[pramodkumar]

I searched the forum to see if there are any threads on the topic, but there were none so I decided to start a thread.

"The Flipkart big billion sale is here"

almost all newspapers have a whole front page dedicated to this, there are offers too good to be true, the sale is so popular that from the last 4 days all I could hear was about this sale. so a fellow BHPian sends a screen shot of the GoPro Hero 2018 for an in believable price of 9990 only.



Initially I was hesitant, but I decided to check out the app anyway. when i check the app, it says stocks are over. I was like i barely missed the offer.

The following night I woke up to drink water in the middle of the night, i decided to check the offer, and it was again available. I quickly went to my credit card site and converted all my 20K reward points for flipkart coupons worth 4k(big mistake).

I went back to flipkart and placed my order. I had to pay only 5391, which was including my 10% discount for using my HDFC card. Everything went well, I ended up ordering some accessories like chesty and shorty, an amazon basics carry case and some mount kits that include everything.

In the morning when I wake up the order is cancelled, due to limited stock availability with the seller. which is understandable since these things run out quickly. I decided to check again and the offer was still available. I decided to try again in the evening and the order went smoothly again, only to be cancelled the order on the subsequent day.

The reply I got from their customer support is even more hilarious(screenshot below).





My question is their responsibility absolved the moment they put the blame on their seller?

If the seller's stocks are depleted, then why is the offer still available?

the second time I ordered was around 1 hour before the sale was about to close and about 20 hours later than my first order. This time I used a different payment method with the coupons, only to see my order getting cancelled the next morning



I have nothing but problems with flipkart, every single order with them has been a nightmare. I bougt a DSLR from them and it was supposed to have a free Motorola Pulse wireless headset along with it, I received the headset after a 10-15 day ordeal, but look at the order and see what happened to that order yourself.



Flipkart is now officially in the business of conning people, all(well most) of their offers are not honoured, they simply absolve themselves by putting the blame on the sellers.

Amazon had never given me any issues till date. All offers were honoured, in the name of "Big Billion Sale" flipkart is just selling people dreams, their offers are too good to be true and they have not honoured a single offer they gave me, I do not know about others, but my ordeal with them gives me a very clear insight about their business operations and they say lightening doesn't strike at the same place twice, its obvious others also have similar stories.

My agenda of creating this thread is simple, i am documenting their malpractices in a thread and this will act as a reminder to all who loose a lot of their peace of mind in anticipation of a new toy at a too good to be true offer, which will never come.

what is sad now is I have to return all the accessories I bought from Amazon, which is happening due to no fault of theirs and I am sitting on top of 4k worth gift cards from Flipkart which is of no use to me now(i am not giving them away ).

Regards,
Pramod

[blackwasp]

Originally Posted by pramodkumar

So a fellow BHPian sends a screen shot of the GoPro Hero 2018 for an in believable price of 9990 only.....

I ordered the same off Amazon.in on Friday evening. It was delivered to my home on Saturday 8:11 am. I did pay more than the list price, but thanks to some prompt emails, my total cost was same as that of Flipkart deal.

[GeneralJazz]

Same product, different days (both during the sale period). See how the MRP changes.

[pramodkumar]

Quoting a friend and a fellow BHPian

"its always easy to refund the customer, than to say the stocks are over"

This is the mentality of Flipkart which I am trying to expose here, Had this been US flipkart would have compensated me for the mental agony

Pramod

[dileepcm]

Being someone who works as an e-commerce/logistics/order management consultant, I can confidently say that this is nothing new. Pretty much every size and shape of e-comm implementations will have such 'BIG' sales days. At the end, the idea for the most part is to clear the last bit of stock at any cost to free up warehouse space for new products, strike deals with marketplace vendors or gain more and more negotiating power with suppliers or companies willing to sell stuff.
It is also a fact that every company doing this sort of business has over-sell situations for such sales. It can happen for several reasons starting from taking a few extra orders to make sure that even the last bit is sold (even if say the first person who ordered could not get his payment processed etc., stock should not remain.) to improper implementation of market place (third parties selling stuff on flip kart/amazon etc.) causing inventory dependencies. These are complex systems and I have seen such issues in pretty much every implementation I was a part of. When traffic and data movement go up, real time catching up fails or lacks quality.

Having said, what makes the difference? Some key factors are:

1. Proper vendor management and quality back end systems and their implementations when it comes to market place integrations.
2. Meaningful customer care: I do not think I need to explain this further.
3. Existence and adherence of strict rules which I am not quite sure about when it comes to Indian market.

Usually, the numbers of customers won and orders placed will cover up the lost sales and customer frustrations unfortunately.

[Nav-i-gator]

It can happen with any service provider company. Usually I prefer Amazon over Flipkart. Last year I ordered a Front load LG washing machine through Amazon, it was promptly delivered within a week, installation scheduled automatically from LG and the installation guy came 2 days later. But the WM did not work, at all! Installation guy said, ask Amazon for replacement, or I can ask repair/replacement from LG under warrenty. I chose to replace through Amazon.

