Aug 26, 2008 02:02 AM
4657 Views
(Updated Aug 26, 2008 02:06 AM)
\I am from Kerala. I had a bitter experience with a large retail chain not in Kerala but in Bangalore. I had ordered a book from Fabmall’s online service since the book was not available in the local market in Kerala at that time. The book was supposed to cost me Rs.3500/- for “Sun Certified Web Component Developer Study Guide”. I paid the money online using my friend’s credit cards (I don’t keep one). 3 months after the deal there was still no response from Fabmall.
Fortunately I had a chance to go to Bangalore for 3 months soon after that. So I went to the Fabmall showroom in Forum and demanded the status of the book delivery. They said they didn’t deal with online purchases and I had to contact their head office. I went to their head office near MG Road only to find that they had moved elsewhere. Luckily I had the phone number of the person whom I had talked to in the Fabmall office at Forum. After several phone calls he gave me the phone number of the department that dealt with online purchases. This guy told me that there was no stock, as the book had to be imported from the US and they were waiting for new stock.
This continued for two months when finally this guy said they didn’t have any stock and were not planning to get it either, so the money would be refunded back to my account. It did not end there. I had to make at least 15-20 calls to this guy in charge of online sales before finally the money was credited back to my account. By this time I was back in Kochi and I found a cheap paper back edition of the same book at just Rs. 350/- It was not a pirated book but an Indian edition of the same book. I think I spent that much money just on my phone calls to Fabmall.
I have heard some people saying they never had a bad experience with Fabmall, but this is my true story. Big retail chains are so huge that for them that a single customer who is not satisfied, is treated as dirt. Luckily I happened to be at Bangalore during this interaction. I don’t know how many others have undergone the same treatment and have not told their story, and maybe losing the entire amount on the online transaction.
Gandhiji said that for the sales person the customer was god.. it doesn’t seem true any longer. It is the sales person who is god and we have to bear his whims and fancies in the process losing valuable time and money.
My advice is just go there and have a nice look at what is at sale- I say window shopping
