[bht]

Originally Posted by delusional_fool

I had 2 bad experiences with 'no return policy' products in Flipkart. Both the times, I received damaged product and had no way to get a refund or replacement.
I understand 'no return policy' but when the product itself is damaged/defective, there should be a way for the customers to get the refund right? Customer care was of no help after multiple calls.
I had no issues with getting refund for 'non returnable products' in amazon and I've got refunds couple of times for similar issues in Amazon.

So I've decided not to buy any products from Flipkart with 'no return policy'.

what I have seen on flipkart with "no-returns" products is that they will go in for replacement first and if the replaced item too has issues, they will have the option to initiate returns and issue refunds for the same on pick up.

[nec2152]

Story of my treadmill purchase from Flipkart

I recently wanted to purchase a treadmill and shortlisted a Durafit 2.5 HP model. The model wasn't available on Amazon so the two choices I had left was to buy it from the Durafit company website or from Flipkart. The durafit company website was charging 300 rupees to deliver, whereas Flipkart had free delivery and INR 1500 off using SBI card. I chose Flipkart and that probably created a interesting story to tell..

Ordered the treadmill from Flipkart, seller ==FitnessSolutions, it was shipped after 3 days via Delhivery and arrived at the near hub in 3 more days. There it sat, everyday, with me checking the Delhivery tracking page many times a day in the hopes of seeing the "Out for delivery" update, which kept alluding me After a few days, I escalated to both Delhivery and Flipkart and got standard responses like "backend team is checking". I ended up escalating to Delhivery twice (via email and via their website ticket system). Got two different responses on the two tickets, one of the responses said that the delivery agent keeps updating remarks "consignee not reachable/contact details unavailable". Which is false and surprising since I can myself log into to Delhivery system using my cell number and OTP, and I can see the Flipkart Treadmill order as well as another Boodmo package shipped to my address and phone number.

The promised delivery date came and went. No update so I escalated again. Note that the treadmill hasn't moved from the hub yet, sitting there for 7 days, never showing an "Out for delivery" update.
Now this treadmill itself weighs a 101kgs and with packaging, the box would've probably weighted around 115kgs. Which is probably the reason none of the Delhivery guys wanted the job to deliver it and kept kicking the can down the road as long as they could.

Finally after 8 days sitting in the hub, I get a call from the Delhivery guy that he is in my building, there is no lift here, so he wants to leave the package in the parking lot and leave. I am not in town at that time, and with such a situation, my first reaction is to blast the guy on phone for not bothering to deliver in the last 8 days, and then not calling upfront and checking about the availability of lift and accordingly bringing required manpower with him. I ask him how he managed to load the package in his tempo, and he says that was done via forklift at the hub, and then he was sent ahead with the tempo driver to deliver the package

I refuse to take the delivery in the parking lot and he returns back with the 115kg package.

I escalate again with Flipkart. They ask for 48 hours which come and go. They ask for more time, and I said sure take your time, I am fine..

After 12 days the package sitting in the hub, I get a call from Flipkart asking for a "final 24 hours" to try and deliver. I am fine with the 24hour timeline but the agent tells me a lie that the delivery guys came to your house today again and had gone back. I said What? How do you know that? I can see all day there is no "Out for delivery" update, nor did I get any call from any delivery guy. After a 5min discussion where the Flipkart agent has no answer on what they will do if the package isn't delivered in their "final 24 hour" timeline, I lose patience and hang up.
The next morning, I get the call from the same Delhivery delivery guy who wanted to leave the package in parking lot the last time. He asks me whether I need the delivery or not. I say I need it on my doorstep which is 3rd floor, as mentioned on the shipping address. He asks me for five thousand rupees to bring it to 3rd floor. I ask him if he wants me to pay his salary as well. He then retracts and says he mentioned five hundred, not five thousand.
I was ok paying 500, although not required, should have been on the part of Delhivery to send 3-4 guys to deliver the heavy package. But I am ok paying 500 and ending the ordeal for all parties.
The heavy package is then brought to my building in a tempo with just 2 guys from Delhivery. A little more physical help from me and my brother and the 4 of us manage to bring the box to 3rd floor. I pay the guy 500 as promised and he leaves.

