On November 13, Ilo Della Thompson Maduabuchi, a Nigerian businessman, contacted Afialink International to purchase a Hyundai Sonata 2013 model. Afialink, an auto dealer with offices in Lagos and the US, had put the car up for sale on Instagram.
Maduabuchi paid about N4 million naira to Afialink for the Sonata and some laptops. Afialink received the money but failed to deliver the car or respond to Maduabuchi’s inquiries thereafter.
“I paid for the car and some laptops in November 2021. The car was about N1.7 million and I bought 40 pieces of laptops for around N800,000,” Maduabuchi told FIJ on Tuesday.
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“In the second week of January, I called to make inquiries. The price I paid was just for shipping my purchased goods to Nigeria. When they got to Nigeria, I would pay for their clearance at the port. Instead, Afialink explained that they would do the clearing themselves.
“I said ‘no, this was not our initial agreement’. We agreed to have the goods sent to Nigeria then I cleared them. Afialink said it was their policy. This is not how we do it. I have imported goods from the US for some years now. Afialink said there was nothing they could do and that they had to clear the goods themselves.”
After speaking with a friend, Maduabuchi decided to pay Afialink to handle the clearance of his purchased goods.
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“I paid about N1.3 million for the clearance charges, against N800,000 or N900,000 for customs, to Afalink. After I paid the money, Afialink shut me out. I have called, but they never answered my calls. My uncle contacted them in the United States; they did not answer him.
The manager of Afialink once claimed that he did not work with the company. Afialink customer care continued to direct Maduabuchi to that same manager. They eventually went silent and refused to offer an explanation to Maduabuchi.
“I paid about N4 million for all of this and Afialink has refused to deliver my goods,” said Maduabuchi.
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FIJ contacted Afialink via the phone number on its website but it was inoperative. The company had also neither answered calls FIJ made to its other phone numbers nor acknowledged messages sent to them at press time.
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