[arunphilip]

Originally Posted by avdhesh15

You need to identify the sellers properly to ensure no rude surprises.

That is true, and is good advice. And for what it's worth, my experiences with Flipkart have been very positive, since I've done the same.

However, pramodkumar's problem (and his motivation in creating this thread) is that Flipkart's own support have totally dropped the ball in terms of handling a customer. From Pramod's earlier comments, Flipkart appear to have wrongly assumed that Pramod was trying to defraud them through cancellations, failed to provide any evidence, deactivated his account, and have withheld 4k worth of gift cards that he redeemed. This is on top of the issues he's had in getting an order that he placed fulfilled.

So, even if the problem originally originated with the seller, Flipkart appear to have dropped the ball massively in how they manage one of their customers.

In contrast, look at androdev's experience above my post - even with a non-prime seller, Amazon's customer support have stepped up and assisted him enough to leave androdev impressed.

Originally Posted by androdev

Non-prime experience is just about average but customer support and escalation is very smooth.

[pramodkumar]

Originally Posted by arunphilip

However, pramodkumar's problem

Thanks for summarising it so well Mate!

I do not have any resolution yet, they are adamant that they will not cancel my Gift cards, Neither are they letting me use those gift cards. The whole situation could have been handled well by Flipkart, but their high headedness is pretty obvious in handling this whole incident.

Everybody at Flipkart for some reason think, I am at fault. They try pacifying me in every single call, they do not understand that the I am way past that point. When they had the opportunity they didn't even remotely try to resolve my issue.

I get a call every 2-3 days and they ask me for an extension, without providing me a resolution or a tentative turn around time. No one has documented my ask or send me a mail confirming they understood my ask. They just chose to ignore my repeated requests to send me a transcript of the call. I don't consider myself as an unreasonable man, but the way they drove my mad in the last couple of days has made me into a very adamant guy

I hope things get sorted at the earliest. For the record I did try to buy some every day utilities from them and spend those gift cards, but guess what? The cancelled those orders as well

Pramod

[neil.jericho]

pramodkumar - Thank you for creating a thread and bringing this to the attention of fellow BHPians. Ive shared the experience that you have had with my family members and Im sure none of them are going to shop with Flipkart again. Several years ago, I too used to shop on both Flipkart and Amazon India but after seeing some videos on Flipkart delivering bricks and soaps instead of mobile phones, I said never again. Since then Ive been a loyal customer of Amazon India. Yes, there have been a couple of occasions where brand new retailers (with no seller history) get qualified on the Amazon platform and put up items on ridiculously low prices during the Amazon sale, only to cancel the orders post the sale. But Amazon refunded the money and those sellers are no longer listed on Amazon. I keep checking!


I hope better sense eventually prevails at Flipkart and they do the right thing and dig themselves out of this self created hole. Why dont you reach out to Walmart directly - https://corporate.walmart.com/contac...orate-feedback ?

Originally Posted by dennisjs

Bought this (currently out of stock) Bburago 1:24 Porsche 356B Cabrio-1961 for Rs 592 during the Big Billion Days from RetailNet seller on Flipkart. It took 11 days to deliver. I can understand the delay due to large number of orders. But I felt disappointed when I found that I didn't get any display base as shown in the product images. This is my first bad experience with Flipkart. Are they growing in the wrong way? Or do they think their 'Special Price' will justify the misleading product info?

As someone who has ordered over 50 (incidentally 1:24) scale model cars from online vendors, this is something that is definitely not acceptable from Flipkart! They have advertised it with the base and not delivered the same to you. You should escalate this to their customer care and ask for a replacement. The reason I say this is when you need to store your scale model cars and / or rotate whats on display with on whats in storage, you will need the base onto which the car will be screwed onto. In international markets, sellers who do not have the original case and / or the base, clearly call out this and the price is usually adjusted for the same.

[pramodkumar]

Flipkart has finally denied me any further support and has asked me to contact my bank. They are not willing to send me an email detailing the discussion or why they need me to contact the bank. The guy who called me denied me a supervisor.

This is highly unprofessional and it’s now gridlocked.

They have made it clear that they will not unfreeze my account, neither will the cancel or unlink the gift cards from you wallet.

They have again asked me for 24 to 48 hours of time, they didn’t specify why they need this time.

