Romania’s largest online retailer, eMAG, is facing significant criticism after customers reported severe delays, contradictory information and misleading delivery estimates following this year’s Black Friday event. Although the company heavily promoted record-breaking sales, an increasing number of buyers say they were promised next-day delivery at checkout, only to find their orders frozen for days with no progress and little explanation.

This is not a matter of shoppers being impatient. The issue is that eMAG advertised extremely fast delivery times, even after Black Friday had ended, and then quietly replaced those dates with a much later deadline once customers had paid. The reaction from the public has been strong and overwhelmingly negative.

Delivery Promises Not Respected

Throughout Black Friday and the days immediately after, eMAG’s website and mobile app continued to display delivery dates such as:

• “Delivery tomorrow”

• “Delivery on Monday”

• “11 to 12 November”

However, once customers placed their orders, the tracking status remained stuck at either “Order placed” or “Payment accepted”, sometimes for five days or longer.

One user wrote publicly:

“Two Black Friday orders and today they still only show ‘order placed’. Nothing is moving, total silence.”

Another said:

“By the time you deliver my order, my child will have gone through another box of Pampers. It has not even been processed. Estimated delivery 22 November. We may as well order from the USA, it would come faster.”

A third was even more blunt:

“You have completely frozen. It has already been five days for products that were supposed to arrive the next day. We are just waiting to see what happens.”

Some customers reported that even electronic vouchers, which should have been delivered immediately by email, were stuck for several days with no explanation.

eMAG’s New Explanation Does Not Match What Customers Saw

When responding to complaints on Facebook, eMAG repeatedly posted the same message:

“Orders placed on Black Friday have a delivery deadline of 22 November, according to the information communicated.”

Dozens of customers responded that this was simply not true. The deadline of 22 November was not displayed at checkout. Screenshots shared between customers show that even days after Black Friday, eMAG was still advertising next-day delivery on many items.

A frustrated user wrote:

“Can you not see in the screenshots that yesterday you were still showing delivery tomorrow?”

Another commenter said:

“Why do you make promises of next-day delivery if you cannot honour them?”

Many customers feel that eMAG changed the delivery conditions after taking payment, which is exactly what most people are angry about. They did not choose the delivery date. They were shown one time frame when they bought the items, and were given a very different one afterwards.

Several customers have also reported that after waiting many days with no movement, their orders were cancelled without warning. One user wrote:

“After about ten days it will either be cancelled or they will call you and say the supplier does not have it in stock. This is what happened to me.”

Another added that eMAG did not allow them to leave a review afterwards, raising concerns about transparency.

Customer Service Overwhelmed, Not Giving Answers and Eroding Trust

A consistent complaint is that eMAG customer service delays responses, avoids giving clear answers and repeatedly pushes people into private messages rather than addressing issues publicly.

One person commented:

“I sent you a message an hour ago.”

Another said:

“My order has not moved past ‘Payment accepted’. Do I need to worry?”

Replied took hours and provided no useful information, only repeating the 22 November deadline which did not match the delivery promises shown during checkout.

Some customers say they have lost faith in eMAG entirely. One posted:

“A flea market is more serious. Even Temu products arrived before mine. Honestly, I am moving to more serious and transparent online shops. I no longer trust this one at all.”

The tone across the comment sections is overwhelmingly negative, with many customers feeling misled, ignored and disappointed. The fact remains, eMAG is pretty much Romania's only major online retailer and it would seem as though this fact is giving them a lot of flexibility with how they respond to situations such as these.

A small number of commenters defended eMAG, pointing out the high volume of Black Friday orders. However, most people argue that the volume is not the problem. The problem is that eMAG continued to advertise unrealistic delivery dates even after their logistics system was clearly overwhelmed.

The sense of deception is the main reason for the backlash. Customers expected delays, but they did not expect delivery promises that turned out to be false.

What Shoppers Can Do

Customers waiting for delayed orders should:

• Keep screenshots of the original delivery estimates

• Contact customer support through the app

• Request updates if orders remain stuck for many days

• File a complaint with ANPC if they believe they were misled or if delivery terms changed after payment

Screenshots are especially important because they show the original promises that influenced the purchase decision.

Since the time of writing, eMAG has provided a follow-up explanation for this issue, explaining why delivery dates were inaccurate and why so many orders stalled for days without movement.

We would like to inform you that all orders placed on Black Friday will be delivered by November 22 at the latest, according to the deadline communicated by our courier partner Sameday.

This extended delivery period is necessary because:

– For Black Friday, we have prepared a separate stock, dedicated exclusively to this campaign.
– The high volume of orders requires phased processing and shipping to ensure that each package arrives safely at its destination.

We assure you that our teams, together with our courier partners, are working hard to ensure that all orders are delivered within the specified time frame. You will receive email and SMS notifications as soon as your package is picked up by the courier.

The company continues to repeat that 22 November is the delivery deadline, despite widespread evidence that earlier dates were shown during checkout.

The situation remains ongoing, and many customers are still waiting for their orders to be processed. If you have experienced delays or cancellations related to Black Friday purchases from eMAG, you can contact us at [email protected] to share your story.