Probably a new experience for me ordering online something so heavy, but it seemed like a regular affair for Delhivery and Flipkart. It is shameful for Delhivery to run such large operations but still skimp on their responsibility to send adequate manpower to deliver heavy packages, and rather push that responsibility on to the poor delivery boy and the tempo driver to heave and haul something a forklift was required to load in the tempo.

[RaghavEvoX]

I had ordered a JBL headphone from flipkart for 9k last year. When I opened, the ear cushion was fully damaged.
I raised a request to replace or return but they bluntly told, 'This product is in no-return policy'.
After regular follow ups and escalations for 2 weeks, I got the refund.
That was and will be the last time I ordered anything from flipkart. So much time wasted and stressful follow-ups.
I used to be their regular customer and not anymore.
Now I have shifted to Amazon and happy with their return policies.

[Neversaygbye]

I had a bad experience with Flipkart once when they sold me a fake Lenovo powerbank which was DOA. I was travelling at the time and got the package only after the return period had passed. Emailed Flipkart customer care and they pleaded their helplessness. Thankfully I had a friend working in Flipkart at the time and she managed to pull a few strings and get the powerbank replaced. However, while Flipkart was not to blame for the return period getting over, what worried me was that the product was quite blatantly a fake, and this had been overlooked by them. Also, I think that they have algorithms now that detect prices that go below a certain benchmark and then they do not honour those orders. A few months back, I ordered an RO at an exceptionally low price thanks to exchange and other offers (it was 1/3rd the MRP) and the product never came and the order was cancelled unilaterally by Flipkart after 2 weeks.

However, barring these incidents, my experience with both Amazon and Flipkart has been good. Some of their deals are truly impossible to get in a brick and mortar store.

[sukhbirST]

Thanks for being at a small town where Flipkart doesn't deliver many products. But reading the above experiences is really scary. Personally I have started going to big stores who are giving equally priced product with better service. Plus the thrill of opening at the same time is something I like now.

[DeepakS]

Originally Posted by Tejas@perioimpl

Update:


BUT:

What I did do while waiting for the phone was to bombard twitter on Flipkart and every investor who has made an investment in Flipkart - Softbank, Tencent, Walmart, etc (all details available freely on the web) outlining my issue and asking them if their money is safe with a fraud business.

The result was a barrage of calls from Flipkart saying they will replace the phone. By then the phone was already with apple and I told them that only if apple doesn't replace the unit, I'll revert to them and get a refund. I don't want a new one from them now. Told them, if they had just offered this on day 1, this whole saga would have been moot!

Well, that's that for now folks. Have a good day.

In my opinion what you did here by sending out tweets to the investors and all other people was wrong. The basic protocol is such that Flipkart will let you open the box to check, which it did. Flipkart sold you a genuine phone with genuine invoice, which was duly honoured by Apple. Flipkart DOES NOT take phones back because some people just find it very convenient to replace the internals of the phone like battery, screen etc and then send the phone back to flipkart. Sometimes people don't like the phone and it's so easy to return the phone that they try to do that. Who is going to buy a brand new open-box phone then? Nobody! Flipkart/Amazon/other company will face a huge loss on that particular SKU. The issue here was from Apple as a company, which packaged a defective phone and the whole lot containing that phone happened to land at Flipkart.
Apple as a company cannot make 100% perfect phones all the time. It's manufacturing, defects happen, not a big deal. You were given a warranty for that AND that warranty was honoured. For somebody who happens to have an issue within 7 days(10 days in some brands) of purchase, the companies have a DOA(Dead On Arrival) policy where your phone is not repaired/opened/fixed, but exchanged for a brand spanking new one. This DOA thing is actually what Apple replaced your phone with. I think each and everything that happened by Flipkart AND Apple was inline with how businesses run. But you felt the sting a bit more because the phone was for your mother and it was a gift, so the sense of occasion was in jeopardy.
Now, Flipkart refusing to replace the phone first, but after tweets agreeing to replace....well that's damage control, even though they did not cause the damage. But it's a fact that lakhs of products gets shipped from them daily and reach to consumers without an issue. But episodes like the one you went through give major negative press to the company, so without their own fault they tried to mitigate their loss of image by offering your a replacement.

[kiredd1005]

Somehow this is rampant on Flipkart more than Amazon to be honest. I've had similar experiences but in the end, I got a refund on a few occasions. I fail to understand how such large scale companies indulge in malpractices.

