Team-BHP - The Online Shopping Thread

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Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao (Post 3818065)

There's another angle to these "delivery failed due to blah blah reason" shenanigans. I found this out while tracking a package of T-BHP keychains through FedEx. Cross-posting from that thread, highlighted verbiage in the RED box.

FedEx/BlueDart keeps taking their own time to deliver stuff. Was the same for my card too. But the delivery guy said that they are short of staff - really short and that is why deliveries are getting delayed.

Quote:

Originally Posted by civic-sense (Post 3817971)

Actually, we Indians, blame every other ill in this country on Britishers (sic). :-)

And how right, in many cases, you would be! clap:

But the home of modern management "technique," and the bovine stuff that goes with it, does seem to be American. Britain got a bad attack of it during the Thatcher era, when she was obsessed with America, Regan, service/finance industries, etc. Now, like many diseases... it's everywhere.

Not strictly online shopping (but closer to the topic <Blush>) is my experience with Airtel. Having had recurrent problems that went on for weeks, I found that they would always tell me that my complaint was closed, and open another one. Why? Better closed-call statistics for each day, better resolution-time statistics, and, a new start with the response-within-24-hours thing.

Now, hats off to Airtel: when I had a recurring complaint recently, they re-opened the original call. Who knows, maybe they did record my calls for training purposes and actually take some notice!

I'm sure that the same kind of procedures go on in all call centres, whether it is telephony, couriers, or even Amazon/Flipkart/etc themselves.

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Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom (Post 3816015)

I was just thinking of restaurants. I am sure we all have too much experience of some dish, or one person's food, not turning up. with plenty of "coming now," "Just one minute," etc, from waiters,

Imagine if they came and said they had cancelled the order, but we could place it again at a higher price! :eek:

I had similar experiences with Meru cabs in Bangalore recently. My flight was at 2:30 AM and I booked a cab for 11 PM from my home earlier that day. The booking was confirmed and got a reference number with a message mentioning that driver details will be shares 20 minutes before the start time. Around 10: 45 PM I get a message that my booking has been cancelled with no reason specified. I called them and asked and they said no cabs are available in my area and hence they cannot help. I had to struggle to get another cab at that time and somehow managed to reach airport 5 minutes before the gate was closed. Completely lost confidence in these folks and now I book cabs with another agency.

Be careful of the seller when you buy online.

Delhi Police sends notice to Flipkart over sale of stolen mobiles

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Six persons have been arrested for the theft of a consignment of 600 high-end mobile phones worth Rs 1 crore from the cargo hub of the Delhi airport in July.
As many as 200 mobile phones were later sold to customers across India, allegedly through e-commerce giant Flipkart, police said. About 209 stolen mobile phones were recovered from the arrested men.
The IGI Police have sent a notice to Flipkart, asking it join probe and clarify how stolen phones were being sold to customers through its website without verification.
A Flipkart spokesperson said the notice had not been served to any individual but to the company and it would depute somebody to join the investigation.
“Flipkart is a digital marketplace that helps sellers to connect with customers across the country. Each and every one of our 40,000 plus sellers is mandated to adhere to stringent guidelines. Any exception to, or violation of this code of conduct is taken very seriously. We enforce a strict policy of zero tolerance against unscrupulous sellers who sell products that are fake, stolen or in violation of any applicable law of the land,” said the spokesperson.
According to DCP Gupta, a Delhi-based logistics firm had reported in July that 600 high-end mobile phones were missing from a shipment sourced from Hong Kong. When the private company in charge of the cargo terminal and the vigilance unit of DIAL failed to trace the missing phones, the matter was reported to police.
During probe, users of the stolen mobile phones were traced to Mysore, Mangalore, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Mahasamad, Hyderabad, Jalandhar, Delhi and Chandigarh.
“When the users were questioned, they said they had purchased those phones from Flipkart. They produced invoices related to the purchases. Through technical surveillance and local intelligence, we arrested Raju Singh from Delhi, who spilled the beans on one Narendra from Mahipalpur in south Delhi,” said Gupta.
--

http://www.hindustantimes.com/delhi/...V2VeQMxTO.html

In reference to those seeing the MRP is lesser than what was listed online - either as the sale price, or the 'before' price when discounts are applied.

Quote:

the Customer Complaints Council (CCC) of Advertising Standard Council of India (ASCI) ... has upheld two complaints against e-commerce firm Flipkart for claiming MRP of the product higher than the actual printed MRP and then offering it on discounted price. “The website communication claims the MRP of the product as Rs. 999, when actual printed MRP on product is Rs. 449 which is being offered as the discounted price. This distorts facts and is therefore misleading the consumers as to actual discount being offered,” CCC said.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/news/nationa...cle7726701.ece

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Originally Posted by Rajeevraj (Post 3818730)

Anyone has experience with buying used laptops online? Or with any site that sells used electronics.

Hi Rajeevraj , I have bought 3 used laptops in last 3 months all from Ebay.in

1) Thinkpad T410 First gen i5 14 inch screen 6gb ram 320 gb hdd no webcam for Rs 17800. Very good condition cosmetically but had just one dead pixel on screen (unnoticeable)but i dont like dead pixels on my screen so i upgraded the screen to a higher resolution one from aliexpress for Rs 4700 and also replaced the cpu fan for another Rs 800. Works like charm.

