Import From USA to Kenya Company Reviews

I have been avid fan of importing goods from the United States of America , for one because they are of reasonable price (compared to local prices) and two, because you have direct control over the products you import , from the type to the colours that suit your taste.

Over the few years, I have used a particular somewhat well known company (name withheld) for Importation. Basically how it works, is that You can buy goods using your credit card online, ship to their Address and once they have the goods, they will ship them to Kenya and you can then pick it from their Nairobi offices. This shipping takes around 2 weeks (3 weeks at its latest) from the Company receiving the item to it arriving in Nairobi.

Enter Savo Store....

Thanks to Curiosity, I always look for better alternatives or ways to do things. one day while surfing the web , I stumbled upon this Standard Newspaper Interview aptly titled "Savo Store Mints Millions from Appetite for Imports. " Basically it was an interview of one Sidney Karanja, whom after his studies, decided to Start a Company that facilitates Kenyan's importation of goods from America.

After reading the Interview, I visited their Site and was enticed by offers which include:

Delivering happiness within 10 days or less
No surprises on Deliver
No "Hidden Charges" etc etc

Armed with a few dollars , I decided to test out their service first before venturing into serious importation through them.

Summary of How Savo Store Works

Savo store has a fairly straightforward model consisting of two choices: 1. They can buy an item for you plus shipping or 2. You can buy the item yourself and enter their address, once they receive they item, they then ship it for you.

For both choices, you have to fill a form , detailing the link of the item you want to buy, its name, price and weight etc. And you must specify whether its shipping only or buy and ship as illustrated below.

After submitting this information , normally within 2 to 3 days , you will get a quote from the Site that ,depending on the choice of Buy & Ship or Shipping only, will outline all the charges which you must pay so the item is bought and/or shipped to Kenya.

This Looks something like this:

Now that we got the Basics out of the way, Let me detail my Personal Experience which were Horrible to say the least.

My Experience With Savo Store

Initially, once I discovered the site, I did not go straight to ordering goods, rather I contacted them first in order to get a clear picture on the shipping charges , whether they were based on the weight of the item or some other not specified parameters.

Their Reply through email is summarized below:

Our clients usually request quotes on our website in order to receive costs.

On goods of 20 KGs and over our cost per KG is $14 (Approx ksh 1300)
All goods below 20 KGs are quoted on a case by case basis.

This was somewhat welcome news since I knew my goods would not be anywhere near 1 kg and thus if 1 kg was $14 (approx kshs 1300) , my shipping costs would not exceed this.

Or so i thought and maybe you too . Apparently this is not the case on the ground as detailed by the following items I ordered and/or requested Quotes on.

The prices reflect the Actual Quotes from Savo Store Website

Item 1: Swarovski Elements Double-Tiered Austrian Crystal Bracelet

Buying Online
Quanitity: 2
Weight: 0.009 kg
Total Cost: $7.98 , Approx kshs 780

Savo Store Quote For Shipping only
Duty/VAT : ksh 456
Shipping & Service: Ksh 1300
Total Cost for Shipping only (Minus Buying) : Kshs 1756

If you notice, apart from separately buying the item at Ksh 780 , Savo Store goes on to tell you that they will handle and ship it for you for Ksh 1300 (Excluding Tax) . Mind you , these charges are expensive than the actual cost of the item not to mention that the item is 0.009 Kgs.

Is it realistic in any way ? I totally do not think so !

Item 2: KOCASO Headphones On-Ear Powerful Bass Lightweight Adjustable HP-500

Buying Online
Quantity: 1
Weight: 0.284 kg
Total Cost : $19.99, Approx Kshs 1,953

Savo Store Quote for Shipping Only
Duty/Vat: Ksh 770
Shipping & Service: Ksh 1500
Total Cost for Shipping only (Minus Buying) : Ksh 2,270

Notice that the Shipping and Handling charge has slightly increased compared to Item 1 above , and that the Total Cost of getting the item to Kenya is still more expensive than the cost of the Item itself. Again , no basis for the Handling charge has been provided , keeping in mind the item is 0.284Kg

Item 3: ASUS Chromebook C201PA-DS01 11.6-Inch Laptop (Navy Blue)

Buying Online
Quanity: 1
Weight: 1.5 Kg
Total Cost: $169, Approx Kshs 16,519

Savo Store Quote for Shipping Only
Duty/ Vat: Kshs 2,907
Shipping & Service Charge: Ksh 5,500
Total Cost for Shipping only (Minus Buying) : Ksh 8,407

Again , Baseless, Crazy and Hidden Charges. Notice earlier they through an email , had mentioned that cost per kg would be Ksh 1300, thus for 1.5 kg I should expect charges of Ksh 1950 !! But this is not the case , in reality the cost is Ksh 5,500 , the basis of which I did not quite comprehend.

