When Amazon launched their operations in India, I had high expectations from them since they claim to be the authority, the numero uno when in comes to e-commerce. It was with this faith and trust that I placed a few orders with them. Little did I know that soon all my trust and faith in Amazon was about to be shattered.
I have placed quite a few orders with them in the last few months and every single time they have failed to deliver on time. Worse, they blatantly dish out false promises and try to mislead customers into believing them.
To cite an example of their delivery services, an order dispatched on 12th October 2014(and placed even earlier) was delivered on the 27th of October 2014. When other etailers like Flipkart delivers most of their orders within 2-3 days, Amazon took 15 days to deliver one order. Not to mention the numerous emails sent to them and hours wasted in chatting with their customer service execs in the interim. Every time I spoke to their customer support team, they assured me that the order would be delivered within the next 2 days, but it never was. THEY LIE AND DECEIVE customers.
The ordeal just doesn’t end there. Their return and refund process is as pathetic and lame as their overall service. I tried cancelling an order within them within minutes of it being dispatched and the customer support team told me that since the order has been shipped, it cannot be cancelled. They will wait till the order reached the local courier office, then they will ask them to ship it back to them and once the order reaches back to them, they will refund me the money within the next 4-5 days. So, going by their delivery and(expecting an equally lousy) return timings, I will have to wait for over a month to get my money back. The money which could have earned me an interest had it been in my bank account for so long and in the same process, Amazon is raking in huge money just by holding on to the refunds for so long.
My point is, once I have cancelled the order, Amazon should refund me the money immediately, irrespective of whether the item is returned back to their warehouse or not. They have dispatched it through THEIR preferred logistics partner and I have no role to play in getting the item back to their warehouse. Then why the hell should I wait for so long to get my money back. What if it takes forever to get the item back to their warehouse, what if it gets lost/ damaged in transit. Does this mean that I will have to wait forever to get my money back? Seriously Amazon?
Comparing this to Flipkart, I can cancel an order even after it has been shipped and they refund me the money right away. They know that just as it is THEIR responsibility to ensure delivery of an order to customers’ premises, it is also THEIR responsibility to receive it back to their warehouse. They don’t hold on to customers’ money till the item reaches them back. That’s the professional approach to doing business.
The last order I cancelled is worth over 7000 rupees, which means that I won’t get to see that money for another month or so as that is how long it would take Amazon to get the item to my city and back from it to their warehouse.
Talking about choice of Logistics - They have appointed some of the least preferred logistic companies of India, namely Gati. I had never even heard of Gati before I started shopping on Amazon and btw, did I mention that I have been shopping online for over 10 years? Never even had I received an order through Gati. This courier company is highly unprofessional to say the least and their entire delivery and tracking system is plagued with errors. I have attached a screenshot from my orders page, which shows how long it took Gati to deliver this order to me and notice how long it stayed with them in the Kolkata center before they resumed the delivery process.
To sum it up - AMAZON INDIA IS BY FAR THE MOST UNPROFESSIONAL, UNETHICAL, LOUSY AND DISGUSTING ecommerce service I have encountered in my whole life.
If you are in India and want to shop online, avoid Amazon like a plague unless you’re fond of chasing people for giving you something you deserve and like being mislead and deceived. If you want top class e-shopping experience, go to Flipkart. And for the record, I am in no way, shape or form related to Flipkart or any of their vendors. I just admire their services and consider them to be the best etailer in India. Period!
My condolences to those who have placed their orders on Amazon India. It will be an experience worth remembering and I can only hope and pray that you get your orders or your money back as soon as possible.
Avoid Amazon - avoid headaches!