Feb 15, 2011 08:11 PM
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You might have landed on this page for below of these reason
1) Liked a deal on snapdeal (err SCRAP--DEAL) and want to know more about whether you should go ahead or not.
2) Already purchased a deal and had a good experience with the merchant.
3) Already purchased a deal and are not sure about how the deal would turn out( aka bad experience).
Please skip to conclusion section if you are short on time.
Here is my experience about SPDEAL. I purchased couple of getaway vouchers from their website for 3nights/4 days to kerala on Feb 05, 2011.Below is the deal location page https://getaways.snapdeal.com/deal-bangalore_koramangala_plus-kesari-online
Fly to Mesmerizing South! Pay Rs 6499 for a fabulous 3N/4D vacation in Cochin and Munnar + return flights worth Rs 14999.
After my purchase, I promptly sent all the details to the merchant(kesari online) on Feb 05, 2011 via email so my tickets could be booked for the travel date of mar 11, 2011. The purchased was made for my brother-in-law as I wanted to gift him a honeymoon package on Feb 14, 2011 so he can travel by Mar 11, 2011. I had spoken to the merchant/snapdeal twice before I went ahead with the deal as I wanted some minor modification with the package at my own extra cost and the merchant agreed for the same.
After sending all the details on Feb 05, 2011 to the merchant, I promptly called him and he informed that all the tickets will be booked and he will get back to me with airline vouchers/hotel vouchers etc within next 5 days.
Now the horror story starts........
After waiting for 6 days, I finally called the merchant on Feb 12, 2011 and asked him about the progress. He informed me that the merchant haven't got a single rupee from SPDEAL and hence cannot issue the airline PNR to me. He said that once we settle the issue with SPDEAL he will communicate the progress to me. As I wanted to gift these vouchers on Feb 14. I was getting too edgy. I personally visited the snapdeal office@ Bangalore and met their regional manager( not willing to mention the name) and explained the situation to him. He informed me that as the deal was finalized snapdeal@delhi office , he is not sure about the terms of the deal. I told him that I need a update within next couple of hours otherwise you will again find me @ your office. He promptly escalated the matter to managing director snapdeal@delhi and I received a call from snapdeal delhi. He (not willing to mention the name) explained the situation to me over the phone and confirmed that not a single rupee is paid to the merchant as of now as we will only make the payment after we get the PNR's from the merchant and requested me to forward the copy of the email to him. He confidently replied back to my queries and said that he will try to keep his date and probably get back with the vouchers to me.
Now my question to snapdeal here is-----
1) How can they sell the deal to the customer and even collect the payment from us when their contract/agreement with the merchant itself is not clear.
2) Do these guys have any penalty clause defined in their agreement or not , if the merchant backs out of a particular deal how about imposing the penalty.
Now the day, Feb 14, 2011. I was waiting for the email reply from snapdeal. Send a reminder email, no one responded. Again the thing to mention here is about the snapdeal customer care number. I tried reaching whole day to their customer care number: 011-45371100 ( remember its not toll free) , but was unable to go beyond the automatic respondent which they have set and to my horror calls automatically drops off after 5 minutes , might have waste more than 50 bucks that day and not to mention the time I lost to deal with these crappy guys.
Finally called the merchant again on Feb 15, 2011 and he told the expected "that the deal fell thru". Got a call from same person from snapdeal@delhi and he informed that the deal will not be honored and they will refund the money back to me via a cheque. Come on guys how can you sell something to the customer which is still in the air.
CONCLUSION:
1) SCRAPDEAL may be ok for small deals but not reliable for any big deals.
2) customer service is least valued @ SCRAPDEAL. The deal was sold to more than 600 customers(figure I got from merchant) and they thought of calling it off, becoz of no mistake of customer.
3) Offered a consolation Snapdeal cash of Rs.500 for their mistake. ( not sure if that too will come or not and whether I will use it to buy another scrapdeal).
4) My money lying with them for 10 days now, and I expect a more 10 days delay to get the money.
5) Not sure who formulates the contract/agreement @snapdeal ( read as idiots) with the merchant with so many loopholes.
6) Who will compensate for the time and money not to mention the embarrassment I face in front of my brother-in-law (they can't even calculate the damage done to my image).
7) Lastly, no matter how much tempting the deal is stay away from these guys , they have a long way to become professional service provider (read groupon or taggle) in this space. Airing couple of commercials on TV doesn't solve the purpose.
Please watch out for this space for more update on my money refund and my never ending woes with snapdeal. I will shortly update the email conversation too on this review.
