[condor]

A good approach, on buying an electronics item online is to check with the manufacturer's service centre about the genuineness of the item regards to the warranty. I did that with my Xperia. While wty was confirmed, the phone has not required service either

[drmohitg]

Amazon is going down the drain and fast. My wife too ordered clothes recently from Amazon and they looked nothing like the pictures on the site at time of buying. Moreover a couple of them were from brand X and she had gone to their physical store, liked it and found the same stuff on Amazon at a handsome discount and ordered online. But the product received was of very poor quality and best part was the size didn't fit when the same size at the store was a perfect fit. Luckily we raised a return request right away and they have issues a refund.

Another purchase a month back was for some cosmetics. And these too when received were clearly of a shoddy quality and two of the pieces were broken. Again issued a return request. Amazon was initially reluctant and said they don't do returns on cosmetics. I was asked to send them pictures of the products repeatedly but finally they accepted and issued a refund. Problem is that now I am left with a lot of cash in my Amazon wallet since all these were COD purchases. I am in the mood to buy some books and get done with this online shopping. It is better to buy at the physical store and have that peace of mind.

[binand]

Originally Posted by drmohitg

Amazon is going down the drain and fast.

My most recent experience is totally the opposite. I had pre-ordered Harry Potter and the Cursed Child back in May; at 11 AM on 31/7 it "left the courier facility" at Hoskote and was delivered to me on the same day in the evening. It seemed to me that they started the delivery process at the India release time (11 AM) and yet delivered on the same day (Harry's birthday).

Such is their attention to detail.

[drmohitg]

Originally Posted by binand

My most recent experience is totally the opposite. I had pre-ordered Harry Potter and the Cursed Child back in May; at 11 AM on 31/7 it "left the courier facility" at Hoskote and was delivered to me on the same day in the evening. It seemed to me that they started the delivery process at the India release time (11 AM) and yet delivered on the same day (Harry's birthday).

Such is their attention to detail.

Off-topic but how is the book? I was thinking of ordering this only against the cash thats accumulated in my wallet now. But few people said it's very disappointing.

[hserus]

Originally Posted by drmohitg

Off-topic but how is the book? I was thinking of ordering this only against the cash thats accumulated in my wallet now. But few people said it's very disappointing.

If you are a fan of the series read it. It will leave you disappointed sort of but not reading it will also leave you disappointed I think.

The plot line reads like some of the fanfic that is circulating on pottermore etc - though the time travel aspects aren't terribly bad.

Something that could have been developed very well (the relationship between Scorpius and Albus) is weirdly neglected.

The villain is if anything even more two dimensional than Voldemort is.

However - the entire harry potter canon (which I enjoy for the same reason that I enjoy 80s bollywood movies) is 80s bollywood anyway so who is complaining?

Boy's parents killed by a super powerful villain

Boy's mother dies saving his life

Boy grows up an orphan with cruel relatives

Boy makes useful friends to serve as "side heroes" + "love interest"

Final huge battle in which there are many heroic deaths, in which boy defeats the villain

Happy ending epilogue in which the boy is shown having married his love interest and sends his kids back to the old school in which he grew up.

That's every single trope in 80s bollywood / today's hindi serials brought to life - so if you go in to read cursed child with just those expectations you won't be disappointed.

[binand]

Originally Posted by drmohitg

Off-topic but how is the book? I was thinking of ordering this only against the cash thats accumulated in my wallet now. But few people said it's very disappointing.

I'm a fan, not a critic. I own and have read most everything Ms. Rowling has written. I follow her on social media and read Pottermore regularly. With that disclaimer:

The book is actually a play. If you are not familiar with printed plays/screenplays (where a lot of stuff, usually described in great detail by novelist authors, are not fleshed out but left to the director's creativity) you will find this book very verbose but low on detail - which is what I suspect is happening, reading some of these reviews.

The plot is intricate but meticulous. The anguish of kids weighed down by matters beyond their ken palpable. Occasionally I had to refer to the original canon but that is only because I read those perhaps a decade ago.

[Sherlocked]

Availed the Amazon prime service and ordered groceries online for the first time. Order made on 1800 hours and items were delivered next day by 1900 hours. Over all a happy customer.

[pratyush6]

Originally Posted by drmohitg

Amazon is going down the drain and fast.. It is better to buy at the physical store and have that peace of mind.

Of-course its better to buy at a B&M store for peace of mind but when it comes to online shopping, no one beats Amazon. At least in India as of now. Do they not make mistakes? - Yes they do, but they always correct them as well.

