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Depends on the site. Amazon apparently refunds the money almost immediately (with a delay if you cancel only part of an order paid for by gift cards), but Flipkart's T&C says that you can't cancel at all.

http://www.flipkart.com/buy-gift-voucher

"Orders placed using Gift Card(s) cannot be cancelled at a later point in time."

Just to add on, I have an ICICI Bank gift card.

There are sales going on online on all sites right now. But actually the malls have equal if not lower prices in Mumbai right now so I bought 7 items from the mall yesterday at 50-60% off. All apparel though, and this may not be universally true but check the malls since one can try before buying which is a very important thing for apparel. Also some brands like Beverly Hills Polo Club aren't available online.

Today 12 July: 3M Deal of the Day on Amazon: https://www.amazon.in/s/ref=gbps_img...6GDKF2V859TFA5

Just wondering in today's time if anybody shops from Indiatimes.com or rediff.com

Their products look so obsolete and actually bad.

In 2004, I bought a Nikon digital camera from indiatimes.com

It came well packed and all was well. After clicking a few initial snaps when I scrolled through the list, horror...
There were already some 3-4 pictures in the camera memory, of some other guy. So it must have been used one.

But the thing is still in good running condition.

As of 20:33, I find nothing at a steal price. :(

BTW: I had a nice experience with Amazon.

I ordered shoes, they were smaller than expected; applied for return; got a guy at home the next day morning and got refund in a few hours.

Guess what: They also gave me a gift card of Rs. 1000!

Another bad experience with Amazon!

I was looking to buy the Mi Max - saw it was available in FK, Amazon and the mi app yesterday morning. Decided to buy it through Amazon since I like the customer service. But in my hurry, I placed the order using a card that didn't have enough credit amount left and the payment didn't go through. Got an email and the order page also said "Revise Payment".

Now comes the fun part. I click on the "Revise Payment" button and it takes me to another page - where I should be able to enter alternative details and get the payment through. But nothing of that sort happened - the new page just shows the order number and was blank. Tried in different browsers, no luck. Contacted support who assured me that it looks like a technical issue and that since the order was placed, the product will surely be booked in my name. I reminded them that the phone must be out of stock already and maybe that was why I am unable to revise payment. But customer service assured me it wasn't so.

Now started another bad set of customer service incidents - Amazon reps started behaving like Airtel reps - give false information everytime and this went on till 10 PM. I even taunted them saying that they are just waiting for 24 hrs to end so that they can place the blame on me - saying that I hadn't revised the payment within 24 hrs.

And that is what exactly happened - today morning, the oder was missing from my page. They had also sent me an email saying that the order was cancelled. I contact customer service and tell them the whole story from the beginning! The rep tells me that there is no choice but for me to place an order when it is in stock.

No, it becomes more fun. I open the Mi Max page and suddenly I see "Only 1 in stock" message. Amazon has also sent me an email asking me to place an order for the phone since it was in stock. I quickly place the order. Order goes through smoothly. I ask the rep about it. He says - "yes, you were able to place the order. But it is not in stock. It will only be shipped when it goes back in stock!". I am flabbergasted. I was so stunned that I did not even know what to say.

So many issues from their end but they did not even acknowledge it or try to correct or placate me. Sorry but that was really, really bad customer service from Amazon! Pathetic in fact.

In all probability, your order made it go Out of Stock and looks like it went through alright. Keep checking the order status. Status should change to "Shipped" in a few hours.

PS: I too have had bad experience with their "revise payment" part long time back. There sure is some technical issue which they haven't been able to solve.
So anytime that happens, I just go and place a new order and the old one gets cancelled in 24 hours.
Of course, the same cannot be done in such flash sale kind of scenarios, but if there is a payment issue, then I would first go and check the status of the product. If it is not OOS, I would just place a new order.

Continuing on that, there was no update on the order page at all. Not even the cancel button was showing up! I have no clue how they manage that at all. 24 hrs gone since the order was placed and I contacted customer service on chat. A lady answers and kept saying "sorry" over and over again. But after a lot of arguing, suddenly I see my order status as "shipped". :Shockked:

Surely she had something to do with it - typical mentality - get something going only when pushed to the limit! By this time, I am tired and just want to cancel the order. But rep says she cannot cancel. Ok, I try. I am not able to! It gives me some message saying it cannot be done! By this time, I have lost interest in the phone that I placed the order for. It just doesn't interest me any more. I will reject the order when it is delivered and will reduce my spending at Amazon from now on. This was some really, really bad customer service from Amazon.

The image says it all - Amazon India now offers Amazon Prime.


Cost

• Free trial for 60 days
• First year annual membership (after free trial) discounted at Rs. 499
• Annual subscription of Rs. 999

Key Benefits

• Free deliveries on all order values
• Free one-day and two-day delivery
• Same day, morning and scheduled deliveries cost only Rs. 50
• 30-minute early access to Lightning Deals, exclusive access to some deals
• Prime Video coming soon (so fans of Clarkson, Hammond and May rejoice!)

View the FAQs about Amazon Prime.

---

Some Opinions

• Introductory pricing of Amazon Prime is the same as Flipkart First, regular pricing is double.
• However, where the number of items that are Flipkart Advantage (i.e. stocked and shipped by Flipkart themselves) appears to have reduced over time, Amazon continue to have what appears to be a larger offering of Amazon Fulfilled items.
• I'm eager to try out Amazon Prime, having already tried out Flipkart First, and then letting it lapse.
• Prime Video's arrival is also exciting, as it gives people another option beyond Netflix.
• I'd be curious to see if Amazon Music is offered at a later time - I still remember the time Flipkart offered DRM-free music some years ago, but then wound it up.

Anyone shopping on Placeoforigin?
Be careful, they seem to delay shipping and ship out only after you send them a reminder email. I had ordered some stuff on the 24th of last month and remembered today. On dropping them a note, I get two tracking numbers for shipment that is going to happen tomorrow!!

First thoughts are that it is not worth Rs.1,000.

If they make the Amazon Prime Video similar to what they have in the USA, 1000 fully worth for that alone.

Netflix charges 600/month.

If they can bring in Amazon Music as well, they are winning over Google Play Music (if at all it comes), Apple iTunes easily.

Worthy reading about online offers and purchases.

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

the incident described is the most common scenario in the grey market underbelly of our nation. The online markets opened up a new avenue of benefit for them, more than anyone else. A savvy consumer would know this situation and check the antecedents of the seller prior.