The way Shopee malaysia handles return and refund is so stupid and unfair to buyers.
Think twice if you want to buy expensive item from Shopee, even if it is from Shopee Mall, cos you might end up wasting time waiting and calling their customer service to follow up, only to receive a faulty item without a refund.

I bought a well known Japanese thermal cooker (RM1k++) from shopee Mall and found some yellowish defects at the bottom of the pot. It looked discoloured or rusty, but definitely not due to grease or oil. Since the price was not really cheap, so I searched for the reviews. I found a YouTube video reviewing this item, and from the video, the bottom of the pot appeared to be without any yellowish defects. So i decided to request a return and refund from seller.

I posted return and refund request on 27/6, uploaded photos and video as evidence, the shopee dispute agent named Shakthi texted me the next day through shopee chat, saying that they needed the seller to reply. On 1/7 I checked with him for any update, but he only replied on 2/7 saying he would update me by 3/7. However nothing happened on 3/7, and on 4/7, there was still no reply even though I asked for the status again. On the morning of 5/7, I checked again, and finally at time 16:55, I received a reply from another Dispute agent named Barathi. He said Shopee Dispute team verified that my claim is valid and is supported by sufficient proofs and I could proceed with the return. However, if I used a different courier than J&T or poslaju, I would have to update the tracking number. He also recommended to take photos and videos of the packaging process and condition. After these 3 texts, at 16:57, he asked me to rate their service and the chatroom was disable for me to reply, I could only rate their service. Seriously? My problem wasn't solved but I was asked to rate their services? AND I haven't posted any photos or videos of the packaging process?

The ridiculous thing came after this, I was given only 2 days until 7/7 to select my preferred shipping option and send the product back to Shopee warehouse. WTF? I had to wait more than a week for them to approve my return, but they only gave me 2 days to drop it off? Nvm, so I dropped off the parcel to J&T on 7/7 at 12.16pm. Then, on 8/7, I received an update that the item had been delivered to the Shopee Warehouse and was being checked for approval.

On 10/7 night I realised my request has been cancelled without any explanation or notices or email. And the case was closed. The customer service hotline wasn't available at that hour, so I had to use shopee chat to talk to their live agent. The Agent named Aisyah Ubaidi wasn't sure what happened, so she asked me to wait 3-5 days for their relevant team to contact me. I told her my Shopee guarantee for this order was going to expired by 12/7, she asked me not extend it but to do nothing and wait until Shopee contacted me. Luckily I did not listen to her bull$#*!, I extended the Shopee guarantee to 15/7. However, I waited until 13/7, and still, there was no reply.

On the afternoon of 13/7, I checked again, and I got reply from another Agent named Said Syabil, ALSO asking me to 'please wait for ANOTHER 3-5 days'?! So when is this 3-5days waiting loop going to end? I asked what went wrong, and Syabil told me it was because buyer did not update the tracking code after returning the item. I was really speechless about it. I told him I was informed by Shopee itself had stated that buyer dit not have to update the tracking code if using J&T for the return, so why did they blame me for not updating it? And if so, why did I receive the 'parcel has been delivered to Shopee warehouse' updates from Shopee app? He gave me the stupid smile emojis and asked me to wait for another 3-5days, as he had ALREADY escalated this to the relevant team.

The funniest thing was, on the same evening, J&T delivered a parcel to me. It was the same product but with different packaging. It came back to me, and it sent out from Shopee's warehouse. WHAT? The packaging was different, and it was obviously someone had opened it and repacked it. It was not a replacement, it was exactly the same faulty item which I had returned. I immediately called customer services, the agent explained to me that it might have been because of Shopee's system was unable to capture the tracking code, so it wrongly canceled my return request. Therefore, Shopee's warehouse had no choice but to post the item back to me. He told me to make a new return&refund request before 15/7, as my Shopee guarantee was going to end on 15/7. He said previous agents should have advised me to make new request instead of just waiting. Okay, fine, so I made new request.

Upon checking and repacking the item, I found a printed Shopee Warehouse QC form from the returned parcel. The QC date was on 10/07/2023, and QC result was 'Return/Refund Rejected (Ship to Buyer)'. WTF IS THIS? So it was not because of system error? Not because 'the buyer did not update the tracking code'? It was because of your Shopee Warehouse QC that rejected my return? And did not even bother to update the status?

Based on my previous customer service experiences, I seriously doubt the quality of Shopee's warehouse QC team. The defect was so obvious, and the QC team could not see that? So I called again to Shopee on 13/7 morning and guess what? They asked me to wait 3-5days AGAIN. They also asked me to repeat everything I had done during the previous return AGAIN. They were wasting my time. Maybe this is the way they make all buyer to give up their refunds and accept all the faulty item.

So based on my experience, if you really consider to buy thing from Shopee, take the risk that you might end up wasting your time, money and receive a faulty item.

