May 07, 2008 11:07 AM
3865 Views
Advertisments are, more often than not, misleading and once a fool, always a fool. The former adage refers to our "beloved" https://indiaplaza.in while the latter suits me!! I wont deny that I have transacted with indiaplaza a couple of times earlier. While my first shopping experience ith them was more than satisfactory, my subsequent experiences went from bad to worse (am sure the worst is yet to come!!)
Last year (2007), I ordered a kilo of motichoor laddoo ; well before diwali, as my sister was coming home from states to celebrate it with me. I actually had ordered the laddoo for her, hoping i'll be able to gift it to her to take back to states. I placed the order 2 weeks in advance and was assured (very politely and convincingly ) by the customer support agents, that the sweets were reach me well before diwali. I paid through my credit card . The order was authorised within a day with the "Ready to Ship"sign adjacent to the order number. So I was looking forward to receiving them. Three days before Diwali, when the shipment didnt arrive, I began to be concerned . I called up their customer care and was asured that the shipment was sent yesterday and would reach me the next day. Not surprisingly it didn't. I asked for the details of the shipment , and then theor answers became evading. One of them said.."it has reached you according to our reports".. another said "the order number which you specified doesnt exist" while the other went on to say that the payment for that order was never made. My sister came and left. I called them up to shout at them and actually I realise that they are pretty used to be shouted and hurled abuses at!! The laddoos reached me on the 3rd january, 2008 in a condition unsuitable to even mention on a healthy forum like this. I decided not to pursue the case, as I found it pointless arguing with dumbheaded.dumb witted brains of the Indiaplaza staff. I didn't want to start my new year with a fit of anger!!
Couple of months later, I came across their fabmall book club membership. Now I am a voracious reader and end up buying books worth a lot each year. I was elated to see that I could save 25% on books and was also entitled to a gift certificate worth 500/-. (now lets refer to the second part of the openign sentence- once a fool, always a fool... something which i'll give ample proof of , soon). I was excited and in two minds, on whether to involve myself with indiaplaza once again or not. Insanity prevailed and I decided I should give them another shot. I assumed that when it comes to books, then i'm sure these sites will never cheat. And also, I read in the papers somewhere that Indiaplaza.in had a tie up with THE HINDU. The book club membership involved a payment of 500/- towards membership fee for a year and we'll be entitled to a gift certificate worth 500/- and also 25% flat discount on books. I paid up again and the order status chnaged from Pending Authorizationto Ready to Shipon the same day. Then began my woes and tales of misery. A book club membership which needs just a couple of hours to activate, still hasn't seen the light of day (its been over 15 days now). I must have spent over 500 /- just talking to them over the phone and being put on hold. Saddest part is that none of these customer service agents actually know whats going on. They have access to only the order number and whether it's shipped on not. If asked abt the reasons as to why the shipment order is still rotting in their log book, whereas full payment has already been made, all the customer agents come up with different answers. One of them complains of a technical problem due to which the order can not be processed. Surprisingly when you ask them the nature of technical problems, they start evading your questions. Another one of them swore that the order has been processed and the mails regarding the details of the membership has already been sent to me along with the GC. On asking him to send the details of the membership once again, he says, SIR, THE PROBLEM IS ON YOUR END AND NOT OURS. So much so for knowing my membership id from a fellow who swore by all the gods he knows n doesn't know !!!
Another fellow was even better. He stated Logistics Problems.I was puzzled. Its not that they have to courier me the membership id. It has to be mailed to me. I inquired hot logistic problems even explain the delay , to which he says "sir, please contact bluedart in your city. ". Bloody, contact them for what???????
Every day I've been promised now that the TECHNICAL team is looking into the matter and by 6 in the evening, I'll receive my book club membership as well as my gift certificate. Apparently, in their world, there is no evening and if there is, am sure their clocks don tick beyond 6!!
I'm sick and tired of trying to understand why such things happen. Now they have my money and in return the service promised, has not been fulfilled. Had they been working with schemes like Cash on Delivery, am sure they would have been proactive in processing the orders and tryng their best to procure the payments. Customer satisfaction means nothing to them as long as they get the money for the order which you've placed.
All these people want is your money by putting all the flashy flashy things on their website and most of those want you want to order, are not even in stock with them. Such shameless are these people that no matter what you tell them what you abuse them, what you threaten them... at the end of the day, they manage to just sit and laugh about it, without showing an iota of shame and guilt.
India's Finest Virtual Supermarket!!!!! Huh... My A!!!!!
Never EVER shop of their website or else a sure you'll seen be writing a review like mine, explaining all the mental agony and sufferings.
