I have ordered several times from Amazon.in. I've purchased everything from electronic items(my dad needed to buy a tablet and an ordinary cell phone), feminine products, kitchenware(my mom needed a spare grinder) to music CD's(music is my passion and I have always loved Amazon.in's selection of titles across various genres such as Classic Rock, Rockabilly, The Blues, Ragtime, etc.).
At first glance, to the inexperienced buyer, Amazon.in may seem like a shopper's paradise. Massive array of products(in comparison to rivals such as Infibeam and Flipkart) sourced from all over the world. Seemingly reasonable prices. Plenty of seemingly reliable sellers, registered at the Amazon.in marketplace. Seems like such an irresistible scenario for buyers.
I am going to be reasonable and state that(from my family's experience) as long as the product that you order, is sourced from India(with the guarantee that the delivery of the said item, will be fulfilled by Amazon.in), your shopping experience with Amazon.in, will be a very pleasant one! The buyer will not encounter the hassle of listening to devious and careless excuses on the part of the seller(with regard to why the order could not be fulfilled), such as'the product is on back order with our supplier in the U.S and hence your order cannot be fulfilled', 'your shipment from the United States has been lost in the mail. Please place a fresh order to request for a replacement', etc.
When my mom required a spare grinder and when my dad urgently required a new cell phone(in a bid to upgrade to the latest technology), orders were placed with Amazon.in, by availing of the ever reliable COD option(just in case the sellers failed to fulfill their promises!). I am happy to report that the products were delivered, 3 whole days before the estimated delivery date! Also, my parents were very happy with the manner in which the sellers had carefully packed the items and to this day, continue to be impressed by the quality of these electronic items.
In contrast, my shopping experience with Amazon.in, can(at best), be described as average. Hence the reason for my assigning Amazon.in, an overall rating of 2/5.
Being the music enthusiast that I am and after becoming thoroughly disillusioned with Flipkart's rapidly diminishing product range(as far as music CD's are concerned), I turned to Amazon.in, where my orders were mostly for hard to find music CD's, which by some miracle, were actually available with certain sellers at the Amazon.in marketplace or so I thought!
The first red flag that I encountered while placing my last order on Amazon.in, was the massive price discrepancy between sellers, for one particular CD title. I was really keen on ordering that title as it was a pretty hard to find CD by my favourite band of all time! I was delighted upon discovering its availability at the Amazon.in marketplace, but at the same time, stunned to see that 1 seller was selling it for Rs. 650, while the other seller was selling it for a whopping price of Rs. 2500(what?!). Both claimed that the CD was a genuine import from the USA.
Naturally as a consumer, I wanted to avail of the best deal and so, I placed the order with the seller who was selling the said CD title for the lowest price!
My order involved a waiting period of a month and seven days. I foolishly believed in the saying:'Good things come to those who wait!'.
Sadly, after waiting for almost 45 days, I finally, received that dreaded email from the seller, telling me that the CD title, had been placed on back order with the US supplier and hence, my order cannot be shipped! To say that I was disappointed, angry and frustrated, is the understatement of the year!
But, this was just the icing on the cake! The second red flag that I encountered, was the rather deceptive behaviour of the seller. You see, even though I was clearly informed via email, that the said CD title was unavailable, upon logging on to Amazon.in a couple of days later, I found(to my amazement!) that the seller had not bothered to take down the listing for that particular CD, even after informing me that the item was out of stock with the US supplier! To add insult to injury, the CD title had been listed at a higher price(specifically Rs. 1050 - this amounted to a price increase of Rs. 400)! How deceitful and disgusting!
After encountering this new development on Amazon.in, two things went through my mind:
a) Is this seller trying to create an illusion that the product is available at lower prices, thereby making a fool of hapless customers, like myself?
b) Is this seller trying to take advantage of customers like myself(who are desperate to avail of the product, by any means possible), by first making the customers wait for months on end for their orders to ship and then, strategically informing the customer that the item is out of stock, only to re-list the item at a higher price, thereby enticing the customer to place a fresh order for a higher price? Talk about psychological warfare!
What pains me, is the fact that I have been a regular customer of this seller. I have ordered more than 10 CD titles these past couple of years and this is the way I'm treated? Simply unacceptable and pathetic!
Oh and after all the unnecessary heartache, I found the same CD title with Infibeam.com(I am listening to my new CD right now, as I type) and I got the item delivered within 14 days(as opposed to waiting for 45 days and having my order cancelled through a web of lies and deceit!). Yes, Infibeam delayed the shipping of my order by 4 days, but I at least received my order and that, quite frankly, is so much better than being made to stew for more than a month, only to be told that the order cannot be fulfilled!
