Nov 06, 2011 02:04 PM
5762 Views
Let me start by saying that flipkart.com has great products at affordable prices. Sourcing of products and delivery is also quite excellent. However their customer service is poor and undependable.
Case in point -
I purchased 2 books on the flipkart.com on the 26th of Oct 2011. While making the payments there were a number of technical issues, therefore I had to make 3 transaction processes for the same 2 books out of which I was billed twice and the books were delivered once.
In all for all three txns, these are the details -
Rejected by flipkart.com Txn No Reference – OD11026190332 and billed to my CC
Rejected by flipkart.com Txn No Reference – OD11026190547 and not billed to my CC
Accepted and delivered by flipkart.com Txn No Reference – OD11026190737 and billed to my CC
I realised the same when I saw my bank statement today and realised I have been billed twice for the same order.
I called their helpline today, 6th Nov 2011 at 12:10 in the afternoon at 18001023547 and spoke to the following people -
Deepak Biregowda - Call Agent
Krishna Salunkhe - Supervisor
Srinivas - Helpline Floor Manager.
In all, the process of interacting with the flipkart.com is terribly archaic and nowhere synergised with their commitment through the TV Ads of being convenient and hassle free.
In all the call took about 40 mins to be completed. These are my observations on the same -
a) Desktop Information of customer is not transferred from Call agent to the next person, therefore I am asked for all the details all over again. Not once but thrice at each escalation level.
b) No complaint number is issued for the complaint raised. Instead Call Agent and Supervisor insists that there is no such system of issuing a complaint/reference id no. Finally when I speak to the Floor Manager Srinivas he confirms that they do have a process of giving the Call Txn Id as the complaint no and he proceeded to give me the same.
c) As claimed on the web-site, duplicated billed txns are suppose to be reversed in 4-5 working days. The Call Agent and Supervisor insist that e-payment portal reverses in 5-7 working days. Therefore gap between commitment online and the web-site is quite evident. On speaking to Srinivas, the H/L manager he confirms that they can reverse my duplicated debit in 2-3 working days. This is indeed surprising that we go from 2-3 working days as per the Floor Manager to 5-6 days as per the Call Agent.
d) I could clearly hear the calls of other customers in the background. Therefore the helpline does not have sound canceling equipment or floor mat dampners to reduce spill-over of live calls to other customers. I actually got the Txn No of a customer interacting on a laptop purchase of the call agent at the side of the person I was talking to.
e) In terms of keeping customers on hold – the process totally stinks where transfers take close to 6-9 minutes for each escalation. In total the conversation took 40 mins including the repeating of my txn details, transfers and discussions at the helpline.
f) Srinivas finally concludes that the reason why the Call Agent gave me the wrong information is because Deepak Biregowda is a new agent. Is there therefore a training issue? Train people and then only put them on the helpline. Give them a complete run-down of the companies policies before they can start talking with customers.
Clearly given the haphazard customer processes at the helpline I have asked for an opportunity to speak to the Heads of Customer service at Flipkart.com and I have been told by Srinivas that either of the following people will call me on Monday -
Mr Prashant P - Head of Operations, Customer Service, Sitting at Bangalore
Mr Narsimha Raja - Manager Customer Services, Bangalore.
It would be interesting to see whether 1) These people actually exist 2) These people do take the effort to call back.
Also Mr Srinivas has agreed to call me back after hearing the voice recordings of my call and after speaking to the Call Agent - Deepak and the Supervisor - Krishna Salunkhe. He said he would call back after 2 hours(post 12:50). I await their call.
All in all this is not the promise of customer service as seen on their TV ads. I guess another case of the product delivery not meeting the product proposition
