I sell perfume oils. So far, so good. My business has been going well, I’ve made sales and given it my best. It was important to me and not just another source of income.
I had a customer patronize me last year and it was the absolute ghetto. He messaged my business page that he wanted to get some perfume oils together with a few designer perfumes that I had at the moment.
I was super excited because this sale was worth more than 100k. I had packaged it very well and I even put a gift inside of it with a small note of appreciation. I was truly grateful.
As planned, the goods get delivered to the location provided. But then something happened. The person that made payment and placed the order did so for someone who I believe was his lover.
She contacted me saying that she would like to return the perfume oils and designer perfume as she wasn’t interested and would like to get the money back. I wasn’t cool with that.
I tried contacting the guy who had reached out to me earlier but he was unreachable. I didn’t have any existing policy on my page saying no refunds or anything but I still didn’t know if it was right to refund to someone who didn’t place the order but was the recipient of the goods.
After much, I couldn’t hold on for longer. She was already threatening to drag me and put my business in the mud. This business is something I value and cherish and so I didn’t want any of that to happen.
I decided it was best I returned the money back to her as she requested and that she and her lover sort out whatever issues they had. I tried countless times to reach him to no responses.
She sent her details and I made the refund and she agreed to send my goods back. But, when my goods came, almost all of it was broken.
My heart sank. This was a huge loss for me. I spent a lot of time crying. “Who broke it?” “How did it break?” are questions I asked myself over and over.
The delivery man seemed completely clueless and the lady acted completely ignorant. She said she wasn’t the one and had nothing to do with it.
My business suffered from the heat. I suffered the loss. It was a tough one. I didn’t even think my business would be able to bounce back from that. I also had to pay back debts because I had called in favors to get those designer perfumes. This was during the lockdown.
Two months later, the guy who placed the order reached out to me finally. Apparently, he had blocked me because he didn’t know how to face me and ask for a refund after everything. Plus, he felt his lady was overreacting.
I didn’t even care about the details. I had nothing but sadness and bitterness in my heart towards him. It was hard to forgive, I had tried to let go and was just moving on from what had happened regardless.
He apologized nonetheless and I thanked him and removed my mind. He told me his lover had broken the perfumes out of anger because of a disagreement they had that made her feel he was trying to buy her with the perfume gifts.
I just felt bad because, “why did she have to deny it?” “What concerns me in all this drama? You just patronized my business forggosake!!!”
He offered to pay 50k as compensation. But it wasn’t enough for goods of over 100k. However he stated that was all he had at the time and I just accepted because I wanted to be done with all the drama.
Later in December, Tomike posted that she wanted to patronize small businesses and that people should recommend to her.
As one of her very big fans, I saw it but I didn’t recommend my business. I was shy and second guessing myself. Unexpectedly, I saw that this same man had recommended my business under that post.
One faithful day, I was sleeping when I received a call from a lady. She told me that Tomike had referred her to me. I couldn’t believe it. I told her to send me proof and she did.
I was so happy. She placed her orders and I delivered accordingly. Some months after, Tomike made a video on the businesses she patronizes and the name of my brand was in it!
It really boosted my brand, I made a lot of sales. It was a big win for me. It was a privilege because it was an influencer recommending my brand. I was also very happy because I had lost a lot and suffered during the course of the year.
This was refreshing for me. It was the compensation I needed for that huge blow MG business has suffered and I was grateful for it.
