Road to Freedom and a Trust well Earned
OK I have been very unfair and lazy. Or maybe just excited that something I have had sleepless night for finally came to pass. Have you ever had the feeling when you wait for something to happen and you tell your self a million things you would do when it does happen. I had that kind of feeling recently.
After paying my Nigeria Friend (his name is Brume Ovuai btw) all that was needed for the Dell XPS M1330 the Nokia N810 plus some other accessories The Dell came preinstalled with Ubuntu Linux and the Nokia ran on Maemo a port of Debian-Linux. Then came the difficult part the wait. This is where Brume really showed professionalism . He was always just an email away. Once I send him a mail he would get in touch with me instantly and let me know the status of my goods. There were many things I was worried about but the least was whether I trusted the right person. Because even though I met this guy online and he was suppose to be a Nigerian and all the scary stuff that came with that. I felt very relaxed and he was damn too sincere. At one time while I was paying for the dell he informed me of how he saved $35 for me while making the transaction on my behalf. I was quite thrilled. And impressed.
Below is a time line of how it all went based on email correspondence between Brume and myself. .
Tue, Sep 9, 2008 at 11:31 AM
i sent the dell configuration to Ovuai and he sent me a mail telling me that my configuration had been saved.
Tue, Sep 9, 2008 at 10:51 PM
Ovuai sent the account of his friend were i could make a down payment for the goods ( this is how he works he books for the item(s) once you have paid half the cost goods which would include cost of shipments to lagos and the goods. and when the good gets to Lagos. they would be delivered once the remaining half is paid.
Tue, Sep 9, 2008 at 8:31 PM
final confirmation on the specification of the dell. based on the customization i did on www.dell.com/ubuntu. it was here that we also agreed on total cost.
Tue, Sep 10
decided to add some accessories to my purchase. namely a cool Case-Logic bag for 13inch laptop which i found here http://www.nextag.com/Case-Logic-Urban-Laptop-592130755/prices-html
a simi multimedia stereo headset plus mic. ( i was afraid that the dell would not come with an inbuilt mic for skype call but fortunately it did come with a mic)
also ordered for usb hub because the dell has only 2 usb port.
i got the link here this items are sold from Amazon and sent them to Ovuai to add to the dell and order them on my behalf
Thu, Sep 11, 2008 at 3:06 PM
i got a mail from Ovuai containing a list everything i had ordered and their price. namely
1. Dell XPS M1330 $1205 with tax
2. Caselogic UCS-13 13-Inch Felt Messenger Bag with Laptop Storage (Black/Gray)
$29.99
3. Belkin USB 2.0 4-Port Ultra Mini Hub F5U407 $9.15
4. Simi Multimedia Stereo Headset with Mic $9.48 +$3.99
Fri, Sep 19, 2008 at 1:13 PM
I paid the first installment of the transaction to GTBank and got a mail for Brume confirming payment. it has started and from here on there is no turning back the dell was ordered and 25th of September was set by them as the date it be delivered to Brume.
Fri, Sep 19, 2008 at 1:47 PM
Decided to add the Nokia N810 plus some accessories a carrying pouch plus and 8gb microSD card. to the my list of ordered items. and got a mail from Ovuai that the Nokia has been ordered from tiger direct.
Thu, Sep 25, 2008 at 10:42 PM
Dell has delayed shipment till 30th of September. Brume also informed me that the carrying pouch for the Nokia had not yet been delivered.
Oct 2, 2008 at 2:22 PM
Made the second payment instalment for the goods. i didn’t really have to because Brume way was you pay half now when the goods are ordered and half when they are delivered. but i was having none of that. i trusted him and i hated debts.
Wed, Oct 1, 2008 at 4:15 AM
Dell was delivered to Ovuai the feared delay in shipment was a false alarm after all. shipment to Nigeria was going to take place the Next Day.
Thu, Oct 2, 2008 at 2:22 PM
i made last instalment payment for cost of the goods and shipment to abuja.
Thu, Oct 2, 2008 at 4:35 PM
got a mail from Brume asking me to confirm the list of items that i ordered which would be shipped to Nigeria the Next day. here are the items
4 Ubuntu Stickers
1. Open SUSE 11 KDE DVD (This item will likely arrive today)
1 of: SanDisk 8GB MicroSD Card (SDSDQ 8192MB)
1 of: Nokia N810 Portable Internet Tablet
1 of: Simi Multimedia Stereo Headset with Mic [CD]
1 of: Belkin USB 2.0 4-Port Ultra Mini Hub F5U407
1 of: Caselogic UCS-13 13-Inch Felt Messenger Bag with Laptop Storage (Black/Gray)
1 of: Pdair Nokia 810 pouch
1 of: Dell XPS 1330 laptop per the following config
Intel core 2 Duo T5850 (2.16GHz/667Mhz FSB/2MB cache)
1 Tuxedo Black
1 4GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz
1 Standard Display with 2.0 Megapixel Webcam
1 Intel® Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator 3100
1 Speed: 320GB SATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) with Free Fall Sensor
1 Ubuntu 8.04 with DVD Playback
1 Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem
1 CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW Drive)
1 High Definition Audio 2.0
1 Intel® 3945 802.11a/g Mini-card
1 56Whr Lithium Ion Battery (6 cell)
1 1Yr Ltd Hardware Warranty, InHome Service after Remote Diagnosis
1 Readyware Installation Fee
1 Biometric Fingerprint Reader
1 Built-in Bluetooth capability (2.0 EDR)
1 Standard LCD with Tuxedo Black Casing and Camera XPS M1330
1 Intel Centrino Core Duo Processor
Fri, Oct 3, 2008
The goods where shipped. to Nigeria.
Sat, Oct 4, 2008 at 1:51 PM
Got some sad News Brume lost is elder brother Buji. although we haven’t met in person. Brume was like a brother to me. and i was deeply moved by his loss. i sent him my condolence. RIP Buji.
Wed, Oct 15, 2008 at 9:44 AM
My goods have gotten to Lagos Nigeria and would be picked up today by Brume’s partner in Lagos.
Wed, Oct 15, 2008 at 1:44 PM
Got a call from Brume’s Lagos partner yemisi that she has indeed gotten the goods and there have been shipped to Abuja and would arrive the next day
Thu, Oct 16, 2008 at 7:44 PM
Fedex delayed delivery. i got a call from their delivery man apologising for the delayed delivery of the goods promising to deliver the next day.
Fri, Oct 19, 2008 at 9:00 PM
Got Delivery of all items i ordered .. the Delivery pack is the most beautiful anything i have gotten in a long time. everything was just as i had ordered them. the Nokia,the Dell, all the accessories. everything. to say i was thrilled is an understatement. and i owed it all tp Brume. Has a Nigerian its always hard to get what you want because the world see every one of us a scammers and fraudsters. while is may be true was a tiny minority majority of Nigerians a Honest people making a Honest living who wont take a dollar except its belongs to them. These are the over 99% of Nigerians that the world those not see and Brume is one of the finest breed of honest Nigerians. If you are a Nigerian and would like to get something that might not be available here in Nigeria you can get in touch with Brume in his thread here in Nairaland.
In the end i got what i wanted. a laptop and an handheld that runs on free and open source software. but must important of all i also made a friend. who more than earned my trust.