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[UPDATE AT 9:15PM: a Lazada spokesperson has replied with a statement saying that the issue has been resolved. This article has been updated with their response.]

A Lazada user in Singapore found a 4K Xiaomi Mi TV on sale at an attractive clearance price of just S$261, and placed an order for one.

Other listings for the same product on the e-commerce platform list the item at over S$400.

Received letter instead of TV

To the user's dismay, however, instead of receiving a Smart TV, what arrived was a message printed on a piece of paper, and mailed in a padded envelope.

The seller explained in the message that the goods were "in transportation", and asked the user to continue waiting for another three days for the item to arrive.

It also seemed to suggest that the user should contact customer service to get a refund if the item still did not arrive by then.

The rest of the message is not entirely intelligible, as it appears to have been translated to English from another language.

It ends off on a refreshingly chirpy note though, by wishing the user "a happy life".

The user shared a photo of the letter on the Complaint Singapore Facebook page:

The message reads:

"Dear friends, due to the huge volume of goods, in order to save the logistics cost, the Hong Kong international logistics Xpress, when you receive this letter Represents your goods are in transportation, logistics single number if required, please contact customer service, if you receive this letter has not been able to receive the goods in three days, may order too much cause logistics jam or other inventory did not deliver goods, but first please wait 3 days, contact the customer service consulting, and in the background to apply for a refund. Thank you for your support, this activity discount has ended, wish you a happy life"

Discount has ended

The message also says that "this activity discount has ended".

A screenshot uploaded by the user shows that the listing was titled "(Clearance Discounts) [4K HDR] Xiaomi Mi TV 4S 43 INCH-DVB-T2 LED Smart Android TV (1 Year Warranty) with Google Play Store, Youtube, Chrome, Viomi APK (Available)".

A Lazada URL, which can be found via Google Search, leads to a page saying that the product is no longer available.

Difficulty in getting refund

According to the Lazada user, the process of requesting a refund was fraught with difficulty as well.

The user explained that submitting a refund request generated a case number.

Speaking to the Lazada help centre also generated a case number.

The user submitted a refund request based on both case numbers, and was allegedly assured that the refund would be processed.

However, the refund was denied due to the two requests being duplicates.

After waiting for two days, the user then tried to contact Lazada again and was given yet another case number. The user was also once again assured of updates on the case.

However, the third refund request was also denied.

"I'll be making a police report for illegal scam. I'm never shopping with lazada anymore," wrote the user.

In response to queries from Mothership, a Lazada spokesperson said that “the issue has been resolved”, with Lazada taking action to expedite the customer’s refund.

The spokesperson also said that the seller was removed immediately.

“We strive to resolve customer concerns promptly and to every customer’s satisfaction, and treat this incident as valuable feedback to improve ourselves,” the spokesperson added.

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Top image via Cris Ng on Facebook