Highway robbery by the con comapny https://100bestbuy.com
A few days ago, busy with life as usual, I was surprised when an unexpected barrage of calls from a telemarketing agency calling on behalf of a B2C eCommerce portal https://100BESTBUY.com kept pushing for me to patronize one of their offers which I was even chided into believing to be a blink and miss offer.
The telemarketeers, calling from nos which I now have gathered is a call centre based in Gurgaon, explained of a deal wherein a state of the art new mp3 player device made by a US company(yet to be launched in India) with a price of INR 9000+ in the market(All these were the actual words used by the person calling.) would be offered to me from https://100BESTBUY.com along with a 2GB memory stick, a gift coupon and a 50% cash back voucher for only INR 1035/-. All I needed to do was accept the offer verbally and then they would deliver to my doorstep and accept payment COD(Cash on delivery)
All went fine, I accepted the offer and went about my routines. Exactly 2 days later, a well packed box arrives at my doorstep by BLUE DART. Since I wasnt at home, my mother who accepted the parcel called me to enquire whether i’d placed any order online. I confirmed I had accepted a deal made to me by https://100BESTBUY.com(A representative of the company made the deal) and asked her to inspect the package and verify the contents. However she was disallowed to open it without making the payment and was even told that if she did open the package, it could not be sent back(Strange logic!). So she paid the amount and took the delivery and the package sat there till I got back the next morning and opened it to discover to my astonishment. A big 12x12x12cm carton( Why I mention this is cos its uncanny for such a big carton to be used to pack a product that would fit in a space 10 times lesser. Maybe the size of the carton is a part of the scam to lead you into believing that u have actually got your promised product!) containing only a piddly cheap chinese made mp3 player( I verified online that this particular product wasnt even worth INR 150) and a 2GB memory card. There werent any gift coupons nor any 50% Cash back vouchers in the box. The entire package was not even worth INR 300!
I was terribly ashast and angered on being cheated, that too in these modern times, by well establised companies that are resorting to such corny tactics. It seemed a well planned operation by the company and its representatives to con unsuspecting people like me who use the internet daily for commerce and sadly said has put me off trading on the internet having left in me a very bad taste.
Since then I have written to the customer care of the said company and even marked a mail to its CEO! but, Silence is golden and not receiving a reply from them only confirms their role in this scam and also their care a damn about customers attitude.
I am a well educated urban individual, street smart and not the type to succumb to the scores of scamsters who try to make a meal of unsuspecting people. Yet, I fell prey to this highway robbery and while its not the loss of a certain amount of money that frustrates me, its the fact that such modern day thieves are openly going about their business as usual conning people and destroying an upcoming e-commerce industry by killing peoples faith in it.
I advise all those reading this post to be vary of such fraud agencies and companies.
Pls safeguard yourselves from such heists!
P.S. I am yet to hear from the company and its representatives. No clarification received till date!
Rohan Sequeira