Many frustrating calls telling me that the product can not be replaced. You can ask for return/refund and can order again. I had exchanged my old Wm so needed the new one urgently. Frustrated I ordered return and ordered again for a Samsung WM from Flipkart. No issues with Flipkart.

Interestingly, The very next day of returning the WM to Amazon, I got a call from a logistics guy (Driver) that my new LG washing machine is on the way for replacement by LG! (the installation guy had apparently lodged the replacement/rapair request on my behalf).

3 Days ago, I ordered an Iphone 6S for my wife at a price of 20600! from Flipkart; it got delivered in 2 days flat.

On the other hand, Amazon have very misleading offers listed in their app. It says (among other offers), flat 10%, upto 2500 off on payment through SBI cards. and then - "additional" 2000 off on EMI payment through SBI card. While in real, only one can be availed, that too (if you opt for EMI) only on SBI credit card.

[Vysakh]

Originally Posted by GeneralJazz

Same product, different days (both during the sale period). See how the MRP changes.


Attachment 1808051

Attachment 1808052

Different sellers. One is Flipkart assured and other one isn't.

[Eddy]

I've had my fair share of bad experiences with Flopkart. I wanted to buy an Asus phone this sale season but did not do so primarily because it was a Flopkart exclusive. Bought an Mi A2 from Amazon instead.

[Randhawa]

That's not just with Flipkart but others do it too. Last year I ordered a pair of shoes from Jabong at a very good price and I suspected something funny would happen. Next day my order got cancelled due to the reason as stated by Jabong that the shoes did not pass their stringent quality test. The very same day those shoes were again on sale and I ordered them immediately. Got the delivery within few days from the same seller and this time it passed their quality check.

What I learned from the transaction was that they will cancel the order by giving you two main excuses. Either the item is not in stock or there was problem with the quality check. The very same items will be again listed with higher price and it will show as available. That's just to put you off so you don't try again.

They do these kind of thing to lure us into their sale fiasco by putting things for sale at a price which are too good to be true. But if you keep that in mind and keep an eye on the same items then you will eventually get it at same price or even less.

[Vid6639]

Coincidentally I was just walking from the canteen back to my building and saw a colleague fighting with Flopkart delivery guy.

He had bought a Samsung Note 9 on sale as well as exchange. They didn't honour the exchange citing a miniscule dimple on the side of the old phone.

[pramodkumar]

Guys I get the fact that during the sale all inventory must go. Could anyone of you please let me know when to they stop taking extra orders?

For me the offer was active through out their sale, I could place 2 orders.

There was a Yi dash cam which was showing the exact numbers available, so why can this offer do the same?

My point is simple, the E-Com companies are taking customers for a ride and their logic of

Originally Posted by dileepcm

"Usually, the numbers of customers won and orders placed will cover up the lost sales and customer frustrations unfortunately." .

is not right, we Indians usually do not stand up for such things, we just simply take this with a grain of salt.

Sales on these websites should not be like a lucky draw, if that's what it would boil down to eventually, then why don't they disclose that in the first place?

What they are doing is unethical and its time when there someone gets up and documents his/her ordeal, which would lead to these ecom's fixing their processes.

Pramod

[ontheroad]

Jbl charge 3 Bluetooth speaker, black is available in Amazon for Rs9999.00 but when delivery details are given, they say it cannot be delivered in Trivandrum. But the same speaker, blue colour, will be delivered at Trivandrum, by the same seller. Though i liked the black colour, had to settle for the blue. Contacting Amazon also didnt help as they washed off the issue to seller.

[Mohan Mathew A]

Originally Posted by Vid6639

Coincidentally I was just walking from the canteen back to my building and saw a colleague fighting with Flopkart delivery guy.

He had bought a Samsung Note 9 on sale as well as exchange. They didn't honour the exchange citing a miniscule dimple on the side of the old phone.

Exactly the same thing happened to my friend on saturday on Flipkart. It was a very small dent. If they expect phones on exchange to be even without that, then it clearly is not realistic. I suspect they are using it as an excuse to get people to pay the full price.

I ordered a phone on flipkart and it has been 5 days and they have not even shipped it.
I ordered another a few other things on Amazon and i received most of it the next day itself

[v12]

I just had a pathetic experience on Flipkart last week. It wasn't part of the Big Billion day sale though.

So I had ordered a Gods Ghost Backpack for my wife as a surprise gift. The bag that got delivered to me was a cheap and unbranded backpack. I did not open the parcel since I wanted my wife to open the parcel.

And this is the cheap unbranded bag that I got instead of the Gods Ghost one.


I immediately initiated a replacement which came to me within 2 days. And look what they sent me - a 100 Rs sleeve.


I gave up and initiated a refund finally. Agree with you - Amazon is any time better.

[fiat_tarun]

I had my own share of issues with Flipkart during the big billion sale. Had ordered a dining table that came damaged. Now Flipkart decides that it cannot be replaced since the seller from whom I bought this item has no more stock. They are processing a refund even though I can still see the same product listed on their site, but at a much higher price from a different seller.

From my point of view, Flipkart messed up the transport which resulted in the damage and they have to sort it out at the back end by organizing a replacement between all the sellers they have for the product. Terribly frustrating experience.