Month: April 2016

gloo.ng

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Did I ever tell you that I use gloo.ng to do my online grocery shopping? I’ve been using them for a while. I think since 2013. And their service is excellent!

They even sent me free Smarties when they saw on Twitter that I was trying to give up smoking and couldn’t stop eating them. (That was ages ago and didn’t last long, just fyi.)

Usually when I order my stuff, I pay cash on delivery. But because I’ve been at school, I’ve started paying online. It really is so much easier.

Well, I was in school today and had a couple of free periods, so I decided to order a few things that we needed at home. While I was paying, I don’t know what happened, but I didn’t get a confirmation from them. I think there was a problem from the bank.

I emailed customer support and asked them if they’d received my payment. They replied promptly – they hadn’t. I checked my bank account – the amount had been debited.

WTF was going on?

I used the web chat on my banking platform to find out what was going on. It took a while, but they confirmed my account had been debited.

Meanwhile, I’d received an email from Gloo – they only had one pack of Pampers in stock.

Once the bank confirmed the debit, I emailed Gloo again – Had they received my payment? I received a reply soon after – they hadn’t.

So basically, my account had been debited – but where had the money gone? So I got back on to the bank web chat thingy and asked them to reverse that transaction. It took a little while again (mostly waiting for someone to be available to chat). Ok – done. Or it will be in forty-eight hours.

I emailed gloo again and asked them how to go about paying. I’d gone back to my online order and couldn’t see any payment option. And I wasn’t prepared to start putting all this stuff back in my basket and starting the process all over again.

While waiting for their reply, I got a phone call. The dispatch driver was outside my house – with my order – waiting for payment. Errr. I told him he could wait thirty minutes for me to come home or I could pay cash the next day. He said, ‘No problem. I’ll come back tomorrow.’

Customer service then called me and asked me to make the payment online – and since I couldn’t do it through their platform, they requested that I do it via bank transfer. They updated my invoice and sent me all the bank details, etc.

Although the whole thing has been a bit irritating – it’s not their fault. They have been wonderful and very helpful throughout all this.

Honestly – this is what customer service should be!

More Disappointment (Updated)

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You know I’ve written about Mall for Africa before, right?

About their delivery that arrived four months late. Not only that – it was delivered to the wrong address.

I used Mall for Africa to order a couple of things (for myself) at the beginning of April, and the store I ordered from was House of Fraser.

I placed my order on April 3rd.

On the site it says, Order Date: April 6th (That’s fine. I guess by the time they process it all, etc.)

Also on April 6th, the site said: Awaiting Items from Merchant.

I was a bit excited. I know that House of Fraser delivers super fast.

And then… Nothing.

I emailed them on April 22nd for an order update. They replied within an hour or two and apologized for the delay (apparently some backlog in their UK warehouse), but assured me that my order was en route.

So where the f*** is it?

The site says that it takes 4 (FOUR) to 15 (FIFTEEN) business days for items to be delivered to the customer (if they get the address right). I realise it’s only a couple of days more than expected, but… You know.

I keep saying this – regardless of whether it’s Konga, Jumia, Amazon, whatever – IF YOU CANNOT DELIVER ON TIME OR IF THERE IS A DELAY – I DO NOT MIND. BUT PLEASE INFORM YOUR CUSTOMERS!

Ugh – Rant over.

I’m off to choose which Kendra Scott earrings to buy… (I did say I’d never learn)

I’m trying to think of something to say – comparing my need for retail therapy to my lack of common sense. If you think of something, please comment below!

***UPDATE***

I feel a bit bad now… After posting this I used the Mall for Africa web chat thingy (in the morning) to find out about my order. The person on the other end was very helpful and said that my package was in Nigeria and would be with me by Friday.

And then LagosDad called at 3.30 pm and said my package had arrived.

Hooray!

Purple Reign

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I was a huge Prince fan while growing up. Not as huge a fan as my sister – but still… Pretty big. 

I was lucky enough to see him in concert 3 or 4 times. That man, as small as he was – was electrifying on stage.

