Have you ever bought things online and then been disappointed, either with the delivery, or the lack of it, the product or the customer service people? Well, if you’ve answered yes to all of these reasons, then you may not be alone. This is a very common problem when you order things you haven’t physically seen or touched.

A buyer in the UK got a very nasty shock when she ordered a mobile phone worth £999 from a well-known seller and got 2 candle sticks instead. Repeated telephone calls to the customer service department of the seller led to nothing. It was as though they had washed their hands off it, that is, until the press got involved. Another buyer was sent 4 bars of soap instead of the phone he ordered. When they eventually corrected this ‘error’ they demanded the soap back.

Unfortunately, things can look ideal in the photos the seller posts and this can especially be the case when he is advertising clothes which are often worn by catalogue models whose body frames the clothes tend to be designed. But people don’t only buy clothes online. They buy electronics, mobile accessories, white goods, perfumes and even food items. Some are even buying perishable items online and then complaining that the seller hasn’t delivered it yet.

This is one of the main problems with buying online. Never mind the fact that you might not be satisfied with what you get, but often you may just be waiting and waiting for a delivery to come and it never does. Or it eventually comes but by then you might be so angry that you no longer want anything from that seller.

The number of things I have bought online, I can count on one hand, but with one big condition and that is that the seller accepts cash on delivery. That way, if my item never shows up, I don’t get worked up about it and look for an alternative source since I still have my money. Some months ago, I decided to order a sketchbook that was not available in normal shops. I placed the order and tracked it online. A few days after ordering I received an email from the seller advising me that my order had been cancelled and with no reason given. When I rang them to ask why it had been cancelled I was told that the item was no longer available. But it was listed as available when I placed the order, I explained, but they had no answer. Again, at least I hadn’t paid up front.

I feel extremely uncomfortable with the idea of sending someone my money without first seeing the item, and then spending days wondering when and if I’m going to get what I paid for. Will the seller go out of business or will the item ‘get lost in the post’ are thoughts that would run through my mind until I had it in my hand. I know someone who, months ago, ordered some face creams and, to this day, the items have not turned up despite the fact that she paid up front. She is constantly on the phone to the delivery people who say they have the box but refuse to deliver it because they need something from her. But they refuse to clarify what that something is!

In most cases, there could be two different sources of fault here. It could either be the seller who might have sent you the wrong item, maybe by mistake, maybe not, or it could also be the delivery people who might not deliver to you on time despite the fact that the item may have been dispatched on time by the seller.

People seem to be so quick to give up their money by paying online for something that is in a virtual world simply because they can’t be bothered to go to a real shop. Yes, there are instances when some things can only be bought online, like items that are available only in another country, in which case cash on delivery is never an option. But when cash on delivery is available, why don’t people ever opt for it? It’s a lot safer than divulging your card details onto payment platforms that are not always secure.

This reminds me of the hilarious time I thought about ordering something from a local seller. The item itself cost around Dhs35 for a 10ml tube of paint but because it was coming from overseas (in this case, India), the actual amount I would have had to pay for the item in delivery and handling charges would have been Dhs1,000! I laughed and asked them, “This is a joke, right?” Apparently it wasn’t…