When online grocery sites started advertising their services in Mumbai, I decided to try the most prominent i.e. bigbasket at least for bulky standard branded items that one needs to buy regularly.
Up until last month bigbasket was good on deliveries with some reasonable promotions every time I ordered and I did find it very convenient not having to lug heavy items from local supermarkets and groceries. Though otherwise I do prefer looking at groceries before selection and I have never purchased fresh produce like vegetables and fruits online, nor do I ever intend to do so.
The last two orders with bigbasket were complete disasters. They were supposed to deliver on May 1st at the selected time slot. I was not at home so I had left the money with the maid and assumed it had been delivered as I got a delivery sms. An hour later while I was still out, I was called by bigbasket customer service to inform that my order was not delivered as their truck broke down(allegedly) and was it okay if they changed to two days later at the same time. I was disappointed but agreed, after all every organisation can have glitches, it is perfectly normal.
I got an email with the revised date but the wrong address. They also said that some of the items I had ordered were out of stock. I could not find any option to correct the address on their website so I called the helpline but it kept ringing out or was busy. Eventually I found a customer care email address and pointed out the mistake. They still did not correct it so I got fed up and cancelled the order.
A week later I placed a new order. Yet again there was no delivery and this time no message either. I called their helpline and the person who answered had no answer, he said he would check and call me back. No call back. I then got an email with a new date a couple of days later and again saying some items are out of stock. I realised that bigbasket has some problems with its deliveries in Mumbai so I emailed them to cancel.
The point is that one orders online for convenience. It is NOT convenient when bigbasket repeatedly fails to deliver and unilaterally changes the content of the order and the date of delivery. This is inconvenience
All these years I have bought my groceries from the market and in person. I am happy to go back to the tried, tested and infinitely more satisfactory practice.
No more bigbasket and other online groceries for me