Online shopping goes bizarre: Customer buys smartphone on Amazon, gets a stone delivered instead

[Sai Jai]

Also offline price is more than online price for same mobile and the difference is close to 10% of mobile cost

Exactly

Not only mobile most of electronic items & offcourse cash back is the trend changer

 

[Ritesh]

I am ready to sacrifice Cashback for sake of genuine product.
I agree with all of you bros, but with such nonsense happening on daily basis, its very tough to trust now.

 

[ABCDEFGH]

Also offline price is more than online price for same mobile and the difference is close to 10% of mobile cost

Offline stores also give good discounts on electronic products. Bought AC from offline shop because it was available for a lot less price than Flipkart/Amazon.
Although no idea about Mobiles.

 

[Kiran Reddy]

So far I had good experience with Amazon and flipkart, received genuine products and they accepted returns when I was not happy. I sometimes buy from eBay and I know they can be fake but I buy from eBay only when I am ready to take risk and item is of low price.

I prefer online instead of offline stores because of wide variety of items available online, at stores I am not good at bargaining and sales people try to force items which get more profit for them. And majority of famous offline stores are selling online too so we can trust them in case we do not trust new sellers.

Anyways opinion differs from person to person, I prefer online

 

[Bapun]

Offline stores also give good discounts on electronic products. Bought AC from offline shop because it was available for a lot less price than Flipkart/Amazon.

Same i too did. AC online costs are more i feel.

Another thing is, you can check the product physically by visiting store but with online product might come faulty which later need replacement.

 

[HOUSE-MD]

Same i too did. AC online costs are more i feel.

Another thing is, you can check the product physically by visiting store but with online product might come faulty which later need replacement.

Same here, i never bought anythings costlier via online as its impossible to check for the quality before the purchase.

 

[vikhyath]

I had a similar experience with amazon couple of months back.

I ordered a mobile, and delivery guy (3rd Party from Gati) handed me a package which was already opened & very nicely stapled. I didn't notice it initially when it was delivered, but I felt it was weight less. Later, when i was about to open the package i saw staples and immediately started capturing the video. To my surprise, Handset & Battery are missing in the package!

Immediately, called Amazon customer care & informed the same. The cc guy asked me to drop a mail with all the evidence. He assured me that they need 5 working days to investigate this issue and would reach back if any other information is required.

Few hours later, they sent me a link to upload Aadhaar Details (For KYC Purpose), I've done that.

The next day after complaint, Amazon IN team showed me hell. They tried to mislead the issue with mails changing order no., product etc.

I was frustrated with this act from them. I started tagging (Cc) their Indian Operations Head (Amit Agarwal), Amazon CEO (Jeff) and Bcc to Director (PG), Department of Consumer Affairs (Consumer Forum) in my follow up mails.

With this, they stopped mailing stupid responses. That evening, I got a call from US Number (amazon representative) mentioning that "Your complaint is taken as a high priority & It will be addressed as assured." He also mentioned that, he was assigned to specifically solve this particular issue.

And for next couple of days there was no reply from him. 5 working days gone. On the evening of 5th working day, he reached me back on my mobile and said that, there Investigation team (Along with some other team) is still working on this issue & they need some more time to come up with resolution. I just replied back, "You guys assured me that the issue will be solved in just 5 working days. Now you are looking to buy some more time to solve the issue. How many more days should I wait?" He responded back, "We need another 3 to 5 more working days!"

I replied back furiously that, "If this issue is not solved with in the next couple of days. I will raise a complaint against Amazon IN in consumer forum & If you guys prolong this without resolution, Amazon has to pay the EMI to bank until the issue is closed!" He said, we will try to resolve this issue asap.

2 days gone, No response from them. I simply, raised an online complaint on consumerhelpline.gov.in and informed the same to Amazon IN through mail. Since, there is no response from you guys, I raised a complaint.

I also dropped a mail to Director (PG), Department of Consumer Affairs, mentioning the complaint no. (Generated after raising online complaint), and informed that, all my mails to amazon IN are available in your mailbox as I Bcc'ed all the conversations. You can consider them as reference.

I thought it would take 10 to 15 days (As it is a normal practice) from consumer forum side, to ask the company to follow up regarding this issue in convergence.

But to my surprise, the very next day the same Amazon rep called me and said that "We would like to refund back the complete amount to your original payment method. We called you to get a nod from you."

I replied, "Yes please, initiate the process. I'm happy to get the refund."

He replied that, "Process done. You'll get the refund with in the next 4 to 5 working days. Apologies for this issue, This will not repeat again & Hope you continue to shop on amazon soon. And Please, close the complaint raised on consumer forum!"

I replied, "Once I got the refund back, I close the complaint."

He said that refund would take 4 to 5 working days, But it got credited with in 1 hour. So finally, I closed the complaint!

