Thread by @miss_Caroline10

The nightmare and agony of dealing with Royal Mabati Ltd.

Is @RoyalMabati a scam?

A thread.

@dailynation @TheStarKenya @StandardKenya @ConsumersKenya @C_NyaKundiH @kenyanpundit @JerotichSeii @Asamoh_ @Disembe @RobertAlai

On the 17th March 2018, I placed an order for roofing materials at @RoyalMabati. I subsequently transferred the payment, around Ksh. 100,000 in foreign currency via a bank transfer to the Royal Mabati @Coopbankenya account in Kitengela branch.

3. The order was to be delivered to a relative in western Kenya. Royal Mabati assured me that this would happen as soon as they got the payment.

5 days later, I contacted RM to find out if they had received the payment.They said no. From past experience, I knew that international bank transfers to Kenya typically take around 3-7 days to reflect in a recipient’s account so I didn't think anything of it.

10 days later, I contacted Royal Mabati again to find out if the money was now in their account. They said no. I told my bank this and they asked that I cross check the account numbers and confirm that I used the right account.

I cross-checked with RM and they confirmed that the account details I had used were correct but they still denied receiving the money.

I didn't know what 2 believe. My bank was insisting that the money was deposited in the right account and Royal Mabati was denying that they received it. My bank suggested tracing the wire, a process that I would have to pay extra for but which would show exactly what happened.

They traced the whole wire process and confirmed that the money was paid to Royal Mabati on the 20th March 2018. I now had confirmation in writing but RM still maintained that they didn't get the money.

I contacted @Coopbankenya and luckily, they corroborated what my bank said that the money was indeed paid into Royal Mabati account. They couldn't reveal specific details such as the exact amount in KSH bcoz of 3rd party confidentiality issues but they were extremely helpful.🙏

After so much hustle, Royal Mabati finally admitted to having received the payment Ksh. 95,863.10  This was 3 weeks after the money had been transferred to their account. I was nevertheless relieved.

My relief was however short-lived. RM had promised to send the order to the recipient as soon as they received payment but now that they had the money, they changed the story and claimed that they didn’t have the products. They were expecting the products on the 8th of May.

I told them that that was unacceptable as it would be too late and that they should refund the payment via MPESA to the recipient so that the recipient could get the products from somewhere else.

They insisted that they needed a bank account because they couldn’t refund money to an Mpesa account. I provided them with the recipient’s bank account but they have so far not refunded the payment.

I have contacted them several times and they keep saying that they are working on it.
How difficult can it be to refund a client's money?
I have a feeling that I can not trust whatever they say.
Is @RoyalMabati a scam?

This is the @RoyalMabati website making all kinds of false promises...

royalmabati.com

They are also on Facebook....
m.facebook.com/royalmabati/

They were apparently awarded East Africa's super brand award last year.

The following is a clip from @ntvkenya @SmrityVidyarthi

Update:
A gentleman from Royal Mabati has just called me and promised that they are working on refunding the money as soon as possible.