I would like to share my own story when I made my first purchase on Lazada, an online store in the Philippines. Their promotion is good, the website is easy to navigate, the CSRs people are friendly. Everything about this online shopping store seems perfect based on these things. But why do I still encounter unhappy and unsatisfied customers (most of them are bloggers) when I try to search keywords related to Lazada?

My first order

Jump to the About my experience with Lazada section

The product is Infiniti JS-8080 PC headset. My plan was to choose cash on delivery as the payment option because,

• This will be my first order
• I wanted to make sure that the item will arrive even it’s only worth P500 or less

I ordered on Friday, September 20, 2013. Fortunately the process went smoothly. After checkout I Immediately received the confirmation email with the details like the order number. The next morning I received another email saying that the order is verified and advised me to expect an email once the headset left the warehouse. That was Saturday so I wasn’t expecting much. Then Monday came but still no headset. Tuesday then Wednesday. On a side note, while waiting for the item, I was just using an earphone originally for the MP3 player. You can’t really enjoy the music using that earphone because it has no bass frequency.

Wednesday evening on September 25, I received an email regarding my order.

We have tried to deliver your order last Sept. 22, 2013 to the shipping address you provided in our system but were unsuccessful.

I replied to that email and also texted the number they gave. I told them to redeliver the item on September 26. Thursday then Friday, I was still using the old crappy earphone while trying to be optimistic about my online purchase. Why does it have to be like that? Is it because the headset is cheap? Is it because I didn’t pay with a credit card? Are they worried that when they deliver the item, the recipient might just cancel the order? On September 27 Friday, I called Lazada to inquire and I was told that they’re going to make a report regarding my problem.

On October 3 I called again to inquire

The customer service representative told me that my order was canceled and he didn’t know why. I want to tell you at this point that I never cursed, never shouted at them. I was disappointed yes, but I am a forgiving person. I had worse experience than this. And besides, Lazada is still a new company. Of course the Filipino people should expect a good service from them. But it seems that 20 months is still not enough for this online store to improve things. Let us give them another um, 10 months? They have a very good website anyway.





Speaking of their website, after that call, I logged on to my account and clicked the buy again button. Like the first time, I received the confirmation email. But hours later, to my surprise, they emailed again informing me my order has been shipped and now they want me to wait for one to two days. And on October 4, the headset has arrived finally and I am so happy!

The following are the things I learned from this experience.

• Lazada Philippines was launched in February 2012
• Their website is very accessible, responsive, informative and has great selection of products
• Lazada CSRs are friendly
• One to two days delivery time for Manila customers is possible

• Their order tracking system is not reliable
• They have poor call center equipment

If you ask me if I can recommend Lazada, I would definitely say yes. But I would also suggest that you try first the cash on delivery (COD) method. They have great selection of products on their website especially in electronics and gadgets categories. So it’s possible that you'll find what you need and unlike in the traditional stores, it will be very convenient if you just make your order online right? What about you, do you have your own experience about Lazada that you want to share? Tell me in the comment section below.