 

[HOUSE-MD]

I had a similar experience with amazon couple of months back.

I ordered a mobile, and delivery guy (3rd Party from Gati) handed me a package which was already opened & very nicely stapled (Didn't notice it initially). I didn't notice it when it was delivered, but I felt it was weight less. Later, when i was about to open the package i saw staples and immediately started capturing the video. To my surprise, Handset & Battery are missing in the package!

Immediately, called Amazon customer care & informed the same. The cc guy asked me to drop a mail with all the evidence. He assured me that they need 5 working days to investigate this issue and would reach back if any other information is required.

Few hours later, they sent me a link to upload Aadhaar Details (For KYC Purpose), I've done that.

The next day after complaint, Amazon IN team showed me hell. They tried to mislead the issue with mails changing order no., product etc.

I was frustrated with this act from them. I started tagging (Cc) their Indian Operations Head (Amit Agarwal), Amazon CEO (Jeff) and Bcc to Director (PG), Department of Consumer Affairs (Consumer Forum) in my follow up mails.

With this, they stopped mailing stupid responses. That evening, I got a call from US Number (amazon representative) mentioning that "Your complaint is taken as a high priority & It will be addressed as assured." He also mentioned that, he was assigned to specifically solve this particular issue.

And for next couple of days there was no reply from him. 5 working days gone. On the evening of 5th working day, he reached me back on my mobile and said that, there Investigation team (Along with some other team) is still working on this issue & they need some more time to come up with resolution. I just replied back, "You guys assured me that the issue will be solved in just 5 working days. Now you are looking to buy some more time to solve the issue. How many more days should I wait?" He responded back, "We need another 3 to 5 more working days!"

I replied back furiously that, "If this issue is not solved with in the next couple of days. I will raise a complaint against Amazon IN in consumer forum & If you guys prolong this without resolution, Amazon has to pay the EMI to bank until the issue is closed!" He said, we will try to resolve this issue asap.

2 days gone, No response from them. I simply, raised an online complaint on consumerhelpline.gov.in and informed the same to Amazon IN through mail. Since, there is no response from you guys, I raised a complaint.

I also dropped a mail to Director (PG), Department of Consumer Affairs, mentioning the complaint no. (Generated after raising online complaint), and informed that, all my mails to amazon IN are available in your mailbox as I Bcc'ed all the conversations. You can consider them as reference.

I thought it would take 10 to 15 days (As it is a normal practice) from consumer forum side, to ask the company to follow up regarding this issue in convergence.

But to my surprise, the very next day the same Amazon rep called me and said that "We would like to refund back the complete amount to your original payment method. We called you to get a nod from you."

I replied, "Yes please, initiate the process. I'm happy to get the refund."

He replied that, "Process done. You'll get the refund with in the next 4 to 5 working days. Apologies for this issue, This will not repeat again & Hope you continue to shop on amazon soon. And Please, close the complaint raised on consumer forum!"

I replied, "Once I got the refund back, I close the complaint."

He said that refund would take in 4 to 5 working days, But it got credited with in 1 hour. So finally, I closed the complaint!

Sounds like a harrowing experience, yet you seem to have wisely brought a long list of people to the issue so finally got resolved but there could be hundreds if not thousands still waiting for some resolution for a very long time.

Our govt has to seriously work on this and bring super tough laws protecting Indians as our own Vice President got cheated even though he is a big figure and a much influential person - http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/when-vp-venkaiah-naidu-was-fooled-by-fake-weight-loss-advertisement/1/1119986.html

 

[vikhyath]

Sounds like a harrowing experience, yet you seem to have wisely brought a long list of people to the issue so finally got resolved but there could be hundreds if not thousands still waiting for some resolution for a very long time.

Our govt has to seriously work on this and bring super tough laws protecting Indians as our own Vice President got cheated even though he is a big figure and a much influential person - http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/when-vp-venkaiah-naidu-was-fooled-by-fake-weight-loss-advertisement/1/1119986.html

Yes, very painful experience. But happy that it got resolved with in 10 days.

Yes, there may be lot of pending issues similar to mine. Govt. has to take these kind of issues seriously & impose or change existing laws to reduce fraud.

I think Indian Govt. should work with E-Commerce and make it mandatory to stop sending packages through 3rd party couriers and promote India Post as alternative courier partner. So that they can expand their business foot print even to rural areas and accurate delivery of products.

Coming to VP issue, they need to impose strict laws. A foreign company easily made the 2nd citizen of India a fool & that shows how our law is!

 

[Bapun]

I think Indian Govt. should work with E-Commerce and make it mandatory to stop sending packages through 3rd party couriers and promote India Post as alternative courier partner.

India Post? Seriously? That is even more horrible. The package comes in way too bad condition to customer and they don't have return pickup service i think. Many times parcel remains in India Post office for days and then goes return to seller. There are even more horrifying stories with India Post.