2) Thinkpad x201 First gen i5 12.1 inch screen 2 gb ram 320 gb hdd webcam fingerprint sensor for Rs 13800. Average condition with some scratches and battery holds charge for just 1.5 hrs but the laptop works fine. This was actually a 1 minute impulse buy stupid:

3)Dell Latitude E6420 2nd gen i5 14 inch screen 4 gb ram 320 gb hdd webcam for Rs 17800. Very good condition cosmetically and works like charm except for the battery which lasts hardly for an hour. Will order a new one soon.

Among the above 3 my favorite is the dell for its build quality and ease of cleaning internals. In general very happy with my choice of buying 3 used business grade laptops for the price of 1 new consumer grade laptop :D

Suggestion: If you shortlist a used laptop dont take anything for granted and ask as many questions to the seller as you would like and also ask for photos from all possible angles. Happy Hunting !

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Originally Posted by naveenroy (Post 3818260)

I can understand the shortage; Eco Times had an article about how salaries had more than doubled for delivery staff.

What is galling is when they lie. An Amazon order was to be delivered yesterday. The guy called at 6:55 pm and said he was running late, could he deliver tomorrow? I agreed. Next thing I get is an SMS from Amz that my order could not be delivered because nobody was home. I lost my cool, called back the delivery guy and demanded to know why he had lied. He evaded the issue and I finally hung up and wrote a stinker to Amz and got an email from customer service making all the right noises.

A couple of months back Blue Dart did the same thing; "attempted to deliver" for 6 consecutive days, each time giving the reason that customer requested not to deliver that day when all along someone was home!

Stuff happens, I understand that and am flexible, but lying is just too much. It masks the real problem these e-comm companies are facing - last mile delivery issues.

My recent experience Snapdeal is little different. Recently bought some stuff. It was to be delivered on X day. The guy called me X-2 days stating he is near my home. I had asked him to deliver next day as no body will be there at home. He said Ok. He had come all the way from Bommanahalli to C V Raman nagar area. I got an SMS stating i had asked to delivery at a later date. 2-3 hours later got a call from Snapdeal to check whether i had actually asked for it.

Next bought 3M floor wipe from Snapdeal. Got it delivered within scheduled time. On opening found it to be defective. Asked for replacement on the web. Got SMS stating it will be picked up by XYZ before 4 PM on the same day. But the guy came before 2 PM to pickup.

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Originally Posted by spookey (Post 3819461)

Hi Rajeevraj , I have bought 3 used laptops in last 3 months all from Ebay.in

Suggestion: If you shortlist a used laptop dont take anything for granted and ask as many questions to the seller as you would like and also ask for photos from all possible angles. Happy Hunting !

Thanks spookey for the inputs. Ebay had completely slipped my mind. Will see if I can find something good.

My wife and I had am Amazon.in book-buying bonanza! We ordered quite a few on 29th Septemember. They have all arrived, except one, which, ironically, was the first one she asked for.

The supplier is Jain Books, the courier is OnDot.

On dot? I think these people must transport stuff across India by camel, foot and pedal cycle. This is the OnDot tracking, as of this morning:

Area of Services & Status Details of Shipment
Date Service Location Shipment Status
6/10/2015, 08:29 CHENNAI (TAMIL NADU) Forward To KRI
5/10/2015, 14:36 CHENNAI (TAMIL NADU) Received From HYDERABAD (AP)040-27906601/27906602/09392479220/21
3/10/2015, 18:37 HYDERABAD (AP)040-27846604/27846605/09392479220/21 Forward To CHENNAI (TAMIL NADU) - 044-42638482 / 43180077 - In Transit
3/10/2015, 17:09 HYDERABAD (AP)040-27846604/27846605/09392479220/21 Received From DELHI
1/10/2015, 21:24 RAIPUR (CHHATISGARH) Forward To HYDERABAD - In Transit
1/10/2015, 11:27 RAIPUR (CHHATISGARH) Received From BHILAI (CHHATISGARH) - 09303340016
30/9/2015, 21:16 BHILAI (CHHATISGARH) Forward To AJIT TOWER RAIPUR - In Transit
30/9/2015, 20:03 BHILAI (CHHATISGARH) Received From BHILAI (CHHATISGARH) - 09303340016

Notice that it arrived in the local city two days ago.

I've never heard of OnDot couriers before: I hope I never hear of them again!
~

Update on my Amazon MRP discrepancy saga.

My email to Jeff Bezos got someone claiming to be a higher-up in customer relations to respond, but all I got was further explanations on how a mismatch can happen. No acknowledgment of what seems like intentional misrepresentation so can't expect a fix either.

Apparently their policy is 'give every complainant a gift card'. Not the solution I was looking for. I don't want their freebies, I need an answer. Cloudtail's responses stopped at 'we're getting this checked out and we'll revert in 3-4 business days'. If they ever revert, I'll probably get the same 'It happens due to blah blah reasons' and another gift card maybe.

Not cool!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao (Post 3820170)

My email to Jeff Bezos got someone claiming to be a higher-up in customer relations to respond, but all I got was further explanations on how a mismatch can happen. No acknowledgment of what seems like intentional misrepresentation so can't expect a fix either.

Chetan, did you note my post above? You could reply saying that you'll take this forward to the CCC/ASCI, given a precedent with Flipkart.

Quote:

Originally Posted by arunphilip (Post 3818591)

In reference to those seeing the MRP is lesser than what was listed online - either as the sale price, or the 'before' price when discounts are applied.

Quote:

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/news/nationa...cle7726701.ece

EDIT:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao (Post 3820193)

I did, thanks! I'll give Cloudtail a few more days to respond (to be fair), then take this forward.

Sounds reasonable :thumbs up