Never Again, Ensogo

Having a film camera is something that I’ve desired for quite some time now. So when Ensogo offered an Waterproof Lomo Camera for only 429PHP last May, I grabbed the chance as fast as I could. Since it’ll be cheaper to order the assorted set (3 cameras in three different colors), Ate Karen and Marj and I just decided to share the payment.

We paid through Dragonpay, an over-the-counter payment at BDO. Another officemate, Ayessa, ordered the same product and paid through the same process. When she received through e-mail a confirmation of her payment and we didn’t, we started to get worried.

We sent Ensogo multiple e-mails, with complete details of our payment transaction, saying that we didn’t receive a confirmation e-mail of our payment. But did we receive a reply? No. Then we sent some more and still received no reply. Then we sent another one through here, thinking that maybe our message would have a greater chance to be noticed. And still, we didn’t receive any reply. Oh, we tried calling, too. We called a lot of times and they happened to not pick it up.

The start of the shipping date was on the 4th of June. That day, Ayessa received her camera. The three of us didn’t. Then we worried even more.

Ate Karen once again tried to call Ensogo and finally, they answered. They didn’t give us an explanation on what happened, why they ignored our messages. They just kept saying sorry. But they did say that our payment didn’t register. They said they’d do something about it. We waited for them to do something about it. But did we receive our cameras?

NOOOOOOO. The last day of shipping (July 4) came and went, and the cameras didn’t come.

And this is why I’m fuming. This is why I’m irritated with Ensogo. I could understand our payment not being registered. I could understand that the products might be defective so they stopped sending them out. What I don’t understand is why they kept us in the dark. Why didn’t they inform us? Why didn’t we receive anything from them, saying that we should no longer expect our cameras to be delivered?

If we didn’t call to inquire about it, would we be informed that our cameras won’t be delivered? Or are they hoping that we’ve long forgotten the cameras? Because if they have known long before that the cameras were defective, then we should have been informed early on that we shouldn’t expect anything, that they couldn’t make the deliver. And I guess they didn’t inform the customers about the unshipped cameras so they do not have to refund it. Yes, it’s just a silly assumption. But they’re not offering any explanation and not making any efforts to make up for it, so I’ll continue making assumptions. Thank you very much.

They said they’d just refund it, but what ways did they offer for our cameras to be refunded? They wanted us to go to their office personally and present our deposit slip. REALLY? We even have to make that effort? HA!

Yes, I wrote this incredibly long post because I felt as if I’ve been robbed off my 429PHP. But it’s not just that. A part of me no longer cares about that 429. A greater part of me is pissed because they let us wait, they let us pine on our dreams of having our own film camera. We made some efforts (half-hearted they may be) to go to the bank to pay, to send e-mails to complain again and again, to call their office a couple of times. And what do we get in return? Some half-assed apology.

Frankly, the main reason I’m pissed is because they ignored our e-mails. Would it take so much of their free time to reply to at least one of the tons of e-mails we sent them? My pride was hurt, okay!

So yes, I wrote this impassioned blog post for a petty 429PHP. You know what I could buy/afford with that 429? A paperback from National Bookstore, 8 books from Book Sale, a meal for two, a freaking full-body massage, a 10” pizza from Yellowcab, tons of clothes from an ukay-ukay, and a bunch of other things! See? That 429PHP isn’t that cheap. That’s 8 meals from a Jollijeep, already! Also, we ordered a set so multiply that 429 three times and that’s how much we paid. Argh.

And if you want to know more how messed up their service is lately, read this.

I don’t know much about running a business and as a customer, I have only paid for 3 vouchers from Ensogo. But I do know that it’s their job to inform their customers if the shipment wasn’t made. It’s their job to make sure that the customers weren’t displeased. And if the customers are already displeased, then they should at least make some efforts to appease them. Sadly, Ensogo failed to do all that. It may be okay to avail vouchers for meals, services, etc. from Ensogo, but when it comes to products? I don’t think I can trust Ensogo again.

I may be just one customer, but if Ensogo won’t get their shit together, they’re about to lose more.