When a friend introduces Beam and Go, I got curious about the name especially when he told me that it is an easier way to remit money to the Philippines from any part of the world. What comes instantly to my mind upon hearing about remittance are my siblings who are in different continents earning a living for our Mother and for their own family. Maybe with Beam and Go, they would feel more convenient and secure on their remittances.
What is BeamAndGo?
BeamAndGo Pte Ltd is a Singapore-based firm specializing in consumer-related eCommerce products.
How to register
Registration at BeamAndGo is free of charge. Go to BeamAndGo homepage then click "Sign up for FREE."
There are two ways to register : sign up with your Facebook account or fill in the form with the following details, then click "Sign up for free" at the bottom of the form:
1. Your country
2. Mobile number
3. Password at least 8 characters long
4. Full name
5. Email and profession are optional
6. Interests
7. Place where your family lives
You will then receive an SMS and/or email notification. Confirm/verify your registration by clicking the link sent thru email or SMS.
How to make purchases
Before making purchases, please note of the following partner merchants:
BeamAndGo merchants cater to almost anywhere in the Philippines and there are a lot of ways to pay for your purchases.
An easier way to make purchases is thru online where you can pay with your VISA, Mastercard, JCB, Discover Card, AMEX, or PayPal. I am a part-time freelancer and my clients pay me though my PayPal account. In that case, I find it easier and a lot more convenient to pay through Paypal. Since I want to send my family in the province some groceries, I chose Super 8 which has branches near their place.
First you choose the recipient for your purchase. If you are purchasing for personal use, just tick the box labeled "This is for me" or add a new recipient if the purchase is intended to another person. In my account, P650.00 balance is reflected since a friend gave me credits. I bought 2 x P500 Super 8 GC's with a total of P1,000.00. There was an ongoing promo code that time, I applied the code so I availed a discount of 7% of my total bill. Subtotal is P930.00 but then I've got credits amounting to P650.00. I used all of my credits as payment so my total bill was reduced to P280.00. I paid the remaining balance of P280.00 thru PayPal account.
BeamAndGo collects very minimal fees such as convenience and payment fees. In my case, I paid a total fee of P62.44 in exchange for an easy and reliable remittance.
No credit or debit card? No PayPal account? No worries, you have an option to pay over-the-counter.
Redemption of GC's
It would take 3 hours or less before the recipient receive the GC's serial numbers in his/her mobile number, especially for first time user. My recipient received the confirmation after almost 2 hours.
Also, if you're paying thru credit cards for the first time, there might be a delay for the processing. Mine took less than a day before they verified my payment thru Paypal.
My recipient just presented the SMS containing the information about the purchase to the Super 8 staff together with an ID; but unlike other partner merchants, they did not issue gift certificates. They just told my recipient to shop and fall in line in a specific counter once done.
Here's what they were able to buy from Super 8...
groceries, daily basic needs
hygiene essentials, baby needs
school supplies, few beauty accessories
Problems encountered
No site is perfect. Anything that's on the web may encounter problems, glitches, conflicts. I would share with you few troubles I encountered while purchasing.
First was about the promo code. After I applied it, I realized I have to change something about my purchase so I went back to the homepage then make choices again. When I re-entered the code, it was already invalid and the site told me that I already used it, which is technically I haven't used it yet because my purchase did not went through. What I did was to ask for help from their chat support. After less than half an hour, I was able to use the code again.
The second problem I encountered was while paying my purchase thru Paypal. I was using Safari that time. So the BeamAndGo website directed me to the Paypal website so I can finalize the payment, I logged in the account then paid the amount but I was not redirected back to BeamAndGo. That means, purchase/payment failure. I waited for 15 minutes but nothing happens, so I just go back to the BeamAndGo website but I was surprised to realized that the credits given by a friend were gone. So I contacted the chat support again and after less than an hour all my credits were back. I did not use the Mac to purchase again, instead I used my Android phone and everything went ok.
I might have encountered few troubles but the good thing is they always have chat support representative and technical team ready to help. They are polite and accommodating enough for the customer's inquiries. Through a phone call, the tech team has promised to fix on those technical issues so they can continue to delight the customers around the world.
What sets BeamAndGo apart from most e-commerce sites today is the convenience. While in most online shopping you have to wait for your items to be delivered for at least a day, at BeamAndGo, it takes only less than 3 hours. Purchasing via BeamAndGo also keeps me and my recipient worry-free, stress-free as we don't have to think about the status of the shipment and the product anymore. I can always make sure that what my family will receive is in good condition because it is delivered in an electronic way.
BeamAndGo is very transparent unlike most e-commerce sites. It will send notifications or verification every now and then directly to your mobile number, to your recipients mobile number or to your email until the GC's are fully redeemed by the recipient.
I already introduced BeamAndGo to my loved ones abroad and they told me that BeamAndGo services is much more affordable and reliable. Soon, they will also be using the site to remit or gift their loved ones in the Philippines instead of sending items through couriers.
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