Consumers have turned to social media to vent their frustration due to alleged delays of refunds from local automotive unicorn company Carsome.
A majority of the complaints were related to refunds of booking fees. According to Carsome’s website, a booking fee of 1% of the price of the car has to be paid if you want to buy a used car from their website.
It’s unknown what has led to delay in these refunds. There could be many reasons why a purchase did not go through, such as loans failing approval or the condition of the car being unsatisfactory upon inspection. Or a buyer could have simply changed their mind. But deposits should have been refunded promptly regardless.
According to Carsome’s FAQ, the booking fee refunds will be paid within 14 working days, but many of the messages claim that they have been waiting for more than a month.
In August 2022, a report carried by Malaysia Gazette covered a different issue involving alleged late payments to customers who sold their car to Carsome. According to Malaysia Gazette’s report, a typical 3 hour waiting period to be paid extended to over 3 days.
At that time, the issue was attributed to temporary problems with the system. A month later, the industry was shocked by reports of layoffs at Carsome in September 2022.
Industry insiders commented that these problems could happen if a startup has liquidity issues, which is something not uncommon amongst startups. Last month, Carsome told BFM Radio in an interview that the company has yet to breakeven but plans to do so this year.
Source: Read Full Article