BLINKs get “scammed” by Shopee for BLACKPINK Meet-and-Greet

[rockerista03.livejournal.com]

MANILA - The goal was to get their hands on the precious autographs of Korean pop group Blackpink, and in the process of doing so, fans of the group spent tens of thousands of pesos on products they don't really need just so they can be part of the leaderboard.

Two fans of the popular K-pop group, who both requested anonymity, shared to ABS-CBN News what they had to go through just to be part of Online retailer Shopee Philippines' "top 40 spenders" who will get autographs from Jisoo, Lisa, Jennie and Rose.

Hoping to maintain their place in the top 40, both "Tina" and "Belle" spent a total of P105,000 on products sold on Shopee Philippines.

Tina said she bought four new mobile phone units just so she can maintain her place in the top 40.

Belle said Shopee would post updates of who are included in the "top 40 spenders" every other day, and as of Wednesday, the person in the 40th spot spent almost P80,000.

Both of them thought they're part of the top 40 and would go home with the girls' signatures.

But both of them received bad news on the day of the event.

Belle said she got a ticket for the event, but she was supposedly not part of the top 40, which means she wouldn't be getting the autographs.

She went to the venue early to complain, and that's when she learned there were others who had the same case as her.

"We were feeling so scammed and all that na parang nawala 'yung worth ng money namin, (We were feeling so scammed and all that like the worth of our money vanished just like that.)" she said.

She added the company's staff tried to resolve the issue but she just gave up and accepted the ticket given to her.

Tina, who also failed to be part of the top 40 based on Shopee's latest leaderboard, decided not to attend the meet-and-greet as a form of protest for what she said is unfair treatment by Shopee.

A friend also told her that the 40th person on the leaderboard spent P109,000, which is more than what she spent.

"So Shopee seemed to have fixed it, but only the top 40. They said na the 40th person spent almost 109k. Mas mataas sa akin na 105k lang, (So Shopee seemed to have fixed it, but only the top 40. They said that the 40th person spent almost 109k. Higher than mine which is only 105k.)" she tweeted.

"And yes, my decision was final. HINDI AKO PUPUNTA. Shopee gave me so much stress and anxiety and I cant be there neglecting those stuff. Iniisip ko nalang muna, hindi pa ito ang tamang panahon to meet them personally, (And yes, my decision was final. I’M NOT GOING. Shopee gave me so much stress and anxiety and I can’t be there neglecting those stuff. I’m just thinking this isn’t the right time yet to meet them personally.)" she added.

Shopee Philippines apologized in an official statement and acknowledged that the event "fell short of the high standards that users and Blackpink fans expect."

"All of us at Shopee would like to sincerely apologize to users and fans of Shopee and Blackpink for the issues involving the Shopee x Blackpink meet-and-greet today in Manila.

"The event fell short of the high standards that Shopee users and Blackpink fans expect, and we hear our community’s feedback loud and clear.

"Although we took immediate steps as soon as we discovered our errors to ensure the rightful winners of our contest could claim their prizes, we know that the entire process caused confusion, disappointment, and upset for many Shopee users and Blackpink fans.

"We are reaching out to all those affected by this issue, and we are also taking steps to ensure that such an incident does not occur again in the future."

Source: ABS-CBN News

Comments

[nana-the-dwarf.livejournal.com]

Refund them.

[rockerista03.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I saw those tweets and posts on Facebook. The ~*celebrities*~ and ~*influencers*~ were prioritised by Shopee. It was apparently just a real big mess tbh. And idk if it's verified but Shopee's apparently just offering the Top 40 1k vouchers each lol as if that changes things.

[pepsi-twist9.livejournal.com]

That's what I was thinking. Obviously that'd be inconvenient af but I don't think buying phones is any better

[premonitioner.livejournal.com]

if you're gonna do this shit, just put a fucking fixed price on the fucking autographs, jesus fucking christ

as if fandoms aren't already a competition of who spent more without this nonsense

[mad-nux.livejournal.com]

so messed up. i feel sorry for the blinks. also i heard celebs and 'influencers' were allowed to take videos inside but for normal fans they're going to be kicked out if they take a video

[gigabytexx.livejournal.com]

Sh*p** continues being a scam, i dont like shopping in their e-commerce site anyway. Poor customer service.