Pramod

[PetrolRider]

Originally Posted by pramodkumar

Flipkart has finally denied me any further support and has asked me to contact my bank. They are not willing to send me an email detailing the discussion or why they need me to contact the bank. The guy who called me denied me a supervisor.

This is highly unprofessional and it’s now gridlocked.

They have made it clear that they will not unfreeze my account, neither will the cancel or unlink the gift cards from you wallet.

They have again asked me for 24 to 48 hours of time, they didn’t specify why they need this time.

Pramod

Having taken your money and denying to use it or return it could be illegal and criminal. Have you thought of reporting to cyber crime division for this?

I would understand if you desist to go for the court way considering the cost of that is enormous in compare to the gift coupons, but an FIR might give enough bad publicity to the "Thugs" and some peace of mind to you.

Now, going through your experience, I am feeling extremely lucky with my Samsung S8 order that I received on time. Never ever Flipkart for me again.

[ariesonu]

Originally Posted by PetrolRider

Having taken your money and denying to use it or return it could be illegal and criminal. Have you thought of reporting to cyber crime division for this?
I would understand if you desist to go for the court way considering the cost of that is enormous in compare to the gift coupons, but an FIR might give enough bad publicity to the "Thugs" and some peace of mind to you.

GTO had posted this in 2011 & I was able to bring TIKONA to knees using this:
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/shift...me-you-do.html (Heard of pgportal.gov.in? About time you do)
It is worth a shot.

Regards-Sonu

[atnyia]

Originally Posted by pramodkumar

This is highly unprofessional and it's now gridlocked.

They have made it clear that they will not unfreeze my account, neither will the cancel or unlink the gift cards from you wallet.

They have again asked me for 24 to 48 hours of time.

Pramod

One thing we know, Flipkart is doomed in the long run. There will a be a day when Flipkart will be no more. Amazon is already better, but for their recent weakness in the delivery efficiency (in my case). There will always be room for someone who doesn't treat his customers like dirt.
The whole incident is a dark and sad commentary about the the poor work culture and atmosphere at Flipkart. So, they are doomed, irrespective of whatever else they do.

I had a similar and very poor experience with Airtel last year. I tagged the telecom ministry into a tweet with email screenshots. It worked.

Please try PGPORTAL or/and tweeting to relevant ministry.

[ksameer1234]

The latest developments have surely caused a big dent in my confidence. I have made big purchases on Flipkart in past but after reading this, would be certainly be wary of them. Flipkart should seriously take note of this thread and immediately undertake corrective actions. When Amazon is willing to go great lengths to deliver stellar experience, Flipkart cannot operate like this and expect to be treated like Amazon competitor.

[saket77]

I had an ordeal with FK last month when I bought a TV through them. The order earned 10 flipkart coins (which I don't really know what to do with )

The said coins were to be credited after the return window was over and that was fair too; which was 10 days.

However, after even a month, those coins were not credited to my account. I then realised that reaching to FK customer care on phone is impossible. I mailed them through the website and the app multiple times and they would just ask for '72 hours' everytime I escalated the issue and assuring me that my problem will be solved within that window. That went on for a few days. And after the end of each 72 hour window, they would send me an apology sms and ask for a 2 day extension and this carried on for a while too.

After quite some such '72 hours' business, I finally mailed them to not bother about any coins and I have decided to let them go as I cannot keep them chasing for it forever. Then also, I expected some reply...at least an apology from them. But hey, wonder...they didn't reply at all this time!

As I type this, I just decided to check the status in my FK account. I didn't as I gave up on them after that. And now I see those glittering 10 coins appearing in my account magically!

I am actually thankful that they delivered and got the TV installed.

[Endofdayz]

Originally Posted by saket77

I had an ordeal with FK last month when I bought a TV through them. The order earned 10 flipkart coins (which I don't really know what to do with )

The said coins were to be credited after the return window was over and that was fair too; which was 10 days.

However, after even a month, those coins were not credited to my account. I then realised that reaching to FK customer care on phone is impossible. I mailed them through the website and the app multiple times and they would just ask for '72 hours' everytime I escalated the issue and assuring me that my problem will be solved within that window. That went on for a few days. And after the end of each 72 hour window, they would send me an apology sms and ask for a 2 day extension and this carried on for a while too.

