Leave nothing to chance when buying online.
“What’s the worst that could happen?”
This question is so encouraging and a confidence booster.
As a programmer, my laptop is my woman, my everything (in Wande Coal’s voice). I have been without one or two weeks (20,160 minutes). I hope my now bad laptop rests in peace, it had served me for over three years (she was faithful).
On Instagram, I came across an online store called “Legitlaptop007” (the name sounds legit right?). There, I saw my dream laptop for the perfect price, it was too good to be true. An HP Spectre Pro X360-Intel Core-i5 pro with 500GB SSD and an 8GB ram for just ₦105,000. It wasn’t brand new (even if I sold my destiny, it won’t be enough to afford a brand new one), it was a UK used but at this price, I would be cheating the seller. I decided there and then to get it, time to empty my little savings, and get to work again. There was just one tiny but significant problem, I had to pay before delivery but can LegitLaptops007 be trusted?
“What’s the worst that could happen?”
My mind was made up to go ahead and pay but I decided to call a friend and seek his opinion (I didn’t plan on taking his advice if he said “Don’t trust legitlaptops007”).
“Tony, my big man friend, how far na?” I greeted him.
“O boy, everywhere good oh. How work na?” Tony replied.
“Bad oh, my lappy spoil for good two weeks now and I never fit work but I just see one wey I wan buy online, but na pay before delivery,” I said.
“Hahaha, online sellers these days no dey do pay on delivery, everybody dey try save him head oh.”
“So I no get choice na, na to close eye buy am be dat”. I quickly replied happy to assume he agreed with me.
“Another option dey sha, you fit use escrow,” Tony said.
“Wetin be E-X-C-R-O-O?” I asked in surprise
“Na company wen dey act as a middleman as you wan buy something so when you no trust the seller, you go pay give the escrow company, then when you get the laptop, see say e legit as the seller promise, dem go con give the seller him money.”
“Na free?” I asked without thinking
“Hahaha, free tin no go kill you, no be free but the company wey I dey use, their own charge dey very low, their name na middletrust, you fit check their website middletrust.com.” “Them dey try” He added.
“Hmmm, OK na, you too much, I go check them out.” I thanked him and ended the call.
People do say I am stubborn, in fact, I know I am stubborn. After checking the company out, I must say I was impressed but that was their business not mine and the stubbornness in me said:
“What’s the worst that could happen?”
So I decided to put my trust 100% on LegitLaptops007. I transferred ₦105,000 plus ₦1,000 delivery fee (from Lagos to Benin City) and they promised to deliver within 3–5 working days. Five days later, my laptop had not arrived, I could have sworn I was beginning to lose weight. On the 6th day, I got a call from a delivery company to come to collect my package.
“Yes! I didn’t need an E-X-C-R-O-O after all.” I thought
I got my laptop, it was red rather than black as I was told initially, but I didn’t mind, I plugged it to fully charge just before the power goes out (This is Nigeria). I quickly checked the SSD, it was 256GB and not 500GB, the RAM was 4GB and not 8GB. I suddenly began to worry.
I looked at my laptop screen again and my jaw dropped when I saw:
“Your battery is running low (10%). You might want to plug in your PC.”
I quickly grabbed my phone, got on Instagram, and went to the page, was about to lay my complaints when I noticed a statement on the page:
“STRICTLY NO REFUNDS OR EXCHANGES”
Again, I thought;
“What’s the worst that could happen?”
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