Hi there, I need advice from experienced seniors regarding the return request for potential fraud items.
Long story short, I was inexperienced about online shopping and didn't read much about potential scams by the sellers I ordered a phone after reading the product reviews last week.
20/1/2021:
Received phone. Inspected the phone, it shows the spec figures as per the seller's page at first glance. However, after verification I found that the system has been rigged, where the actual specs were totally different.
Initiated return request via Lazada, and made a review on the seller, describing the actual quality of the item received.
21/1/2021:
Inquired the seller about the quality issue via Lazada.
He said he could make a refund for the returned item, but he asked me to remove the product review if I want to return the item.

22/1/2021:
Asked him to clarify on the inferior quality of the received item. He refused to give explanation and claimed that he's just a customer service and couldn't offer anymore professional answer. He also insisted me to remove the product review. I told him reviews can't be deleted, then he told me to edit the review. Since he didn't approve or reject the return request, so I didn't reply him after that because Lazada CS said the return request will be automatically approved if the seller chooses to ignore it.

25/1/2021:
This afternoon, the seller whatsapped me, and even made several calls to me, but I didn't pick up. I just told him in Lazada chat to keep communication within Lazada channel. Then, he suddenly had a change of attitude, approving the return request and even asking me to remove the product review.

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So far, I have done the following:
1. Taken photo evidence of the inferior quality issues inside the phone
2. Screenshot the seller's page description
3. Taken photo evidence of all available items in the received parcel.
When I received the parcel, I damaged the exterior surface of the parcel a bit (corner of the box torn a bit), should I use back same parcel to return the received item?
I read that some dishonest seller might deliberately claim the consumers damaged the parcel upon return.
Is there any precaution step that I need to be aware so that the refund will be completed without any issue?
Please kindly advise.
You're lucky you bought via Lazada since they tend to side with the buyer. I see you've done your documentation already for the product upon receipt. Now do the same before you drop it off at one of the drop-off points. A few things to note:
1) Make sure the parcel is packed well. Meaning re-use the bubble wrap. Take a photo of this.
2) Take another photo once the drop-off point have given you the consignment note. Make sure it clearly displays the sender and recipient.
3) If you were to remove the review, make sure you can re-instate it once the money have been remitted. You know they want you to remove it coz they want to continue scamming other people. I would strongly suggest you make a report to Lazada on this unethical behaviour.
In the future, avoid leaving any form of reviews until after you've received your refund.
Good luck and hope you have an uneventful process.
PS: I've done an exchange before and the seller basically ignored until the time was up and it was auto approved. As long as you have a valid reason, and proof to back it up, the exchange would go through.