What the Shopping Experience On Jumia Kenya Is Like

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Jumia Shopping

Jumia ShoppingOn February 23rd Jumia Kenya announced a new phone available on their online store. You see, of late they have decided to move to the approach of partnering with product vendors directly to sell their wares like they would in a brand store. Basically, Jumia takes the whole thing like they are distributor, retailer and marketer. What it does is it takes the costs down in that there is less brick and mortar and customers can shop online without needing to move physically. That’s convenient.

So Infinix is one such vendor that sells on Jumia. There are others, including Microsoft which recently came in with their Lumia devices starting with Lumia 435. I decided to take the plunge, instead of just write about it like other media. You know, experience it like the average user would. I have heard of numerous cases of sad stories in the shopping experience, so I was ready for anything. I wasn’t going to tell them, lest they treat me special just because they knew who I was. Used my personal gmail account and hit the road.

Jumia sign up

Setting up an account is easy, you of course first search for the product you want, select options like colour, number of pieces if you need to and hit add to cart. I thought this next step was going to be a nightmare, but it wasn’t. Signing up to pay is just as easy as filling in your details for shipping, same to be used to fill your account. They have payment options as follows: cash on delivery (they ask you to be ready with the exact amount), credit card and Paypal. You won’t need a password at this point, in fact all through the first shopping experience.

So I filled in my details and paid via PayPal. In total, you get 7 emails in during the process, these include one to get you to set up a password, another to alert you that your order has been confirmed and much later when they have the stock item ready for shipping, alerting you that your order has been processed. Okay, the 7 emails include the PayPal receipt. So I got a call the next day after shopping, that’s on 24th of February with a lady alerting me that my order had been confirmed and that I will be updated when status changes to shipping. She was nice, though not as nice as the ones on the TV commercials. She told me that my order would be processed anywhere from 3-7 days.

I was hoping it was going to be in 3 days as I was supposed to fly out to Barcelona on Saturday, a trip that would be a whole week, and this would mean that I’d have to delegate the process. There is an option to track the order, but since it’s less than 5 KMs from Jumia Office to my office I didn’t see the need. I maybe would have done it had there been delays.

Saturday mid-morning I got a call, this time by a man, I assume it’s the guy on the TV commercial who does the delivery. Told me that he was on his way with the delivery. There were people in the office then, I don’t usually go anywhere on travel day, so I told them in a text who to deliver it to.

The lady who collected it told me when the delivery guy came in, she was asked to sign with a finger on the delivery app and she was left with the package. It was only an invoice and the phone inside a sealed plastic bag. No warranty document or physical receipt, so all I have as proof of ownership is the invoice and an email stating that my order had been confirmed. I don’t know yet how warranty is handled on Jumia and would want to know as that’s important.

Infinix Hot Note Jumia

Otherwise I would consider the experience as good, the device is now with our team for review, the Infinix Hot Note, a rather large 5.5 inch device. Look out for the first hands on preview and later on a full review. What do you think about the shopping experience?

15 COMMENTS

  1. I also bought a small Wiko phone to replace my aged Samsung Chat https://techweez.com/2012/06/26/samsung-cht-527-a-users-review/ The process was swift. I’d already registered on Jumia a year ago so I just selected the phone and went straight for the checkout process. Selected pay on delivery option. All that from their phone app. Email arrived a moment later. A lady called me barely 5 minutes after checkout asking me to confirm if indeed I wanted to buy that phone and also to confirm my delivery location since I had left that out and selected their central pickup point, Mombasa hub. She told me they’d charge me Ksh 200 for delivery from their Likoni office to Tudor. Since it costs just 60 bob from Tudor to Ferry, I opted to pick it myself rather than have it delivered. I confirmed my details. From the tracking number, item shipped after 3 days. Item was delivered the following Thursday (order had been placed on a Saturday). The lady at their Msa hub called me at around 10am confirming that the phone had arrived and also gave me directions on where to find them. At noon, I went to pick it at their Mombasa hub at the tail end of Nyerere avenue. Paid using Lipa na M-PESA. They have a till number. They also accept cash, I was told. Got my phone and left. Also just got the invoice, nothing else.

  2. Convenient shopping and deliveries on time. The only problem is with warranty. We bought a Blackberry Z10 phone that developed problems about 2 weeks later. Apparently, if a phone is not returned to them within 7 days from the date of purchase, then my friend, you are on your own. The phone was eventually fixed but we had to pay for the repairs 🙁 So much for saving a few thousands. I don’t know about other people but i would rather walk into a b&m and walk away with a valid warranty document

      • Got me asking the same question. They even had the audacity to refer us to a little known vendor whom they had acquired the BB Z10 from!! Whatever happened to after-sale services & good customer care

        • the warranty is valid for a year where you are refered to service centres as long as you have proof of purchase from jumia.. it is only an exchange for a faulty product that is valid for 7 days.

          • I bought a BB10 and it just went off after 7 months. Just like that. It had not been dropped or anything. I have been waiting for the repair since March and they just keep apologizing for the delay. What happens after 7 months? Should i consider my purchase as bad considering the warranty was for an year?! I am so dissapointed.

  3. My experience purchasing from Jumia has been pleasant and the customer service has been great. Its fast, convenient and they are accommodating. I have not purchased any electronics from Jumia but they need to clarify this warranty business since this discourages me as well as others from buying electronics from them.

  4. I bought a laptop from Jumia.It was easy and they had it delivered to the bundus where I stay. Stated that it has a one year warranty. Three months later, it wouldn’t power up so I decided to have the warranty take care of it. Jumia gave me contacts to a place where I could have it sorted out. Got there and the guys there insist that the warranty is valid in Dubai. I don’t even know what to do now.

    • This is super unfortunate. Thats why customers/consumers need to always read the fine print..with electronics, warranty is everything.

  5. I purchased a phone from Jumia (Infinix Hot Note x551). Unfortunately the phone was dropped by my daughter and the screen cracked, as we speak I have been waiting for 4 business days for those guys at CalCare Center Cardinal Otunga to repair it. Seems like some of the phones they sell do not have any spares

  6. Am shocked to see Jumia offers good services.For me,it was a bad experience with this Jumia.bought a tv and they could not deliver what i ordered for.almost 5 trials delivering the wrong model.
    I wouldn’tadvice anyone to buy electronics there

  7. godamn it. i should have read this before placing order today. all can do is hope they deliver correct item now.

  8. Jumia Kenya is a scum and a con job at its best.

    Bought a TV set from them only to realize that the TV came from luthuli avenue a place littered with fake electronic items that claim to have a manufacturers warranty so that you are convinced to buy the item.

    And so I paid for the TV knowing that I was dealing with a credible and reputable company that deals with genuine products and that the TV I was getting was a genuine product.

    To my disappointment when I checked the product, it was as genuine as a pearl gotten from a crab. When I asked for a refund, well to date I am still being shuffled back and forth their refund team with ultimatums.

    I hate to admit it but I have to say that I was clearly swindled of the money I paid them.

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