I’ve shopped with Sasa.com twice now. The first time was a breeze. I sang their praises and lauded them as an alternative online store especially for Asian brands, with good prices. So, when I placed my second order, I didn’t think too much of it.
On October 5, 2010, I placed my order at Sasa.com and with work and life going a bit crazy, I forgot about it. At the back of my mind, was the niggling thought that I was expecting a package… but when?
So about 10 days down the road, I checked the status and was amazed to see that it still said “Packing” which according to the definition on the website means “Packing” i.e. your items are not yet dispatched.
Alrighttt… I thought. What’s up? So I checked around the website and buried deep in the recesses of the page hierarchy was when then I came upon the announcement on Oct 6 that Sasa.com was moving warehouses and all shipping was suspended for 2-3 weeks! Interestingly, this notice was not shown to me upon checkout – I might have changed my mind if I had known earlier.
Anyway, 2 weeks later with no package in sight, I wrote Sasa.com an email via their contact page on October 20, 2010 to query when I might expect them to ship out my stuff. No reply. I got a standard “Thank you for your query” email but no reply.
A week later, I wrote them Email #2. Similarly, there was no reply. The auto responder email stated that an email would be sent to me when my package was dispatched so I can track it. I did not receive any such email.
On Oct 31, 2010 I checked the Sasa site again on a whim and was gratified to see that the status of my package was now “Dispatched” instead of “Packing” which had been mocking me for weeks. Interestingly though, there was no email notification sent to me till today.
On Nov 2, 2010, I finally received my items – 3 days shy of a month after I’d placed my order and made full payment on Oct 5, 2010. I couldn’t cancel my order then because it was marked “Packing” and besides, I did want the stuff I ordered. Since I was busy anyway, time flew by, and I did eventually receive my items. No extra gifts by way of apology, no explanation, no emails.
Apparently, if you made your order after Oct 6, they offered “free gifts” by way of compensation for the delay. Because my order went in on Oct 5, I was not eligible, although I had to wait just as long, or perhaps longer. Make sense? I don’t think so.
Would I shop with Sasa.com again? I’d be hard-pressed to. Perhaps if they have something I really really want, at a really really good price, I might suck it up and get it from them. They are still one of the better places online to find Asian or Japanese cosmetics and skincare after all, sadly enough.
So you do the math! If you want to shop with Sasa.com, I’m not telling you not to. I still might in the future. But I’d tell you to please be aware because they can and will hold up your packages without explanations or compensation and without notice. So be prepared to sit and wait and don’t place an order if you need it “urgently”.
I’ll be fair to them. They sent everything well wrapped in bubble wrap in a large box filled with packing peanuts so your items do not move around, and everything arrived safely, considering it was mostly liquid. I cannot fault them for their packing, but they should really do something about their customer service, which is non existent.
Over to you: Do you have a Sasa.com story (good or bad) to share?
Paris B
yeah they had my money for 1.5 month making pretty percentage in their bank.
what also annoyed me, is that while i was checking my status daily i kept on receiving newsletters from them. why did they send them out if they can’t even dispatch old orders? how could they possibly cope with those new orders as well?
Sasa has the WORST, absolute WORST customer service I have ever experienced. I do a massive amount of online shopping and I have never encountered a more terrible online customer service (practically none).
I ordered at the beginning of February. Did not get a confirmation email of when it might be shipped. I email them. No response for a week. It’s like they just took my money and didn’t acknowledge if they would send it. After many emails and no response, I open a Paypal dispute. No response for another few days. Then they reply and say “We got your order, but we cannot go through with the transaction until you lift the dispute”. So I lift the dispute and they say they will email me confirmation of when my order will be shipped out. No response for another few days. I email them again more times and by now it’s one month since I ordered, and they finally email me to tell me “Some of your items are out of stock”. Duh. I’m still waiting for the confirmation email of when my order will be dispatched.
This is terrible customer service, and I tried using the international phone number which DOES NOT WORK. How can an international site like this have a FAKE CUSTOMER SERVICE PHONE NUMBER??
My gosh. After this order, NEVER AGAIN. I know their products are cheaper but the hassle and delay and bad experience trumps it all.
Oh my gosh.. I’m experiencing the same thing! I cancelled 3 orders before this because they took 2 months and there were no response, so I thought it was probably the bank problem because I used credit card. So I tried one more time by using paypal, and it debited from my bank account already. No response still! Should I make a dispute???
