Talking about this experience of mine still gives me goosebumps but it is important for me to tell this story so that others won’t fall into the same pit.

I am Adanna, an unapologetic online shopper- I enjoy surfing the internet for good deals and I consider it a hobby. From hair extensions to dresses, make-up kits to shoes and sneakers, I get them from the best vendors at amazingly cheap prices. In fact, my friends have me purchase these things on their behalf and they will make payments once they have their goods.

It was during the Black Friday sales of the just concluded year and I had seen the advert of an IG Vendor looking to sell “bone-straight” hair for 80,000 Naira. You Need to have seen how excited I was, more because I had seen other vendors advertise it for significantly higher prices. My partner was skeptical, he even said he would cover the difference for me to buy from vendors that I knew and had transacted with before, but the stubborn me lied that I had bought something from them before now too. 

I entered this madam’s DM straight up and placed an order for 4 units of this raw hair that my friends and I could not wait to rock. My partner told me to pay with Escrow, he even gave me a list of the different escrow products I could suggest to the vendor but I guess that the dog that is hell-bent on getting lost would have AirPods on, rendering it unable to hear the hunter’s whistle. Madam Vendor told me that the only way I’d enjoy this mouthwatering deal was to pay upfront as she would have to pre-order them from the factory. According to her, these were rare quality bone-straight hair units. I guess she was right because what I got was indeed rare.

Without a second thought, I transferred 320,000 naira to the vendor, hoping to get 60k profit since I intended to to sell it at 100k each to my friends. The delivery day came and she delivered as promised, I rushed outside to meet the dispatch rider she had sent. My partner threw glances at me and I was bent on proving him wrong, in my mind, he was going to accept that I truly have the luck when it comes to making online purchases- little did I know that luck had taken a detour and would not be available for me.

I called my friends to come over and pick the colours they had requested for. I didn’t even open the package because I wanted to do it while they were there. They came in a few hours later and the unboxing began, the first thing that caught my eye was the rough packaging that stared back the moment we removed the delivery packaging. Next was the coarse looking hair extensions that had been delivered in the name of bone-straight hair. It was my friend OJ that first burst into laughter and asked, ‘Did this madam give us Darling Yaki as a gift ni?’ 

By now, tears had welled up in my eyes, I had been duped of a whole 320k, (exclusive of the delivery fee). What I had in front of me was a box of ugly looking, annoyingly coarse and tangle bound hair extensions in the name of bone straight hair. These were indeed bent bone hairs.

I’m just glad that my friends were nice enough to give me 50k each, what we had gotten was of obvious lesser quality than what we had ordered and even I knew that none of us were going to use that misfortune in the name of hair. It was my partner’s ‘I told you so look’ that almost finished me, he was a sweet baby boy for me but I know that he will always chip that nasty experience in.

I have learnt my experience in a very hard way but it taught me to rely solely on Escrow payment options- the assurance that my money would sit safely till I am satisfied with what was delivered is one I won’t let go of anymore.