After quite some such '72 hours' business, I finally mailed them to not bother about any coins and I have decided to let them go as I cannot keep them chasing for it forever. Then also, I expected some reply...at least an apology from them. But hey, wonder...they didn't reply at all this time!

As I type this, I just decided to check the status in my FK account. I didn't as I gave up on them after that. And now I see those glittering 10 coins appearing in my account magically!

I am actually thankful that they delivered and got the TV installed.

Not sure about what privileges u get, however we need to collect 50 glittering coins. Post that you will become as Plus Membership and then you will be able enjoy some exclusive Benefits.

I have had some bitter experience with Flipkart, however nothing alarming as i dont purchase high ticket items from them. i prefer visiting stores and checking out myself.

[pramodkumar]

I Have logged the issue with PG portal. Flipkart send me a completely useless email. screenshot attached.



They are still not detailing my ask. I am still shocked that all this is happening. Never in my wildest dream i thought a service provider would stoop to such a low level.


Pramod

[Zappo]

I have never had any really rotten experience with Flipkart. However, I have read far too many negatives on them that makes the cautious me very wary of them. The last big purchase (and only major one ever) was the VU TV and I was very worried till the delivery finished and installation completed. Compared to that Amazon somehow inherently drives up the trust factor in me.

By the way, Flipkart does certain things which really makes me wonder why they do these things. Like during the sale period recently I was looking at picking up a phone for my dad. Now there were 2 phones in contention. One of these was on FK and the other was on Amazon. Initially I looked at the one on FK. Twice I added the product in my cart and went for a checkout and one occasion it went out of stock, never mind that the listing instantly popped up again within 5 minutes, and on the second time the final price went up in the last stage. I got disgusted and picked up the one on Amazon. No fuss, no drama. Amazon even helpfully offered me 2 additional avenues to bring down the price further at the payment stage and I happily took one and paid even lesser than what I initially thought I will.

So there lies the difference between the two. The very approach towards how they handle their customers is different. FK assumes that all its customers are dirt and that they are out on their postal for some kind of a handout or maybe largesse (like giving up on their old phone for a new to get additional discount). Because of that their way of dealing with people is also pretty disconcerting. On the other hand, Amazon looks at each transaction as a pure business deal and treats you actually as a customer whose business they appreciate. Huge difference, indeed!

[pramodkumar]

Just received a call from the leadership team, There were platform and customer service heads on the call (I would like to take a moment to thank you guys here for making this happen). Here are few things they said.

Some one from Rajasthan was defrauding Flipkart using my email ID, till 2015. After 2015 he just mysteriously stopped. Flipkart's algorithm flagged my ID during BBS and they cancelled all the orders due to that and not because the seller screwed up

Which is total bull because, I was able to order my DSLR from them and I had to go through a similar situation back then and they didn't flag anything that time.

When my account was frozen I still had active order for the diapers I ordered. Which I asked them to cancel because on principle I decided of not doing business with them.

About the Gopro order which as per them would have gone flawlessly if i had a perfect track record

I have a friend who ordered the same camera which was cancelled citing the same reason as mine.

Now..

I have 2 options:

1.They will reactivate my account for me to use the Gift cards

2. They will transfer the cash(4K) to my account and we both walk our separate ways

I have decided to opt for the second option, since on ethics I am not going to do any business with them.

I would like to appreciate the leadership team at Flipkart for reaching out to me, however I am really upset that a customer has to go through all this to get something so simple as getting a refund.

I am awaiting an email from them asking my account details, hope its closed this time.

Once again i thank everyone who helped me by sharing this on social media.

Pramod

[harry10]

Good to see you are having a satisfactory ending with them. Though the damage to their reputation via this thread has already been done.

I ordered a Puma shoes for my father and Cardigan for me at around 5 pm today from Amazon. Being a prime member I could get them tomorrow but opted for 15rs cashback which means they will deliver on Monday/Tuesday. I always select this as I am never in hurry and mostly I get the items before time stated. Both items have already been shipped and I am sure I will get them by Sunday. Difference in Amazon delivery system and Flipkart is huge.

[deathwalkr]

Originally Posted by pramodkumar

Just received a call from the leadership team, There were platform and customer service heads on the call (I would like to take a moment to thank you guys here for making this happen). Here are few things they said.

The sheer effort it took to get them to do this is mind boggling!

Glad it is at least coming to some sort of a settlement now.