African Sales Company

Sold Expired Product & Poor Customer Response

I attended the recent ASCO fragrance sale and, among my purchases, discovered that the Coola sunscreen they sold me had expired in June 2023. This is not just disappointing, it’s dangerous to sell expired skincare, especially one meant for the face. When I raised my concern formally via email, the response I received was as follows: “Thank you visiting the sale and sorry that you bought an expired sunscreen. The sale has now ended but we are quite happy to refund your purchase. Please you return the product to our offices in Midrand. If Midrand is not convenient, I live in ……. and it can be dropped off with me and I can get it back to the office. In the meantime please send a photo of the product together with a confirmation of banking details and a scan of your slip so we load you on our payment system for refund.” I find this response unacceptable. There was no real accountability, no apology that matched the seriousness of the issue, and no indication of how ASCO will prevent expired products from being sold again. The tone came across as a casual “drop it off and we’ll refund,” as though this is a minor inconvenience rather than a serious breach of trust. Expired products should never be on sale to the public. A refund alone does not address the safety risk posed to other customers who may have unknowingly bought the same product. I am deeply disappointed and hope ASCO takes this matter seriously going forward, because at present their handling of it has shown a lack of care for customer health and safety.