Disclosure: Of the 3 Items above, I ended up going through with the Purchase of Item 1 only . I could not initiate the others because of the bizarre , hidden, out of nowhere charges that I did not get their basis.

Observations of Savo Store Dishonest and Hidden Charges' Process

At this point, several things were clear to me and hopefully to you the Reader:

1. Savo Store will charge you a Shipping Cost that is Way more than the actual cost of the Item being bought , regardless of the fact that you still have to pay for the item separately.

2. Although Savo Store states (see below) that they have a Base Charge of Ksh 1000 regardless of item cost for items less than 1 Kg ,this is not the actual case from the above examples. Actually the higher the cost of the item, the more you will pay regardless of the weight as detailed in Item 1 and 2 above.

3. Their Initial response claimed that for goods of 1 kg and above, they shipping cost would be around ksh 1300. This is not the case , because for a 1.5 kg item, you would expect to pay ksh 1950 , but the cost being quoted above is ksh 5500 . Why the Ksh 3550 more ?

It increasingly became clear that Savo Store lacked Transparency, were dishonest and introduced Hidden, baseless and unexplained charges throughout the process thus making the customer pay more for shipping than the actual cost of the item is.

I decided to reach out to them

Reaching Out to Savo Store on the Unrealistic Charges

I sent Savo Store an email detailing the above discrepancies, dishonesty and hidden charges as regards shipping goods from USA to Kenya and requested to get the basis of which the Charges were made.

Unfortunately, to this date, I have never received a reply to my message.

Red Flag, Red Flag !!

For a company that proudly says " No Surprises " right on their homepage, well this was surprising to me.

Posting on Facebook , Getting the Post Deleted and Finally a call from the Company Owner

Visiting their Facebook Page, one conspicuous category missing is the Reviews Section , which is normally available on most company pages so that customers can review the services of a given company. Searching through the entire page, I did not find a reviews section.

This is another Red Flag !! It is virtually impossible for people to Know the experiences of existing customers so as to decide whether to use them or not.

Nonetheless, I decided to write on their wall about my experiences detailing the discrepancies in Charges and recommending that they be a little transparent.

The post was Promptly Deleted by the Page Admin / Company CEO. This is Another Red Flag !! A company that deletes user posts from its Facebook page is by all measures not an honest company that cares for its customer needs and feedback.

Moments later, I received a call from Sidney Karanja, the owner of Savo Store Company. After a lengthy discussion (approximately 30 minutes) of me detailing the Discrepancies and why the shipping charges were not realistic;

His Response was:

"The Nature of Clientele we serve are big people who do not mind paying more to get their items in Kenya within 10 Business Days."

He further explicitly refused to give me a clear picture of how the Charges were formulated.

This was really in bad taste and still does not answer the question of How the shipping charges are formulated and specifically: why one should pay more than the cost of the item for shipping purposes regardless of their nature being CEO's or regular people.

Is it wrong to ask for a little transparency ?

Conclusion

This summarizes my horrifying experiences with Savo Store Company : An experience filled with dishonesty and a lot of hidden charges that I will never wish to go through with again.

A good Company should be transparent in its process, care to reply to its customers, must not have hidden charges , must not delete Customer Facebook posts and most importantly must have a review section where customers can express their satisfaction / dissatisfaction with the Company.

Sadly enough, these ideals are not portrayed by Savo Store Company

Next time you want to import items from the United States of America to Kenya, Kindly do the maths. sometimes , it is just not worth it with some companies

Had a different experience ? kindly let us know in the comments Section. Thanks !!

Disclaimer

This post documents my real life experiences when using Savo Store Company to ship goods from USA to Kenya, Every email, conversation and other materials are real and have not been exaggerated in any way and are available upon request
This post is intended for the sole purpose of informing potential users who may want to import goods from the United States to Kenya through Savo Store Company.