Well, I have to admit that I got lucky in terms of delivery; it was within 8 days and I live in the NY area. HOWEVER….
I had sent an inquiry about the authenticity of their products, and they sent back an email that stated that their stuff was genuine AND never expired (they shun the idea), so I bought the product. However, the product I bought was expired by almost a year, and I read just their “refund policy;” the policy is awful. They expect you to return the item, they check it out, and THEY decide whether to refund you or not. Then I read all the reviews about the crappy CS AND that Sasa tries hard to not refund you. This is ridiculous. Anyhow, I have emailed Sasa via their site and paypal. I am willing to send them a photo of the expired product, but I’m not going to pay more than I already have –> the return shipping cost AND the cost of re-shipping of the new product. I can’t believe they make the customer pay for a mistake that is clearly the company’s fault. I hope the email that Sasa sent to me, regarding expired products, will help me in my case. Although, I think this is going to be a long battle.
how did it turn out?
sasa.com ‘s delivery policy and refund policy is aweful.
very slow shipping and I never got my parcel because I WASNT’T HOME to receive it, excuse me for having a job and a university to attend to. I’m not like a bum who hangs at home all day for almost a month just to wait for a sasa parcel.
and they never notified me when the parcel is gonna be delivered or that I have to receive it personally.
to top it of, I have to pay a restocking fee and an additonal shipping fee if I want the parcel to be sent to me again (which I most probably won’t be able to receive again). It’s so upsetting.
Well after hearing all this mixed reviews and opinions about Sasa.com I was a bit hesitant and cautious about purchasing all the products I wanted. Still after a year of having a mental war with myself I decided to go all out and buy a ton of stuff for the heck of it. I purchased about 15-20 items on January 7th and even though it went from being processed and dispatched was a couple days, when I got my tracking number I noticed that on the Hong Kong post that my number wasn’t showing up and consistently I checked my tracking number everyday until FINALLY on Jan. 15th it said that it was shipped from Hong Kong and was going to its destination in the U.S. I was told that it’d take up to a month before it’d get here about 14-20 something days and it wasn’t until the 20th when my parents told me that there was a slip from the post office saying my package arrived and I had to go pick it up since I missed them when they delivered it. So basically it took 5 days to ship and oh my goodness I’m super happy. All I can say is to the people who are a bit iffy about ordering from Sasa.com, yes they have horrible customer service I would take a chance because all the products I got are authentic and are not expired. Hopefully you don’t have any problems. I didn’t have any!
Same with me, I hope they didn’t forget about my package because I don’t have an account with Sasa I ordered directly from Paypal. The money was deducted from my paypal account. I ordered 3 items about a little over a month ago. I emailed them and they said with my email they can’t track any information. I really hope they will send my package because there is no way I can do a refund. To anyone, if this same exact thing has happened to you please let me know how you retrieved your package. Therefore, since they don’t have good customer service and the delivery is very slow I will not order from them anymore after or if I get my package.
Ordered the KOSE happy bath day rose enrich body butter at $18.20 but was sent KOSE happy bath day rose enrich milk body gel priced at $10.20. I ordered through a friend\\\’s account so I thought she ordered the wrong item for me and opened the shrink wrap before we realised they sent us the wrong thing.At first they said they\\\’ll get back to us so by the time they replied it was already two weeks. They said because we opened it we were not offered a return (which we would have to pay for shipping from a mistake they made# but we were offered a refund of $0.40 as they stated the body gel they sent was only a price difference of $0.40.We emailed them back with a photo of what they sent and told them that the item the prices of the item we ordered and the item they sent us was $8 in difference but they kept denying it and took the web listing to the product down for both items.We still had the receipt to the body butter so we could prove that it was $18.20 but we had no proof the body gel was only worth about half the price of the butter. So we went on yesstyle and found the listings to both products and they also had the price difference of approximately half the amount. Butter at $20 and gel at $11.
