Better to stay away from shopping.indiatimes.com. Review on Shoppingdiatimes

UPDATE as on 23 June 4.55 pm

Last 2 days have received calls from Mr Shobhit, Manager, Escalation team. He has been nice and understanding. He has ensured that my order was packed and shipped with the NC 17 car charger and also kept me updated. He called me again yesterday night to tell me that the shipment had reached Bangalore. Wish IT shopping had more such people and also had been transparent right from beginning.

Now I look forward to having my phone soon. All I can say is All's well that ends well. Will update ASAP. UPDATE as on 20 June 5.55 pm

At 5.16pm got a sms and mail from IT shopping. I have a new order no. 3002441758 now. Created with the DC 17 freebie included. BUT the expected date of delivery is 1st July 2013. But why did they create another order?? Now I have 3 order nos. Order ID : 3002391090 (original dated 6 June 2013) Order ID: 3002424710 (modified and created by indiatimes on 16 June 2013 in lieu of above). I am sure these two are cancelled. Good delaying tactics. After all those nice assurances. Mr Shobhit, are you listening? I hope I get the product ... before I go on my trip...it didn't work as an anniversary surprise gift anyway. UPDATE as on 20 June 3.35 pm

Got a call from Mr Shobhit, Escalation Manager, IT shopping. Nice to intearact with. Courteous and polite and has assured me of resolution soon. He has offered me an alternate car charger DC 17 and will revert after checking the compatibility with Lumia 720. Seemed genuine. Finally, for once there was some decent experience in the whole episode. STAY TUNED. I will keep updating. UPDATE as on 20 June 2.35 pm

Call from Mr Karan IT shopping at 13.27 hrs IST. He again tells me that Philips headset is out of stock. When I insist that I do not want Invent headset, I am given an alternate of Schenneiser (something like that) headset. I told him, I do not want any of these, and instead they should give me gift vouchers of half the value (i.e., Rs 750). He says he will pass on the message and revert. Am waiting... as usual. UPDATE as on 19 June 2013 at 6.03 pm

I have just answered a call from Ms Amanpreet of indiatimes shopping. She called to inform that the alternate freebie of Philips headphones (Rs 1450) that they had offered (instead of Original Nokia DC 6 car charger) is [also] out of stock and they regretted that and were now offering me Invent headset worth Rs 1499/- I have refused to accept as I do not want to hear another alternate 2 days later. I requested for gift vouchers (even offered them to give me GV Rs 999/- or even half of 1499/-) so that I could use it as per my wish on IT shopping if and when I feel. She was reluctant but my insistence made her put me on hold and then she has offered to revert by tomorrow.

In the meantime, the Operation Head (without name) had replied to my mail, saying that the Social media escalation team is looking after my case and will do the needful. I have responded saying though I do not have any great expectations, let us see what resolution they provide ASAP. By the way I just checked, Nokia Lumia 720 Red colour is available to buy now on IT shopping Check link - https://shopping.indiatimes.com/mobiles/nokia-lumia/nokia-lumia-720-red-/40861/p
_B1714275. Have taken screen shot and will mail customer care. Let us hear from them. It was out of stock yesterday. I just hope now they ship it to me ASAP. I am sick and tired of waiting and hearing excuses and promises and alternate offers. UPDATE as on 18 June 2013 at 7.10 pm

I received the following reply from Mr Anshul Sehgal of indiatimes... This is the "urgent" action that was promised. "We sincerely apologize for inconvenience. We would like to inform you that there is delay in shipment of product. Inspite of our best effort we are unable to dispatch your order within given time. The new expected shipment date is 21st June. We request your cooperation and patience while we close this transaction." ** ORIGINAL REVIEW as on 17 June 2013 is as follows:

Order ID : 3002391090 (original dated 6 June 2013) Order ID: 3002424710 (modified and created by indiatimes on 16 June 2013 in lieu of above) Indiatimes shopping is the worst experience I have ever had in online shopping experience of over 5 years. I am a regular in online shopping and had just shopped a Hard disk, a football and a car stereo in 3 different orders 3 weeks back from snap deal. Before this I have purchased from flipkart, ebay, zoomin.com, partymanao.com, rediff shopping, 24sevenindia etc to name a few. I keep buying online and recommend it too. However, I didn't have the slightest clue of what I was in for when I placed order for Nokia Lumia 720 with freebie Nokia DC-6 car charger (initially) on 6th June 2013.

Before ordering I had done an online chat to confirm availability of product and freebie. Not having confidence, I also confirmed on phone from customer service. But, on 8th I was told of delay in shipment and that it would be shipped by 14th. If they don't ship by 14th the order would be cancelled and money refunded. I told the customer care that I had not ordered for cancelling. If that was so, I would not have ordered. Then again on 10th I was told that the freebie was not available so I will get Philips headphones as freebie. If I didn't agree the order would be cancelled. With reluctance when I agreed, again on 13th someone called from indiatimes shopping and promised that it would be shipped and delivered in 5 - 7 days. By 15th night when I heard nothing, I mailed on the early morning of 16th June 2013 and then again, I got a sweet laced reply sympathizing with me saying how the person replying felt about my position and understood my disappointment. Following this, my original order was cancelled, (God only knows why it was cancelled) without asking or informing me and then a new order no. was created and I was informed by sms and mail with expected delivery by 22nd June

I felt a sense of relief but little did I realize that I was mistaken in my sense of happiness. Now an hour ago, I get a call from someone at indiatimes and he informs me there is a delay in shipment and it will be shipped by 21st June. Now, I know why was the new order created -to delay this order's shipping and still say that the order wasn't so delayed as this order was created only on 16th June. While original order was created on 6th June. The reason for delay I was told is that there was an overwhelming response. This is absurd and unacceptable. Totally unprofessional. Is that my fault? Why did indiatimes not check before accepting orders? They gave me the same lame excuse when they said DC 6 car charger was not available as freebie as it went out of stock. and when my order was of 6th June how could they delay it so long?

After having spoken on phone and mailed couple of times on the same subject, I am not at all hopeful of any positive reply anymore from you or your team. I look forward to more unprofessional behavior and actions and further excuses and delays. I wish that people do not have a similar experience and avoid shopping on shopping.indiatimes.com On top of the review page about indiatimes shopping on mouthshut, I just read that Times internet limited cares. and it is working closely with mouthshut.com. I truly hope that someone is listening. ...and I would really appreciate if someone shows that you care and you are professional.