12th August, was an unfortunate day. It was a day I decided to make an online purchase from Pepperfry.
To this day, I still ponder over about why and how I made this decision when there are already so many negative reviews on Mouthshut. I should have definitely taken these reviews seriously.
I have recently started working from home, so just to bring in a little more discipline, I thought of purchasing a study table. I looked around but nothing quite struck me as much as the "Cassia Out of the Ordinary Computer Table" available on Pepperfry. The design was trendy yet elegant and would have been a good addition to my house. Alas, if only!
Online Booking was the easiest part, I received a prompt mailer confirming all details of my order and the order number 300039784. The table was slated to dispatch on 16th September, pretty much a month later. It was a long long wait, but since I liked the product I waited and waited.
When I dint hear from Pepperfry around the 16th Sept, I followed up with them over phone to check on the status. To my disappointment, the product was not ready for dispatch. Another dispatch date of a week later was given, I was also told that the product would take another week for shipping and to arrive at my home in Bangalore. So basically another 14 days of wait.
There was no communication from Pepperfry’s end confirming the new delivery date or informing on the delay. If I would not follow up, Pepperfry would very conveniently leave me in dark.
My fears had come back, I constantly thought how I had ignored all negative reviews and still gone ahead thinking my delivery cannot get screwed. And it did at all levels.
More than 14 days later, there were still no signs of the product, And then I receive a call from Pepperfry’s Mumbai office, that my product has been damaged. Damaged?
I was asked if I would like a refund? Really. how . what happened? No correct answers were shared, couple of days later I was informed the product got wet( even after packaging) and the wood was swollen. There was no way of fixing it so I had no option but to accept the refund. Heartbroken, I asked the lady to drop in a mail, confirming the whole scenario. Never received any.
A week later checked with the executive on the refund, to my horror she says the product is still in transit. I ask her to check again, finally I am told the refund would be initiated now. Refund was to be credited in the account in a week’s time.
Check again a week later, refund was still not initiated? Excuse. system error. Refund is again initiated, as always I again ask for a mailer, but receive none. And then today, a week later, I am again told the refund was not initiated the last time? Excuse. system error. I completely loose it, this time, fire the executive and demand the refund and mailer immediately.
I have received the mail confirming the refund, but have to wait for another week to exactly know if this ordeal is over. I simply want to receive my money now and never hear of Pepperfry again.( and of course, block Pepperfly mails and delete the in numerous promotional junk mails)
If you have patiently gone through my whole experience, would advise you to please stay away from Pepperfry. I had to come ahead and write all this down, so that nobody goes through such a shopping experience again.