When I heard the news yesterday, I was in denial. It couldn’t be him. How was it possible? Once the TV was working again (don’t ask), I glued myself to CNN. Crying.

This morning I watched a few of his videos on YouTube and I got teary again.

This afternoon, after the children’s swimming lesson, we all piled into the car. The iPod came on and Billie Jean was playing. Vins said, “It’s Michael Jackson!” I recently introduced him to the wonder of MJ (another legend gone too soon).

I told him he was right. And said, “But we’re going to listen to Prince now. He was as wonderful as Michael, but he sadly died yesterday.”

We listened to When Doves Cry in silence for a few moments and then Vins said, “You know, mama… He’s died. But his music hasn’t.”

He was so right. And I started crying again. 

The Flipside

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While I’m thrilled (and a little surprised) that Booni has adjusted to nursery so well and so quickly, there’s a flipside. Isn’t there always?

The flipside is that he’s become SUPER clingy. And although it’s to be expected, it’s driving me a bit nuts.

He wants me to carry him all the time. If I won’t carry him, he holds my hand and drags me to wherever he wants me to go. And he’s strong!

If I leave the room, he cries. And screams.

If I watch him playing in the garden (from the balcony) and I go inside, he cries.

If he’s hanging in my room and needs to go have a meal, a bath or whatever else, he cries.

I know he’ll be fine soon. But I’m going a bit bonkers.

Seven Days

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It has been seven days since Booni started nursery – and I think we’re doing rather well!

He started on a Tuesday. And he cried – every day that week. And he cried when he saw me at pick-up. I spent the week picking him up about an hour and a half earlier – just while he got settled.

On Monday (April 11) he was excited to get dressed and go in the car. Once we arrived and he saw the nursery gates, he started whining a bit. And when I took him out of the car and walked through the gates, he started crying. Even though he was crying, he went to his teacher willingly. And he waved goodbye to me through his tears. When I picked him up, he was so happy to see me! He ran to me, laughing. I told him we needed to get his bag before we left. He dragged me over to his cubby-hole and got his bag out. It was a lovely sight.

On Tuesday (yesterday), again, he was thrilled to go. In the car I said to him, “Where are we going?” And he pointed to his lunch box. His face fell a bit when we arrived, but he didn’t make a sound. Usually I carry him, but yesterday I put him down and he held my hand and walked in. He saw his teacher and made a bee-line for her. She picked him up, hugged him and kissed him. He turned to look at me, I waved and his face fell again. Then he started pointing at the swing and his teacher went off with him. When I collected him (at normal pick-up time), he was tired! He saw me and started whining – but got his bag and left quite happily.

Today is Day Seven and we had the same again this morning. He saw his teacher and made his way straight to her. He took her hand. She picked him up and put him on the swing. He looked a bit wobbly when he turned and saw me, but I think he was ok.

He’s adjusted SO well, don’t you think? I’m so proud of him and I my heart feels so light when he doesn’t cry.

Is that a dumb thing to say?

Nineteen Months

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My little Booni baby is 19 months old now. Where on earth has the time gone?!

He is (as I’m pretty sure I’ve said over and over again) so different to his brother! They are like chalk and cheese. Booni has ants in his pants. He can’t sit still – not even for a minute. Not even to watch television (I realise it’s not something I should be encouraging – but we all need a bit of peace and quiet). He is very, very active. He hits (out of excitement, I think) and he throws stuff (I’ve got bruises from various toys that have made contact when I couldn’t move out of the way fast enough) and he has to touch every thing. He has to be watched for every single second that he’s awake! He loves food and eating (just like his mama) and will try anything. Books we’ve had for years and years only made it through a day or two once Booni got his hands on them. I keep finding pages here and there. He is not speaking yet, but he communicates extremely well and he understands everything.

He’s like Animal from The Muppets. He’s like an exuberant puppy. He’s like a tornado or a hurricane. A bit like the Tasmanian Devil.

He’s hard work and he’s exhausting. But he’s hilarious! His expressions and gestures make everyone laugh. His incessant appetite is a pleasure to see. He’s a gorgeous, loveable boy.

