Friday, July 5, 2013

MY EXPERIENCE WITH SHIPPYME

*Updated*



Shippyme, a sister company of Circuit Atlantic Limited is a company that is designed to help Nigerians shop online in stores (majorly U.S) or sites that do not ship directly to Nigeria. It provides you with a U.S address that you can enter on the sites and then the company sends it to you here in Nigeria. They are sort of like a friend in the U.S that helps you keep your purchases and sends it to you at your new place/address (which happens to be here in Nigeria).
 
I found out that there are a lot of companies who provide such services but they are mostly foreign owned. Those companies however seem to have a wider target than Shippyme and have a restricted range of shipping companies that they use.

PROS:
1.     I like the fact that they are Nigerian owned and Nigerian based. When I was having the problem with them, I was comforted by the fact that I could go to their office and take a couple of officers and get my packages BY FORCE! I know that might have seemed extreme but I was tired and angry and knew I needed to do something.
2.     Their prices seemed a little bit cheap. For a 1 pound (0.45kg) package It would cost $5.5 with some extra for insurance and shipping within Nigeria, a 1 pound package cost me about $18.38 (N2995.13). It seemed ridiculous at that time because what I was shipping was just about 5dollars. However when I checked a lot of foreign based companies offering such services, the least I could get was about 30 dollars. That is just insane.
3.     They have the option of office pick up and door to door delivery.
4.     They have package consolidation option though I didn’t use it because it seemed to cost more but they say it would have saved me more money, how? I have no idea.
5.   I like the fact that all my items arrived in perfect condition. No breakage and nothing was stolen. All the invoices were also intact.

CONS: Oooooh Boy! They are quite a lot.
1.     I didn’t like the way my case was handled at all. The staff members seemed confused. They couldn’t get their act together. From the day I wanted to pay, I knew something was off. I went to Zenith Bank to pay and like I always do, i went to confirm the account details only to be told that the account name was wrong. Fortunately for me, the customer service told be the right name (which was their sister company’s name that i had used before so i knew it was okay to pay) after I showed her the mail I was sent with the account name and 3 different account numbers of 3 different banks.
2.     The billing process has to be seriously reviewed. After paying for my packages to be shipped, I noticed that I was been over billed for some things and  I was been billed twice for the same item. I let them know and I was assured that it would be looked at. The bill was reviewed and I am still waiting for a refund. If I don’t get one soon I might cause a fuss, true diva style....lol. I ain’t plucking money from trees!
3.     Their customer service sucks like heck! The email correspondence is poor! No, it is non-existent! They rarely reply your mails and when they do, they can’t give you the right or proper answer. It apparently seemed that the only way people were getting answers was when you left a comment on their testimonial page of their website. Just received a call from the ‘President’ of the company himself and it was because I wrote a comment (not a glowing one and stating that I would never use their company again). He called to confirm if I had received my package and I should kindly update that I have received it. Which I have done but I wrote an honest review (it might not be exactly what he expects but sorry, I just can’t lie).
4.     The packages took too long to arrive! It took almost more than 2 weeks to arrive. I paid exactly on the 11th of June and my packages reached me on the 4th of July. I think all my packages arrived at their office on the 14th of June. For the other companies, it would arrive about 2-4 days after it has arrived at their offices but they are too expensive. I ordered goods almost 11kg (about 22 pounds) and it would have cost almost 200 dollars to ship it here while with shippyme it should have cost me technically 120 dollars (though I paid more than that, still waiting for my refund).
5.     They need to be coordinated. I can’t call one person today, be given an answer then call tomorrow and be given another answer. They need to be in sync and be truthful. The excuses really pissed me off. I am trying to understand them and cut them slack after the president called me but he needs to get his staff members in line.I was even given 2 different waybill numbers when they shipped my packages! I got so pissed that I started recording the calls I made to them so that if I had to go to their office in Lagos and I am told crap, I would use the recordings against them.
6.     I didn’t like the fact that I had to disturb God because of them (don’t laugh guys). It was not funny! I work hard for my money and I didn’t like the fact that I felt like they wanted to pull a fast one on me.

Well, in all after calmly thinking about the whole situation I think I might try them again but maybe after about 6 months (or if I don’t find a cheaper and better alternative). Would I recommend trying them now? I would say do your own research and then decide for yourself whether you think it is worth it.

I am sorry folks about the long post but you all know how I like to write lengthy posts when I am passionate about something (My bad, that means sorry).  And I really wanted to tell you guys about my experience with Shippyme.

Oh! Here is a picture of my packages when they arrived #dancing (they have been opened and I can’t wait to use them). I basically got things for my hair and body. I am especially proud of the fact that I got a sunscreen (at last!#rollingmyeyes) and I can block out the U.V rays of the sun from harming my skin.


Gotta run, I have a long day ahead of me tomorrow. I do my last call for the month tomorrow.




Luv ya,
Petite Diva.

P.S: About 2 days ago, a lovely make up artist called Ewar Make over(Adenike Ogungbe) died after childbirth. It is so sad. I am literally scared of childbirth. She was so talented. May her soul rest in perfect peace, Amen.