[am1m]

Originally Posted by kiredd1005

Somehow this is rampant on Flipkart more than Amazon to be honest.

I have the same opinion. Till about 3 years ago I would consciously try to order on Flipkart as opposed to Amazon because I wanted to support an Indian company and all that jazz, even a couple of times when the price on Flipkart was higher than on Amazon. But repeated bad interactions/experiences with the delivery staff made me stop. They were usually rude, they would say they were at the location when in reality they were nowhere near (I guess that's because they don't want to wait), and several such 'extra smart' tactics. Finally had enough and started ordering on Amazon. Much, much better experience, I've had a few fake products delivered (and easily returned), but the delivery agents are much more professional and polite. These days I don't even bother to check Flipkart anymore.

[kiredd1005]

Originally Posted by am1m

I have the same opinion. Till about 3 years ago I would consciously try to order on Flipkart as opposed to Amazon because I wanted to support an Indian company and all that jazz, even a couple of times when the price on Flipkart was higher than on Amazon. But repeated bad interactions/experiences with the delivery staff made me stop. They were usually rude, they would say they were at the location when in reality they were nowhere near (I guess that's because they don't want to wait), and several such 'extra smart' tactics. Finally had enough and started ordering on Amazon. Much, much better experience, I've had a few fake products delivered (and easily returned), but the delivery agents are much more professional and polite. These days I don't even bother to check Flipkart anymore.

Oh yeah. Those experiences are plenty too. But then I don't blame the company. There's only so much one can do to control gig workers. Amazon seems to have perfected most of the operations seems like.

[kovilkalai]

Having used e-com companies for a lot of purchases for the past 5+ years, I have found Amazon more consistent and reliable in their policies and services. Returns are easier. So, we pretty much stopped shopping in Flipkart altogether. One exception... I purchased a Marq branded laptop and AC for my mother. While the AC is still working fine, the laptop's keyboard stopped working a couple of months after the 1-year warranty expired. Despite the fact that I have contacts in Flipkart (a lot of former colleagues and friends work there), I couldn't get help on replacement parts that I was willing to pay for. This is their own private label. Who else is supposed to provide spare parts?

The other thing I noticed... During the lockdowns, all the packages for all the apartments in my society used be kept in our clubhouse and we had to go pick them up (no doorstep delivery). I was surprised to find that more than 80% of packages delivered to my society were from Amazon. I suspect that says something. Flipkart was a bit of a first-mover and most of my neighbours are early adopters of new products/services. That most of them have chosen Amazon suggests that they seem to prefer the product range and services.

[Tejas@perioimpl]

Originally Posted by DeepakS

In my opinion what you did here by sending out tweets to the investors and all other people was wrong.

I'm sorry but I disagree. As an offended party, I'm entitled to it use means to rectify the wrongs done to me and the fact that it worked - in whatever way is QED - be it to prevent bad publicity or not - I don't care about the reason. Even apple care on the phone told me that upto 7 days, the seller has to take it back.

The basic protocol is such that Flipkart will let you open the box to check, which it did.

Why can I only check for scratches and dents and not if it starts then?

And if its a brand new packed phone that apple is responsible for, why they want me to check it for cracks and dents?

Flipkart sold you a genuine phone with genuine invoice

Then why was the phone showing out of warrantee on the apple website?

Flipkart DOES NOT take phones back because some people just find it very convenient to replace the internals of the phone like battery, screen etc and then send the phone back to flipkart.

The company can check once the phone is returned back to them.

Sometimes people don't like the phone and it's so easy to return the phone that they try to do that. Who is going to buy a brand new open-box phone then? Nobody! Flipkart/Amazon/other company will face a huge loss on that particular SKU.

So the onus is on me to run pillar to post? they make their percentage, they need to help me out rather than saying, go to your nearest service centre.

The issue here was from Apple as a company, which packaged a defective phone and the whole lot containing that phone happened to land at Flipkart.

Again, then why do they ask me to check for scratches and dents?

Apple as a company cannot make 100% perfect phones all the time. It's manufacturing, defects happen, not a big deal.

Agree

You were given a warranty for that AND that warranty was honoured.