[gigabytexx.livejournal.com]

I dont like both Lazada & shopee, I'm particularly not really comfortable e-commerce sites that are made from overseas and has many branches in other countries lol
I usually trust more to the ones made locally, in my country Indonesia we have Tokopedia, and their customer service is the bomb. Best for both seller & buyer. Sure the promotions aren't as crazy as Shopee and so nowadays many sellers started to sell more in Shopee, but for me if I dont need it that much I won't buy stuff in Shopee :/

I had an error in shopee too, i couldn't make an order in both web & app. Just before I paid I had to confirm my phone number and although I did thousand times it still says my phone isn't verified, while I checked in my profile it's already verified. I have never bought anything, that was my first time! I asked the CS and they can only say I need to change my phone number like... tf? I only have 1 number and I'm certainly not going to buy a new number just to order in there -_-

[goshipgurl.livejournal.com]

Messy situation, but I'm always shocked when fans spend thousands of bucks just to see their fave. It wasn't even a concert... Save the money for something else.

[camouflagecat.livejournal.com]

Sometimes I read about the sums fans spend to see/shake hands/etc with their fave and I'm borderline disgusted with both the way people handle their money and how kpop as a whole feeds this insane behavior lol

[goshipgurl.livejournal.com]

The fact that only fans that bought the most albums or certain items get into fansigns is honestly so stupid. Like in western entertainment industries, fansigns are for everybody because that's also how you win fans. Why make it only exclusive for already exisiting fandoms?

[goshipgurl.livejournal.com]

A girl from my university is also a huge koreaboo and flies to Korea two/three times per year to visit music shows, concerts, fansigns and so on. She's mostly a boygroup stan so it's only a matter of time until one of her fave gets exposed, but on the other hand she's the type that doesn't really care about this stuff.

[goshipgurl.livejournal.com]

BTS have many crazy fans in their 30s/40s. I remember this one radio interview with a fan in her 40s when they took off in the states and the way she talked about them... Sis you could be their mother.

[xoxkenzxox.livejournal.com]

yeah. kpop has turned more into my guilty pleasure like watching Jersey Shore. I'm a fan, I keep up to date and will happily chat about kpop if you want to discuss. But I wont' go out of my way to ask/bombard people about it nor do I outwardly show my "fan-ness". I'm late 20s and older than all these new groups. Now I know how people felt when Taemin originally debuted at 16 with SHINee. Gosh I feel old.

[xoxkenzxox.livejournal.com]

I listen to the music at work so if people ask what I'm listening to I will say it. But I don't even have any decoration.

[xoxkenzxox.livejournal.com]

A new girl at my work heard that I liked kpop and immediately asked me how many concerts I had been to. I told her honestly only about 2-3 because of different issues such as getting off work/paying insane ticket prices/not my faves/I won't drive 5 hours to the next city to see some random act. She then proceeded to brag about how she had been to over 100 concerts including flying to other US state/countries to see them perform. Yeah...I'm good.

I'm a ten year kpop fan. I'm happy with my one or two shows. They are special to me. I don't need to tally them up. I don't need all the flash and glitter. I'm happy enough.

[xoxkenzxox.livejournal.com]

It's not all concerts that come here. She flies around going to every kcon in LA and NY. She travels a lot to Dallas for all the shows there (they always go to Dallas but I will NOT drive 4-5 hours. no thank you). No idea how much money she has spent. But she's fresh out of college so maybe her parents paid. No idea.

HAHA! I'm chill about it I think. Like, KARD and Epik High came and those were great concerts on the weekend. But when Oh My Girl came on like a Tuesday I was good. I wish I could support but I have to live my life too. Maybe I should be a bigger fan....but I don't have the time to follow everything like I did in high school/college. Real life takes over at some point.

Also, the sudden emergence of new BTS/kpop fans is overwhelming to me.

[babyjenkski.livejournal.com]

They could've just gone to other countries to watch their faves. Really crazy.

[blck-ink.livejournal.com]

that's a whole lot of money

[hallyujah.livejournal.com]

lolol Fraud in your area!

[babyjenkski.livejournal.com]

LMAO such a witty reply!