So while I’ve been substituting, I’ve been leaving my gorgeous, loveable boy at home. He spent a couple of mornings a week with one friend and her son and a couple of other mornings with another friend and her son. So he was busy doing stuff – but he needed more.

He needs to get out of the house. He needs to be doing something at all times. He needs to be busy.

All. The. Time.

So I decided to start him in nursery. Vins was two when he started. But Booni is different and I think the structure would be good for him.

His first day was last Tuesday. He was SUPER excited to get dressed and get into the car. But once I handed him over, there were tears (his, not mine). And there were tears on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday as well. His teacher, however, said that he stops crying after a few minutes and is ok for the rest of the morning. The owners of the nursery tell me (every day) how naughty he is and how different he is to his brother (I’m not sure if this is something I want to hear every day). This morning he started whining when he saw the nursery gates. He went only to his teacher. And he cried – but only a little. So we’re getting somewhere.

PicMonkey Collage

 

 

Santa’s Late Delivery (Updated)

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After the debacle of our Mall for Africa experience, I decided to use them again.

I mean, what’s a girl to do when she needs some retail therapy?

Anyway – I’ll report on that experience when my order actually arrives (if it ever does?)!

So, back to the point – after receiving our three missing items – from a third party couple (it’s just insane, isn’t it?), I emailed Mall for Africa to complain.

I received a reply from them within hours.

Dear

Thank you for your mail.

Many apologies for this inconveniences this may have caused you.

The logistics Team where following up on your order to retrieve it when apparently the customer that received the order has returned them to you.

Please accept our sincere apologies for this again as it was not intentional and will not happen again.

Thank you for choosing MallforAfrica.

Sincerely,
MallforAfrica

I copied and pasted the email – so that is exactly how it was written. My first thought was, ‘Where’s my red pen?’ My second thought was, ‘They’ve not actually explained anything.’ And my third thought was, ‘Ugh. Whatever.’
Anyway, so that’s that.

Santa’s Late Delivery

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Last Christmas we ordered all the children’s presents from Amazon (US) through the Mall for Africa app. We’d never used it before and decided it was more cost effective to do that than buy all the gifts here.

The app was relatively easy to use, I guess. It did annoy me that I could only order a maximum of 15 items (currently reduced to 10) from the Amazon store – but I suppose there’s a reason for that!

Anyway, so we placed our order at the beginning of December – around the 6th, I think. And they say they’ll deliver between ten to fifteen business days. Of course I then started worrying about the fact that they may not arrive by Christmas (and what I would do if they didn’t).

I left for Bali on the 14th, and by the 18th the packages started arriving. Hooray! Relief!

I got back on the 23rd and started opening them and wrapping. The boxes weren’t in good condition – but at least they’d arrived. Then I realised that 3 items were missing.

A cookie jar shape sorter thing for Booni, a farm animal book for Booni and a Melissa & Doug magnetic calendar for Vins. I figured it would arrive at some point.

On January 6th I emailed Mall for Africa about these items and was told (on January 13th) that they were en route. Great!

On March 14th (I kind of forgot in between) I emailed them again. I skipped the pleasantries and asked them to either send the items, or refund me. The reply they sent (the following day) asked for a list of the items I hadn’t received yet, as their database said the order was complete.

I replied with a list of the 3 items and didn’t hear from them again. And again, I forgot (oops).

On Wednesday this week (March 30th), LagosDad came home from work and said a lady had called him. She and her husband had received a parcel from Mall for Africa – one they weren’t expecting – and when they opened it, they found our contact details.

Luckily for us – they actually called and we arranged to collect the items from them at a nearby location.

Vins was with me when I went to collect it and I told him that Santa had delivered the presents to the wrong home. And that those people were kind enough to call us and let us know.

I’d like to use Mall for Africa regularly – whenever I need a bit of retail therapy (all the time) or when we need stuff for the kids (all the time) – but is this a risk worth taking? Yes, they sent the items late. But HOW do you send them to the wrong address? When I collected the box yesterday, LagosDad’s name and our delivery address was VERY clear on the box! Do they not have some sort of tracking system? We were very lucky that this couple contacted us. What if we’re not so lucky next time?