Money Transfer on Kapruka.com
Posted on November 26th, 2013

Asoka Seneviratne USA

I am a Sri Lankan living in USA. I have been using Kapruka.com for years to send dozens of gifts to Sri Lanka.

 Recently I had to send  $ 2200.00 to family memeber in SL for an urgent matter. I did the transaction through Kapruka.com. They claim to provide the prevailing exchange rate in SL on that date it was Rs 131 per dollar. Of course I didnt expect them to give me that rate but at least 2 or 3 rupees less per dollar.
I used a debit card to deposit the money to Kapruka.
I waited 2 days and called them in SL. They had not until then even called the recepient in Rajagiriya to inform that they would bring in the money, even though I had specifically instructed then do so so that the recepient knows it was on the way.
When I called the manager in KR Colombo office his first reaction was that “this is a large amount of money and it takes a few days as a result”. I asked him if he had contacted the recipient and he said no. I requested him to contact the recipient right away and he promised to do so. When I called back one hour later, he said he did talk to the recipient over the phone. When I called the recipient, she said she received no such call at all. So Kapruka lied. They called several hours later on my insistence. It was 2 PM SL time and said they now had a check ready but could only deliver until the next day. They said it was too late. now remember the recipient was at Rajagiriya and KR office is at Colombo 7.
Finally after 3 days they delivered a check, But surprisingly it was at Rs 123 per dollar. As I said earlier the rate that time was Rs 131.00 per dollar. When I questioned why so low, he gave me a lecture of exchange control rules in SL. He also told me that the more money involved the exchange rate would be less. I could not believe this. So Kapruka made a good Rs.10,000.00 to 15,000.00  over and above the $12.50 they charged for the transaction.
On last Friday, I paid for a gift card to be delievred to my mother on her birthday that was the next day Saturday (I clearly told them it was her 85th birthday and to deliver without fail). Until 7 PM Sunday which is 2 days past) she has not received the gift certificate.
By this letter I want to warn all Sri Lankans who wants to use Kapruka.com.  They dont alwyas  keep their  promise on exchange rates or delivery dates. But they boast about being Sri Lanka’s largest E-Commerce business. My F–t!
 Asoka Seneviratne   monroviasl@cs.com

2 Responses to “Money Transfer on Kapruka.com”

  1. Eusense Says:

    This information is good to know. I hope others who use them (and other SL related businesses) also write about their out comes; both good and bad. I have stopped using KR because their charges and service was not up to my expectation.

  2. Outspoken Sri Lankan Says:

    I have been a customer of Kapruka for a very long time — from the time they started. I have found that in spite of the awards they win, probably those who make the awards have not tested them from the outside. Orders of flowers and cakes go without a hitch but lately, money transactions have been very “fishy” to say the least. There was a break in their service and when I called their Colombo office, I was told it was a computer glitch. Of course their courtesy to say so on their website was not something they thought about. Then the next time they said due to government regulations they had temporarily stopped transfers. Now it is back up and running but the exchange rate is very low and also the time lag to deliver the funds is strangely slow.

    The other issue was telephone card uploads. I add to phones for a few people who I support as a way to help them. But that too sometimes falls through the cracks.

    Recently I was so frustrated with them, I found another site that does it for a small fee but it was worth it.

    If Kapruka continues this trend I will find an alternative site. I called them as a customer and expressed my disappointment and the person at the end of the phone was not at all perturbed by the loss of a long standing customer.

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