Sendo halts phone card sales after customer receives used batch

FPT Group's Sendo e-commerce platform

Sendo’s representative confirmed that the company temporarily stopped selling phone cards to re-check the origins of its stock and inspect management personnel as well as co-operate with authorities to clarify this issue.

However, many customers who suffered damage were displeased with Sendo’s slow handling of the issue and the multiple delays.

Nguyen Thi Hai Yen (Thai Nguyen), who lost VND300 million ($13,216) after buying phone cards on Sendo, said it has been more than half a month since the incident occurred, but Sendo has yet to compensate her for the damage.

“Previously, a deputy director at Sendo promised to answer me by e-mail by May 4, but in the morning of May 3 Sendo sent me an email saying that they contacted the police to investigate the causes and asked me to wait,” Yen added.

On April 17-18, Yen ordered a large batch of phone cards, including VND50,000 ($2.2), VND100,000 ($4.4), and VND200,000 ($8.8) cards on Sendo, only to find that the cards had already been used.

Specifically, on April 18 Yen found that about 2,000 cards worth VND200 million ($8,810) were used and learned in the following days that 1,000 more cards worth VND100 million ($4,405) were also used.

Nguyen Thi Hanh, Sendo’s communications manager, said: “Currently, Sendo is working with the authorities to find out how the codes were stolen from its database because Sendo is only one link in the supply chain, thus it would be important to allocate responsibility. We promised to provide compensation to Nguyen Thi Hai Yen if we cannot identify the cause before May 31.”

Sendo’s representative has apologised to customers who suffered damage after buying unusable phone cards.

Sendo is an e-commerce platform of Sen Do Technology JSC, member of Vietnam's leading technology brand FPT Group. Over 80,000 shops are doing business on this platform, trading more than five million products from 21 industries.