It was honoured after a hue and cry. At first I was told that if the phone is repairable, they would repair it and give me. Why would I want a brand new repaired phone? I got lucky that the phone wasn't repairable/

For somebody who happens to have an issue within 7 days(10 days in some brands) of purchase, the companies have a DOA(Dead On Arrival) policy where your phone is not repaired/opened/fixed, but exchanged for a brand spanking new one. This DOA thing is actually what Apple replaced your phone with.

That said DOA isn't mandatory and repair is first considered.

I think each and everything that happened by Flipkart AND Apple was inline with how businesses run.

I run two businesses. If I do a wrong, I follow it up to correct it.

Let me give you an example. You come to me for a dental crown. I make the crown and the lab gives a 5 year warrantee on it.

Now there is a defect in the crown and the colour isn't matching your teeth. Do you want me to tell you, too bad go to the lab because they give guarantee or you want me to follow it up and make it good to you?

If as a small business I can do such a thing, a big conglomerate with huge manpower, can't help speak to apple and rectify? Come on, if there is a wish, there is a way.

But you felt the sting a bit more because the phone was for your mother and it was a gift, so the sense of occasion was in jeopardy.

I would still be pissed because it's my hard earned money. Not because of the occasion. I'd request you not to assume my state of mind.

Now, Flipkart refusing to replace the phone first, but after tweets agreeing to replace....well that's damage control, even though they did not cause the damage.

Why aren't you addressing the fact that they are dealing with a known rogue?

But it's a fact that lakhs of products gets shipped from them daily and reach to consumers without an issue. But episodes like the one you went through give major negative press to the company, so without their own fault they tried to mitigate their loss of image by offering your a replacement.

You want to run a huge company, you want to earn millions then you need systems in place. Remember the old Walmart anecdote? A woman comes to replace tyres and the manager gives a credit note even though they never sold tyres?
Keep the customer happy, especially if he's right and they'll get better word of mouth publicity.

I also am a guy, if I get good service, I tweet about that as well.

so without their own fault

If you know a vendor is scamming, constantly and you still source from him - who's at fault?

[techmotor]

I have had mostly good experience from both Amazon and Flipkart. Following are some of the things I follow while ordering from these sites.

• Maximum amount per item should be less than 25k. For anything above this price, I order directly from the company website. If they don’t have an online purchase facility or if they have a shoddy website, I’ll directly go to a shop and buy.
  
• Try to buy from a seller with good reviews and ratings provided there are enough ratings. I’d rather buy from a seller having an average rating of 3.5/5 from 5k user ratings than from a seller having 5/5 from 500 users.
  
• Try to buy from the same seller for which you have bought items previously and that you were overall impressed with the packaging, delivery, support etc.
  
• Go through the return/refund policies if you’re about to make a purchase with significant cost.

Finally, if you’re getting significant discount for something costly, there is a high probability that the item is damaged/refurbished/QC fail etc. Also I’d recommend to buy Apple products directly from Apple website now that it’s available in India.

P.S. I have bought iPhone and iPad from Apple India website and is fully happy with the experience.

[ACM]

Made an AC purchase on Flipkart a few years back. Went through hell to get it refunded.

Been Only Amazon since then. Yes bad support happens on Amazon too. But is rarer and they ultimately resolve it all much faster.

[W16rocks]

Originally Posted by Tejas@perioimpl

3. Have a better call centre experience. When you are already pissed you want to speak to a human.

Buddy sorry to hear this ordeal had a similar problem with my Samsung S7 edge around 6 years ago with Amazon, they took a month to do the refund saying the phone is manufacturer’s responsibility but as it was a damaged model they had to refund my money eventually.
I totally agree on the call centre experience after spending a considerable sum online one expects a human response at the least, but again this is the same condition with most online service providers.
Happy to see you were able to gift the phone on time.

[drjaygoyal]

I would blame Delhivery here more than Flipkart. I have had many similar experiences with them in the past.

Recently Fedex has also merged part of operations with Delhivery. This has caused even more problems.

Parcels are not picked up for days, very long delays, sent to the wrong address and returned to the shipper without trying hard to deliver.

It is really shameful and disappointing that after paying so much money and spending time waiting for the parcel to arrive we are the mercy of these last mile delivery guys who care a damn about the delivery.