A Kmart shopper thought she scored a bargain when she purchased a marked-down homeware item — only to discover the product was not delivered in one piece.
The woman, from Queensland, ordered a wave decor bowl for just $5, down from $12, from the online store.
To her surprise, the white bowl arrived in multiple pieces inside bubble wrap after it was believed to have been damaged during transit — despite having “fragile” labelled clearly on the parcel.
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“When your ‘fragile’ package from Kmart finally arrives. But like this…” she said in a Kmart fan Facebook group, along with pictures showing the smashed bowl.
However, the customer didn’t seem fazed by the broken bowl, as she suggested: “To repair or not to repair?”
“I was lucky enough to score this at a bargain $5, so probably not worth the effort to return,” she added.
7Life has contacted Kmart for comment.
However, not everyone agreed with her thinking, with many urging her to contact the retailer for a refund.
“The EXACT thing happened to me with this bowl. Managed to get a refund,” one woman said, alongside a picture of her broken wave decor bowl.
Another claimed: “I have had so many deliveries arrive broken, paint tins placed in a box 10 times the size with no wrapping… the paint exploded en route. Kmart needs to get its act together.”
One added: “That’s ridiculous, not a bargain anymore. Return it.”
Many were shocked with the woman’s order, with one saying: “Wow that’s terrible”, while another added: “So disappointing.”
But one joked: “Lucky they put that bubble wrap on it, would of (sic) hated to see how it arrived without it, probably a pile of dust.”
Other customers defended the retailer.
“That’s a shame. I’ve only had one item arrive broken and I took photos and sent them through to the returns option on the website and they had no issues refunding me,” one wrote.
“I have ordered a heap of glass jars when I redid my pantry a few years ago and not one was broken.”
Another said: “My Kmart order was packed wonderfully. It was very fragile but had heaps of wrapping.”
According to the retailer’s website, shoppers can submit an application online for a refund on damaged, faulty or wrong products if they are unable to visit a store.
Shoppers are expected to hear from the customer service team within two business days once their refund application is reviewed.
Meanwhile, many suggested the shopper should glue her bowl back together using the Japanese Kintsugi technique, a traditional repair method where broken pieces of pottery are stuck back together with gold.
“See if you can find glue that is gold in colour, maybe hardware store. Then glue it back together. I’ve done this before with a white bowl and it looks pretty cool and unique,” one said.
Another suggested: “You can fix it yourself. Squirt glue into a bowl and add a little gold paint… mix it together and when you put the glue/paint on, push the pieces together, the colour will come through the cracks… It comes up so beautifully.”
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