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Cathy K.

Contributor Level

Total Points
185

1 Review by Cathy

  • SmartBuyGlasses ZA

8/4/12

I have had a very unpleasant experience with buying sunglasses from this site. I have lots of experience with internet shopping, but this is something I have never experienced! I came across this site that seemed great and sold sunglasses for 40% less than the shops. I ordered a pair of Guess sunglasses at the beginning of July. This has a South African website address and you are led to believe that you are buying sunglasses from South Africa and they say delivery will be within "5 to 11 working days" (so how could they come from overseas?). Well, 3 weeks after ordering and paying for my sunglasses I received a phone call from a courier company in Jo'burg asking me for my email address so that they could send me the invoice for the customs dues I have to pay for these sunglasses (around R170)! Now, I know that when one orders from overseas, customs dues and VAT is usually charged, but NOT when you are ordering from a South African website where there is NO mention on the site that you will be charged customs. This is illegal. I wrote to them (there is no phone number on the site) saying that I would not be paying any customs, and after a few emails they replied agreeing to pay it, but said it would take a while as they had to contact their "distribution centre" and it would be much quicker if I paid the customs and then emailed them the invoice for a refund on the customs. I was not going to pay out any more money so told them they would have to pay it and deliver the glasses to me. 10 days later and still no sign of the glasses, and the tracking website info had not changed - it still said "attempted delivery - consignee not at home" (this was because I refused to pay the customs). I then asked for an immediate refund for the sunglasses, but am still waiting. They said that they have to contact the distribution centre again to recall the glasses and then refund me. They don't have to contact the distribution centre to charge customers for their purchases, so why do they need to contact them for a refund? The replies I receive from them are certainly not from South Africa! Even if it is not a scam (which I'm beginning to think it is after reading so many other bad reviews), their service is disgusting and it is totally unacceptable that I haven't yet been refunded.

Cathy Has Earned 5 Votes

Cathy K.'s review of SmartBuyGlasses ZA earned 5 Very Helpful votes

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