Friday, December 9, 2011

Flipkart is listening

I got a call from Mr. Jayvant from flipkart, and he lent a very patient ear to me, and we had a lengthy discussion about this issue. Jayvant was certainly sympathetic to my concerns, and he was not trying to convince me that flipkart is right. He apprised me of a few changes to their reverse pick-up process.
1. They ensure that a reverse-pick-up is completed within 72 hours of receiving the complaint.
2. The moment the courier says that the pick-up was made, they process the refund. They don't wait for the item to reach their warehouse.


This certainly takes care of the problem partially. I suggested to Jayvant that there is still a room for error, not intentionally, but by mistake, or due to an employee of the courier company whose goals don't align with those of flipkart. Jayvant said that in case such a thing happened, they'll take the issue seriously with the courier company, and I certainly don't doubt the honesty of his statement, or the seriousness of flipkart. However, I suggested a hypothetical scenario that the person making the reverse pick-up loses the product accidentally, and doesn't inform his courier company that he has made the pick-up. In this case, the customer has no proof that he has handed the item to the courier person, and Flipkart has no proof that the customer has handed this item to the courier company. It could work the other way, too, in which the customer may not hand the item to the courier person, but claim that he has. In both cases, things become hazy. Ambiguity could be removed from the entire process if only the courier person gave a receipt of pick-up to the customer. That way, both parties have a proof of the pick-up.

Jayvant understood my suggestion, and said that he will forward the same to his seniors, and he was appreciative of the suggestion.

Jayvant further informed me of the expansion plans of flipkart, and he agreed that they need to iron out and smooth their services. He informed me that there will be a lot of changes in the next few months. He also explained to me that my suggestions might take a little bit of time to get implemented (may not get implemented overnight), which I find is fair enough.

I also shared some feedback about flipkart's packaging of books, and he informed me that next month onwards, customers can see a change in the way flipkart packs its books.

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

If flipkart sends you a wrong item, you HAVE to accept the package and pay for it

Had a long call with flipkart, the details of which can be found here. ========================================================================== Here is what every flipkart customer should know:

The flipkart company policy says that if flipkart sends you a wrong item, even via cash-on-delivery, there is no way you can refuse the package. You have to accept the package, although you might know that they have shipped you the wrong item, and pay for it as well. Even if the manufacturer's packaging and seal is intact and untouched. Well, unless you have an X-ray machine and determine the contents of the package without opening the card-board packaging flipkart put around the item.

Yes, you are reading me right.

So here it goes. Flipkart policy says that if the covering flipkart put over the article (not the manufacturer's packaging or seal, I'm talking about the cardboard covering flipkart puts over its items), then it cannot be returned, and must be accepted.

So if you receive a wrong package, open it IN FRONT OF THE flipkart delivery person, you just have to accept it even if it doesn't contain the item you asked for, like it or not. Even if you are paying via cash on delivery.

Flipkart says that they will arrange a reverse pick-up for the wrong item later on, but I have had bad experiences about their reverse pick-up. You can read about my experiences with their reverse pickup here.

It is like this, if you go to a store, and ask the storekeeper for a bottle of milk, and he gives you a package of yoghurt by mistake, and then tells you that YOU HAVE TO PAY AND ACCEPT THE YOGHURT, and he'll arrange a pick-up of the yoghurt later on.

All I can say is that this policy is is illegal.