Dear Friends,
I wish to share with all of you, my experience with shopping on indiatimes.com. I refer to an order number 112963838 for MIDNIGHT EXPRESSION.
To surprise my wife on her birthday on 26th Apr i decided to do something special for her and placed an order for flowers and cakes for her to be delivered on the midnight of 25 / 26. The product detail for the ordered product clearly specify the following-
• Express Deliveries will be made on the same day including Sundays for orders received till 2 PM IST, orders received after 2pm will be delivered the next day.
• The above product will be delivered only in the cities mentioned in the list of serviceable cities in between 23:30 to 0:00 hrs midnight on the specified date. (For Example - Any Occasion on 19th, the product will be delivered on 18th Midnight)
I checked if the product would be delivered in delhi, where i reside and made the payment at 01 37h on 25th. i.e before the 1400h deadline mentioned above and hoped to surprise my wife that night with the midnight delivery of cake and flowers. I had mentioned the specified date as 26th and hoped that as mentioned above the stuff would be delivered on 25th midnight.
Nothing was delivered that night. I was embarrassed and hurt as i had not thought of a plan B to wish her in style, in fact the occasion was ruined by the calls i tried to make to indiatimes customer care at that ungodly hour, nobody responded the calls.
A recorded message on the help line asked me to send an SMS to 58888 and /or an E Mail to a particular mail id. I did both in desperation.
The Bottom line is that THE OCCASION WAS RUINED.
My wife was so upset with me that unknown to me while I was in office the next morning, she called up customer care and complained. They apologised to her and offered to send the cake right away. (imagine a half kg cake for 1000 bucks at 1000h in the morning), she refused to accept the cake at this hour hence the customer care executive agreed to cancel the order and gave her a cancellation code of 785187
Meanwhile I was in office and hoping someone would call me based on the SMS and email i had sent, and redress my grievance, but no one called. The best part starts after this:-
I called up the Customer Care at about 1300h the next day and asked them for a status of my order. (i was not yet aware that my wife had cancelled the order). I was told by the customer care exec that the order would be delivered to me on the night of 26 /27. I reminded him that as per the product details i was supposed to have got it on the night of 25 / 26, he put me on a hold and then disconnected the call.
I once again called the customer care no., this time it was picked up by a new CC exec, i had to go over the entire story once again and he too gave me the same answer, i requested him to put me through to his senior. So he put me through to one Mr Amit Kumar. I had to go over my sob story once again for Amit Kumar, who confidently told me that he had the product details of the product ordered by me in front of him and read them out to me as follows:
-
The above product will be delivered only in the cities mentioned in the list of serviceable cities in between 23:30 to 0:00 hrs midnight on the specified date.
He conveniently omitted the following details given in brackets after this line
(For Example - Any Occasion on 19th, the product will be delivered on 18th Midnight).
Since i was not in front of the net at that moment, i assumed that i had probably made a mistake in placing the order and informed Mr Amit Kumar that i would check up and get back to him.
I went on line and read the product details which said
• Express Deliveries will be made on the same day including Sundays for orders received till 2 PM IST, orders received after 2pm will be delivered the next day.
• The above product will be delivered only in the cities mentioned in the list of serviceable cities in between 23:30 to 0:00 hrs midnight on the specified date. (For Example - Any Occasion on 19th, the product will be delivered on 18th Midnight)
I was honestly upset with Amit kumar for pulling a fast one on me assuming that i was a dumb ass who could be taken for a ride. Believe me guys, you feel disgusting when you realise that guys like Amit Kumar try and insult your IQ.
I called up Mr Amit Kumar once again and this time i asked him to read out the entire statement on the product detail. Mr Amit continued to ridicule my intelligence; first he told me that to get the product on a particular day i need to place my order at least 3 days in advance. I asked him that in such a case the website should not accept my order at all. Cornered by this argument he changed his tack once again and told me that the primary requirement of the product detail mentioned that i would have a shipping time of ONE DAY and this condition was over and above everything else that is mentioned in the remaining product details.By now i was sick of hearing the lies from by Amit Kumar. I asked him if i could speak to someone senior to him. He refused to put me through to anybody else and frustratingly i disconnected the call.
I write this in such detail for all of us who trust and put faith in a reputed websites like Indiatimes and even part with our credit card details to them. However, interacting with unprofessional employees leaves a bad taste which you regret for a long time.
I’m sure its not money that counts on certain special occasions, its the service that you pay for more than anything else. However, no one can be allowed to insult you on your face and get away. I am from the armed forces and nothing hurts me more that these smart alecs who humiliate you on your face and get away.
The best part is that despite having cancelled the order (cancellation code of 785187) the next day a delivery boy comes and wakes me up at midnight and requests me to accept the flowers and cake. He informs me that he was given the order to deliver the items to my doorstep at 2100h on the 26th. I don’t know who is speaking the truth, but the organisation at indiatimes certainly looks cockeyed
So finally now that i have vented all my frustration i would only request all you guys to go to E BAY in future, those guys are far more reliable and better organised.
And Cheers to Indiatimes
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