14 comments:

  1. hi, i am thinking of using shippyme but they dont disclose how much you will be paying till you actually buy the items you want to buy, pls can you let me know the extra charges like service charge, insurance and all that they add to the shipping cost, thank you.

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    1. I can't really give you the exact amount for the charges because like Adis said you have to make a booking and follow the instructions before you can get your shipping bill. Right now they don't have the option of giving you an estimate upfront like some shipping sites do where you enter the weight of your item and the estimate is given to you. Sites like that help you to know exactly what your cost would look like. But for shippyme right now, i don't think that option is available.
      What you can do is take a chance and try them then hope that the shipping cost (inclusive of the other charges) is not much.
      Thanks for reading my blog.....

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  2. Miss Fash, the best way to know precisely what your costs would be is to make a booking and go all the way to the payment page. You must know the dimensions and weight of what you want to ship in order to precisely get cost estimates from their system. There are no hidden charges. Only the charges for the options you select will be applied to your booking. If you don't know the weight and dimensions of what you are shipping, you can use the "select a box" function on the site. They have predefined box sizes for things like clothes, shoes and electronics. Additionally, the reviewer must have used them the month they launched their service. They had staffing and technical issues then. Currently they have the best technology of all other service providers. Their customer service seems pretty effective and delivery speeds are reliably within 10 working days.

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    1. I think Miss Fash wants to know if she can have an estimate of all her costs without making a booking. Just like you would find out how much an item costs in a store and if you don't have enough money go back and get more money. Buying something and making a booking before you know exactly how much your shipping bill is could discourage some people. It would be nice to have an estimate and know the range of your bill before making a booking. Thanks for reading my blog and glad you can now leave your comments....

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    4. @ Adis, i used about 2 other shipping companies at the time i used the company and i knew how much i was going to pay before i bought my items. What was stated was what i paid. I wrote my review as a consumer and it is my opinion not anybody's. Readers have a choice to either agree with it or disagree. And thanks for implying that this review is giving me tremendous traffic. Like i said in my followup post, i would be sure to leave out the company's name. Thank you for your comments.

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  3. Shippyme is a great intervention in the business of shipping in Nigeria.
    Upon a successful registration and activation of my acccount, i got my USA free
    address "like play like play".
    I immediately booked a shipment and was blown away by the ease of their website. Although, the invoice i got after placing the shipment was an estimate,
    the difference in the amount i eventually paid after my item was received wasn't that much
    considering the fact that it was stated on the invoice that i would be charged based on the higher of the dimension/actual weight of my item.
    Also, i got updates throughout the life-cycle of my shipment and when i got notified that my shipment was ready for collection,
    i went to their office at No 8, Ladipo kuku, off allen, Ikeja to take delivery of it.
    However, this is by no means a proof that Shippyme is perfect. They have improvements to make in several departments and i believe they are doing so.
    Not too long ago, i received an apology email from their President, Dr. Iroh, saying he has made several changes to further imporve Shippyme and, above all, to
    increase customer satisfaction.
    Given what they have done in the little time they came into being, i would recommend Shippyme to anyone looking to ship his/her items down to Nigeria.

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  4. Personally, i will recommend Shippyme to anyone...best service so far in this business. They are doing a good job and i give kudos to them.

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  5. For me, Shippyme is the best! I've had a great time doing business with them!!!

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  6. Hello Diva, There is something on Shippyme home page they call quick estimate. Even though it does not show comprehensive cost, it provides an idea of how much I will pay for freight if I have my weight information. The first time I tried them, I almost fought their customer service staff when I eventually made a booking and got my bill, it was very high. Fortunately, the person I spoke with wasn't as hot tampered as I am, she was very calm and took time to explain things to me, there were options like strip my package and consolidation that I should have selected to save some money for myself but I just felt it was just one of those things all these people do to make money to I ignored it. Eventually, they repackaged my items and I got a cheaper bill.

    After that first trial, it took awhile for me to use them again because my business wasn't moving as fast as I assumed, my initial cost was very high but subsequent shipments gave me lower rate because I had to migrate to the business account. My freight cost was lower, the handling was better because I don't have to call the customer care line since I have a dedicated support staff.

    Something else I didn't believe was when I found out a Nigerian owns the company, I must say they are very innovative. Making my booking from home or office has been a wonderful experience compared to when I had to go all the way to the shipping company before I can get things done.

    I hope that they will continue to do well and even better because Nigerian businesses fails when there is no consistency. Shippyme is great and I have kept them as my shipper except they mess up. If you have a business, try them, they have good rates for high volume and very supportive.

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  7. I just bought some books on ebay and sent it to shippyme for onward delivery to me. I was impressed with their website's easy of use and all plus their low cost (after the high charges from Luxury shipping lines) but after payment it seems nobody is interested in answering my emails anymore about when the goods will actually set sail (sea freight). Oh well I have my fingers itching there will be lengthy reviews for Shippyme Luxury shipping and USPS-NIPOST whenever if ever I get the packages I sent on each. I hope Shippyme me gets the pass mark because so far they have done better.

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    1. Let me know how it goes. Apparently there seems to be a problem with their customer service lately.

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