We sent them both listings and told them even yesstyle priced the butter to double the body gel and it was not possible for them to sell it at $0.40 difference. This time they replied another few weeks later and all they kept doing was saying how sorry they were that we were disappointed and then they offered us $5 credit at the sasa online shop along with a small gift when we next purchase a product off them. We have been emailing them every week asking for a refund of the $8 they owe us; nothing more, nothing less.It has been almost two months after the purchase of this order and I have still not received compensation for my $8.They not only deny and also did not explain their mistake of wrong shipping but they also refuse to give my full money back whether in refund OR store credit. They are the most irresponsible and unprofessional customer service I have encountered through online shopping and I purchase from a range of stores for clothing, beauty products and electronics almost monthly for a few years now. Their behaviour towards the customer and reluctance to assist their client is disgusting that they had to go to the lengths of removing item listings to cover up their fault #as at wednesday 19th sept 2012, they have TWO listings for the ONE product: the KOSE happy bath day rose enrich conditioner. It appears TWICE on the 33rd new products page which I suspect has been doubled to replace the body gel#.I am sure glad I did not personally have an account with them. I will NEVER purchase from them again. It is not worth the trouble. I would advise everyone to avoid dealing with them online ESPECIALLY those overseas as you cannot talk to them in person.All they are concerned with is taking your money and luring you to purchase more from them by returning #not full amount owed) in credit. Would you still trust them to send you the correct product again or giving you products to the value of what you paid?
Yeah I don’t really like Sasa’s service. I went into a Sasa shop the other day and was browsing through the Balm’s products. Then the lady was like “Can I help you? (with an angry expression)” And I was like “No thanks I’m just browsing” and she literally just rolled her eyes at me and walked away. Like dafuqq broh -_-. And the staff there like follow you everywhere and you won’t even get to browse properly. It’s as if they’re trying to scare their customers away. And I’d say its worse than the department stores! I don’t think I’ll buy anything from them ever again
the sales person who sells you producst will get a percentage gain from the store. that’s why they can be pushy… $_$
It is now 2012 and I’m facing the same problem, only not because they’re changing warehouses..
I placed my order on November 15th, and received 4 emails over the next 10 days saying that products went out of stock and that my order would be changed. I’ve tried 3 times to email/ message them and I haven’t received a single response. My order has been in a “packing” state since November 24th now with no update.
From what I’m now reading, I’ll never order from Sasa again. Amazon and Ebay have everything that Sasa has, at approximately the same price, and with a customer service medium.
Thanks for the post!
With all the complaints of shipping delays taking 1-2 months i’m a little afraid to place my order on their site now! >_<
I guess you are lucky you got your package. It usually takes a month or more to get to my address too. Sometime I recieve few expired and used items from them but I suck it all up because of such cheap price. Now, I vow to never shop with sasa anymore.
The story is I ordered two package at same time from sasa. One got here successfully and the other one turns into a nightmare. First, they said it’s deliverd then it return to shipping center then after two months, it sent it back to sasa. There are people in our office 24/7. No one seen the package, not even a missed shipping slip.
we all know sometimes things happens but what really piss me off is the so call “customer service”. I had sent numerous email notifying them what is going on even before it was sent it back to shipping center. About 20 email over three months reply with same automatic template respond which never answer or address my concern. And now, it’s asking me for 15% restocking fee. Sasa.com do not care about their customer, the only thing they want is take money from you.
By the way, it’s been couple weeks since they email me saying they will refund with 15% restocking fee. I had still not see my money back yet. And it’s no use emailing them because I might as well talk to a wall. Now, I only hope I can get my money back and NEVER NEVER EVER do business with them again!!!!
C’mon people. Do you realize what your ordering is coming from China?Do you think China is close?Shippings from there always takes up to a month and sometimes little more,it is only normal. If you order from ebay you know that =)
Btw the date on their items isnt the expiry date=)It is also said on many sasa.com reviews on youtube.
I placed a order about 3 weeks ago on sasa.com. Also i placed a few other orders through different company. Now I received parcels shipped from China, korea, even US… But I still havent recieve the sasa one.. so weird….i doubt… i keep checking the status on singpost.com for my sasa order. It been status as “Despatched to overseas ” for a long time. Dont know why they keeping it for so long, and dont process it to the next step. I think i will not going to place any order from sasa.com.
Does Sasa website charge customs tax if you ship to Singapore or Malaysia..?Thanks.
I didn’t get taxed but I can’t say with certainty that there are no taxes. It’ll depend on the amount and the customs.
I WON’T buy on sasa.comI placed an order and paid in full this April. Guess what? I NEVER receive my order.Good luck to your next order with sasa if you don’t take my advice.