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Let me update on what happened after that, in short:

13-7-2023 I made a new return&refund request.
14-7-2023 Shopee approved the request, I dropped off the parcel at J&T.
15-7-2023 Shopee sent notifications that the parcel had been delivered to seller.
16-7-2023 I received an email from Shopee's dispute team accusing me of failing to provide the required information within the given time frame, and they stated they would proceed to cancel my request. In response, I replied to the email, informing them that I would escalate this matter to MCMC, TTPM, and KPDNHEP. Additionally, I also posted about my experience on their FB page.
On 18-7-2023, I called their customer service twice, but both times, the call was hung up on me. Frustrated, I decided not to waste my time anymore, so I proceed to write a complaint report to KPDNHEP. In the evening, just right before submitting my complaint to KPDNHEP, I received an email from the dispute team informing me that my refund request had been approved.
19-07-2023 I received my refund. FINALLY!

I am not sure whether it was the FB post or the email that changed their mind. But if you are facing the same problem, maybe you can try what I did. Although I did get back my refund this time, I am definitely not be using Shopee again until they have made some improvements. Well, luckily we still have Lazada!

Just a small sharing here, if you encounter courier issues, MCMC is super helpful. TTPM and KPDNHEP also there to protect consumer rights. We can always file complaints with KPDNHEP through their app, WhatApp or their Website. The cost of filling a complaint is only RM5.

As shopee user, I have evolved from using just shopee food, to purchasing grocery, top up, participated in the so called shopee prize games. I would say the marketing team did well to engage user with cashback vouchers and games, etc. This is just historical. Since July 2022, shopee removed stack voucher and reduced discount entitled with "free" shipping voucher for buyer, and more demanding to seller, making things in Shopee market more expensive, plus mandatory shipping fees, often much higher than real shop. Only in the case that seller making promotion, it is worth to buy, by paying shipping fees or premium to Shopee. This is just one aspect, the horrible side is that Shopee practice unfair trade, making misleading statements, leaving out important information about the promotion mechanise, and cashback voucher.

At the same time, the "relavent team" behaving aggressively in suspending accounts with reason claimed as community rules, on whoever manage to save more with major cashback vouchers. This big cashback voucher often required users to click at 0.01 second to checkout, and yet, what follow is not the pleasure of shopping but horrible harassment from Shopee team suspending the account. We can see the id quoted as linked can be just anyone that around us, similar to the olden rules of execution of nine relations 誅九族 zhu jiuzu.

Common tricks from Shopee team in suspend account followed by requesting IC, bank statement, utilities bills etc, which are P&C, not related to shopping, but forcing users to comply, as we have the shopee pay with money and cashback coins. One if accumulated with a lot of cashback coins is almost certain to get suspended after a payday sales. The moral is to buy at normal time, pay full shipping fees, not utilising the cashback voucher, just to have the convenient of online shopping, while none of this contribute positively to buyers, because the shipping fees can be unreasonable high for local or even same town.

In shopee farm game, a typical mobile top up worth RM5, shown as required 5.4 days, actually required water drops of >4000 stage 1 + >9000 stage 2, one can calculate 3:36 minute per water drop, how much time is needed? Minus friend's help and bonus, it takes more than a week of consistent effort, not counting the very low success rate in grabbing the limited seed at 12 midnight/noon. The harvested voucher just vanished, when the account is suspended, Shopee will not refund even if the recovering process exceeded the voucher valid time.

Shall we waste our time? Shopee has succeeded in it marketing, first made our habits, then our habits make us.

You have proposed Refund of RM 50.50

This power bank is not *******mAh power bank and not identical with their advertisement >>> there is 2 LED touch Light and compass on it and it is *******mAh
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23-12-2022 17:08

Shopee Agent
Dear buyer,

Good day to you.

I'm Shida from the Shopee Dispute Team that is currently reviewing your case.

We regret to hear about your recent experience. We understand that this wasn't the experience you expected on Shopee and please accept our sincere apology for the unpleasant experience.

Rest assured as we will give our best to accommodate you with your issues.

For this case, your side informed have received the wrong item(s). Thus, kindly provide me with the following proof for further investigation:

I. Clear photo(showing the product that not *******mAh)
Ii. Elaboration on the issue (kindly provide the comparison of the wrong item received with the product description).

The proof is important for us to check with the seller.

Do update us by 02/01 before 5PM to avoid the cancellation of your refund request due to inconclusive proof.
31-12-2022 17:49

Hi. Shida, I try to upload clear picture for you, but uploading still not completing. Can you give your email, so that I can forward by email the requested details.
02-01-2023 12:50

Refer my email for the clear photo that you requested from me. Thanks
02-01-2023 13:13

*******@yahoo.com
02-01-2023 13:14

You may refer to my email and previous uploaded image also GOOD enuf, which was upload on 23-12-2022 17:08
02-01-2023 14:08

Shopee Agent
Hi Buyer,

Kindly be informed that buyer need to upload the evidence in this chat only.

Thus, kindly provide me with the following proof for further investigation:

I. Clear photo(showing the product that not *******mAh)
Ii. Elaboration on the issue (kindly provide the comparison of the wrong item received with the product description).

The proof is important for us to check with the seller.

Do update us by 03/01 before 5PM to avoid the cancellation of your refund request due to inconclusive proof.
03-01-2023 10:01

Not safe to buy even for more than 20 bucks...