Babudom Customer Service; Horrible Experience. Review on Snapdeal

Snapdeal eventually sent a replacement iPhone to me - its manufactured November 2015 thats a set 7 months old - the software needs an update and the charger is the old design. The warranty needed an update as well. I brought another iPhone from the market today it was manufactured in May 2016!  I called Apple support and as per them they strongly suggested buying from infibeam as the authorised seller of iPhone while as flip kart is authorised for other Apple products.

Snapdeal sells low quality, questionable products - I have brought additional products from snapdeal and their warranties are either not updated or they are manufactured years ago.

Not getting the latest charger with your phone means you are not getting the latest hardware upgrades.

Snapdeal makes buying an Apple iPhone a headache, products are defective, or manufuctured months ago.

As per apple always buy from an authorised seller.  Please never buy from SnapDeal.

The replacement process with snap deal was a nightmare, and at the end you get an old product! Pathetic service to say the least.

If you order a product from an ecommerce site such as snapdeal and receive it within days, and it is non-defective you are happy. Fine, but, what role does snapdeal play in it all? Other than logistics not much really.

The real experience is post delivery and I have had the most frustrating experience. I ordered an Apple iPhone 5s as a gift. It had arrived well on time, however once I gave it as a gift a day or two later, I discovered it to be defective. That's a first for any apple product I have ever used.

As I did not have internet access I tried to call them but other than automated responses I was unable to find the way to get through to a human to speak to.

When I did succeed in getting internet access, I requested for a replacement, and received an automated reply asking me to wait 48 hours before they contact me, though the tracking on site asked for 24 hours.

As I was pressed for time I called them - and wanted to have the product picked on priority and replacement similarly sent on priority.

All hell broke lose, 6 phone calls later, dozens of messages later, and only after 24 hours was I told that it would be picked up in one or two days. Though on each call and message they kept on saying that the team is working on the case on priority, however it took no less time than originally shown on the website tracking. I probably was on phone for 3 hours and getting no definite answer than yes sir, sorry, we understand your pain: all non professional irrelevant details.

Even after 24 hours they were unable to provide definite answets .

The best part is still to come, while as one of their customer executives(social media) told me that the replacement will be sent as soon as the phone is picked up - the email confirmation says replacement will be sent 4 days after the product is received by them and tested! Lets says thats about 18 days from pickup date; but I was told that it would be no more than 7 days post pickup! Who does one believe?

Now, this maybe how things are done in routine but its better to buy locally than to face issues such as these.

Another of my phones that I ordered at the same time from flipkart was of the wrong color. I called them at 10 and they had it picked up the same day at 3 pm. They understood that people can be pressed for time. Talking to snap deal was like handling one of the babus at a sarkari daftar where you are only told about the processes.

As long as you get the right product in a working condition its fantastic but God save you if you receive a defective product. You will get sick if their obvious lies and excuses and receiving  replies on Facebook for 24 hours that they need more time!

And there is no compensation mechanism like amazon have! Who pays for my phone calls and time?

Order ID:  12975982592

I am mentioning the order ID as I am documenting the process for proceeding with consumer protection service of GoI who have already advised me in next steps(JaghoGrahakJago).