I have also found that buying clothes online - specially from either Amazon or FK is useless. Buy it from a store. You can never be sure of the colour reproduction or the quality. Myntra and Trendin are two websites who are better in that respect. But, yeah, I am pretty skeptical buying clothes online.

[gupta_chd]

Originally Posted by devil_klm

Worthy reading about online offers and purchases.

http://www.dailyo.in/voices/amazon-i...y/1/12123.html

You have to take caution buying even from offline stores, online is no different.

I have bought hundreds of items from Amazon and I don't really remember any such bad experience.

But never bought from any seller which is not Amazon fulfilled barring 1-2 items of 100-200 rupees which were anyway unbranded.

If we do online shopping wisely, it is truly beneficial. Just like using credit cards

[binand]

Originally Posted by devil_klm

Worthy reading about online offers and purchases.

Could happen offline too. There are any number of stores that sell phones that were smuggled or otherwise sources outside of India.

It is always best to buy Amazon fulfilled products.

[poloman]

Originally Posted by binand

Could happen offline too. There are any number of stores that sell phones that were smuggled or otherwise sources outside of India.

It is always best to buy Amazon fulfilled products.

is this just hearsay or you have any confirmed source for the same? I don't think any reputed offline store is going to to sell you phones that are smuggled or refurbished. These are done by shady vendors present mostly present in online market place platforms like ebay. Now looks like they have proliferated to online retailers like Amazon also. Another major problem with online retailers for mobile purchase is the huge chance of getting items returned by other customers. This rarely happens in offline stores since they very rarely replace or refund after a sale. Only once they get a dead on arrival letter DOA from the authorized service center.

[diyguy]

Originally Posted by poloman

i don't think any reputed offline store is going to to sell you phones that are smuggled or refurbished

Interstate smuggling to avoid state taxes is extremely common in the white goods space. This has happened to me multiple times and once a dealer delivered an AC to my house by mistake because he had used a letter of mine for an earlier purchase to get an AC for "personal use" from Pondicherry to Chennai.

[binand]

Originally Posted by poloman

is this just hearsay or you have any confirmed source for the same?

It is not hearsay, but I don't have any evidence admissible in court either. I myself have bought such phones, though - phones that were obviously operator-locked outside India; phones with interfaces in Arabic/Korean etc.

In Kerala, every town has an area or a building or a market either colloquially or officially named Gulf Bazaar - this is where you find good smuggled over from the Middle-East. Mobile phones are a favourite in these stores.

Originally Posted by poloman

I don't think any reputed offline store is going to to sell you phones that are smuggled or refurbished.

If by "reputed offline stores" you mean Sangeeta, Univercell, Croma and the like, they are present only in big cities and account for a small fraction of overall mobile first-sales and nothing of the second-sales.

[poloman]

Originally Posted by binand

It is not hearsay, but I don't have any evidence admissible in court either. I myself have bought such phones, though - phones that were obviously operator-locked outside India; phones with interfaces in Arabic/Korean etc.

In Kerala, every town has an area or a building or a market either colloquially or officially named Gulf Bazaar - this is where you find good smuggled over from the Middle-East. Mobile phones are a favourite in these stores.



If by "reputed offline stores" you mean Sangeeta, Univercell, Croma and the like, they are present only in big cities and account for a small fraction of overall mobile first-sales and nothing of the second-sales.

I would never buy phones from such shady places. In fact these are the same guys who have now crept up in to the online market places. I was referring to reputable offline stores you mentioned. If you are buying a costly phone better to travel few kilometers to the nearest City and buy a original phone after thoroughly checking them in a reputable store. Read somewhere that returns are as high as 50% in Indian online retail sites in segments like mobile phones.

[gupta_chd]

Originally Posted by poloman

I would never buy phones from such shady places. In fact these are the same guys who have now crept up in to the online market places. I was referring to reputable offline stores you mentioned. If you are buying a costly phone better to travel few kilometers to the nearest City and buy a original phone after thoroughly checking them in a reputable store. Read somewhere that returns are as high as 50% in Indian online retail sites in segments like mobile phones.

Please don't compare apples to a fruit market.

Online portals are market places where hundreds of sellers participate. Not a mobile or chroma store where everything is in 100℅ control. Of course, portals will do everything possible to prevent dishonest sellers but it can never be certain. Better use your wits.

I have bought at least 15 mobiles online from Amazon, fk and Samsung stores. Not once, it arrived in such a condition that it was possible to be even touched by a customer before.