I must first say that I am a big, rather HUGE, I am of Kenyan homegrown businesses and Start-ups and will occasionally go out of my way to support a local start-up where a local solution exists as opposed to using a foreign one. I must say however that I have been quite recently disappointed by one of our local guys. Who? A local deals site, Zetu Deals.
I bought an item on the 23rd of July 2013 at about 11.30 PM via Safaricom’s MPESA. Item in question was this push-up stand that was going for 50% off. I saw it and since I’d been planning on doing some plyometrics at home anyway, I decided to make that ‘small’ but reasonable investment. Bought the item using mpesa and promptly received my confirmation code on the same night.
For those who have not used this service yet, the Zetu website will send an automated email informing you of the details of your purchase within a few hours of purchase. Mine had a coupon stating the following at the end:
Coupon conditions
—————–
– Deal closes on 23rd July 2013
– Delivery for this product will occur within 1 week of the deal closing
– Please note payments not processed when the deal closes will be refunded
– Return Policy: Notify info@zetu.co.ke within 3 days of delivery.
– Returns are accepted only if in sealed and original packaging.
– Defective products need to be returned for an exchange of product.
So I began the long wait. I kept tweeting to ask if anyone else had experienced delays with Zetu deals deliveries and quite a number of people seemed to resonate with my discontent for this particular service. A quick spot check on the Zetu Deals Facebook page will reveal the quite a number of discontent customers. Check the screenshot below:
An email complaint to both the info desk and Ronald Yona who seems to be the CEO went unanswered. More waiting.
Another quick spot-check reveals more annoyed customers on Twitter from KevDaNative, CaroleKimutai, and Koosy.
Well, the long wait finally ended on 22nd November when a motorbike delivery guy delivered my goods; almost 4 months (23rd July to 22nd November) since I bought said item. It was quite annoying but I couldn’t do much given the circumstances. It would have been nice if the guy offered even a light apology of some sort as consolation. He instead asked me to sign his ‘delivery note’ quickly so he could be on his way.
So what is my advice here? Please, be very sure of what you’re spending your money on before you actually make that purchase. I had a really bad experience and will not be back there for another purchase anytime soon. This service needs to be improved greatly if it is to compete with World class implementations from which it was born i.e. GroupOn in the US and Rupu locally.
Oh! and they had a similar ‘review’ on Zuqka earlier this year.
Your thoughts are welcome in the comments’ section below.
