Horrible Service-Late Shipping Everytime!(Updated). Review on Infibeam

I am in US and do lot of online shopping, especially from amazon.com and I constantly feel there is still lack of amazon like service in India.

I have tried shopping from indiatimes.com and rediff shopping and my experience has been good with them.(but not the five star experience - which is the experience with amazon).

So I recently read somewhere that there has been a new ecommerce site infibeam - inspired by amazon - so I was more than hopeful to find what I was looking for - when I saw even their logo is similar to amazon I was almost convinced this is what will be indian amazon.(HOW WRONG I WAS!?)

EXPERIENCE ONE - BADMy nephew's birthday(at India) falls on December 27th . I thought to send him some books as birthday present and placed my order one good week ahead on 20th December.NOTE - I PAID THROUGH NETBANKING AND THEY CHARGE IMMEDIATELY, WHICH IS AGAIN NOT STANDARD INDUSTRY PRACTICE, USUALLY IN USA CUSTOMER IS CHARGED WHEN ITEM GETS SHIPPED - the site said shipping will be done 3-4 days however when I called my nephew on December 27th I found they have not received anything(HOW EMBARASSING FOR ME!) . I emailed infibeam the next day, then they shipped it(felt like they were waiting for my reminder email) . and no reason was given to me for delay.

Tue, Dec 29, 2009 at 1:10 AMsubject Fw: Shipping Delay!? .

Dear Customer,

Reference to your order, the book had been shipped on December 28 through blue dart vide tracking code XXXX.

We apologize for the inconvenience caused to you.

Regards Customer Service http://www.infibeam.com- -Date: Mon, Dec 28, 2009 at 7:30 PMSubject: Shipping Delay!? .To: customerservice@infibeam.net

Hi Infibeam,

This is the first time I ordered on your website and I am very disappointed with your service.

My order# 7464765 was supposed to be delivered on 27th December(Birthday of my nephew) but has not been delivered till now.

I do lot of online shipping(since last 4-5 years), and this is the first time in my online shipping history that order delivery has got delayed . WHAT MAKES IT WORSE, THERE IS NO COMMUNICATION FROM YOUR SIDE WHY THE ORDER DELIVERY IS GETTING DELAYED.

THIS HAS BEEN A VERY BAD FIRST IMPRESSION, PLEASE LOOK INTO THIS AND GET MY ORDERS SHIPPED ASAP.

EXPERIENCE TWO - HORRIBLEEven after my first bad experience I told myself that it's a new startup so I should give him some consideration. I placed another order on January 3rd and again was immediately charged on netbanking.Guess what - the item is not shipped till today.Guess what again - they have even stopped responding to emails now - I sent him two emails but got no response till date.

Infibeam,

Please see my email below!

My order was placed 10 days back, Order# 7471059 was supposed to be delivered within 4 days of I placed order. I placed order on Jan 3rd, so would have expected to be delivered by Jan 7th. And Today is January 13th!

EVEN there was no reply to earlier email I sent below on Jan 8th.

Can you please ship my order ASAP, or let me know what is the issue here?

• Forwarded message -Date: Fri, Jan 8, 2010 at 12:38 PMSubject: Shipping Delay!? .(AGAIN!?)To: customerservice@infibeam.net

Hi Infibeam,

This is the second time I ordered on your website and I am very disappointed with your service.

My order# 7471059 was supposed to be delivered within 4 days of I placed order. I placed order on Jan 3rd, so would have expected to be delivered by Jan 7th. And Today is January 8th!

I do lot of online shipping(since last 4-5 years), and this is the first website in my online shipping history that order delivery is getting delayed EVERYTIME . WHAT MAKES IT WORSE, THERE IS NO COMMUNICATION FROM YOUR SIDE WHY THE ORDER DELIVERY IS GETTING DELAYED.

THESE HAS BEEN VERY BAD FIRST IMPRESSIONS, PLEASE LOOK INTO THIS AND GET MY ORDERS SHIPPED ASAP.

The purpose of this review is to warn all other customers to be away from this site - they might have huge aspirations - but there execution is horrible - the service is horrible.

I am myself an ecommerce professional in USA, so I know how the business is run . and it is nowhere close to the experience I got.

Update

After I posted this review, My order got shipped and delivered, they also contacted my father back at India and duly apologized for the bad service. Lastly they initiated full refund for one of the order(which is neither a big deal for them, nor for me, but still is the first step to good service, so felt good) Since I have criticized them heavily here, so thought to give them credit also for the prompt and appropriate response.(I also changed the rating from poor 1star, to Average 2star) Lastly, I think I will try them in future also, one thing which I didnot mention earlier is that they do have good listing(variety) of books and the book which I ordered was cheapest there(compared to other sites) with NO SHIPPING CHARGES. There was no extra charge on HDFC netbanking(which was another pleasant surprise because even IRCTC charges some amount as HDFC netbanking charge!) .

That is exactly what we need at India from all e commerce sites ->

1) good listing(variety) of books

2) at minimal price

3) timely delivery and

4) basic minimum customer service for issue resolution.

(and as we all know there is a big market out there at India, off which we are just scratching the top layer now, once people become comfortable with online shopping - it is going to be huge, I have seen here in US and it is not a myth).