To all prospective buyers of flipkart.com.
Electronic items in flipkart.com is a shame. They sell the products through merchants whose credibility is a BIG QUESTION MARK.
I bought a Thrustmaster gaming console worth Rs 5099 through flipkart.com. Order No - OD31223003150. The order was booked on 23rd December and delivered on 26th December 2013.
There was no invoice with the order. It was just a packed box. The merchant from whom I bought through Flipkart was 5 STAR SERVICE.
As per the their policy, it had a 10 day replacement warranty. Interestingly, the same product right now in Flipkart has a 30 day replacement warranty(merchant WS Retail). The console stopped working after 20 days of purchase. When I called their helpline, they said it cannot be replaced as it had crossed the replacement warranty phase. I asked for the service centre for the product. The poor call center chap was not able to find it and the call got disconnected.
I contacted Flipkart on their Facebook page. They said they will look into it. Within 2 days of posting I got this reply from them - "We regret to inform you that the dispute raised by you has been settled in favor of 5 STAR SERVICE. We apologize for any inconvenience and disappointment this might have caused."
Well disappointment, surely it is and a BIG one. My question to the Flipkart people, do you do a background check of these merchants before allowing them to sell products on your?
There is no guarantee that the products shipped by the merchants are brand new and not repaired products. Are there any checks?
I am sure you do audit your merchants and their products but whatever process you have in place for these checks does not seem to work currently.
Please remember that buyers like me buy products from Flipkart because of the "Brand Flipkart." These type of merchants and their products do not add value or rather deteriorate/eliminate the confidence people have in buying products online.
Currently this merchant 5 STAR SERVICE has 64% positive reviews. That means 36% negative or neutral which is 1 in every 3 customers dissatisfied or neutral with their service. But this buyer is happily selling its products in Flipkart. I am sure there will be customers like me who have faced similar issues with Flipkart.
Some customers have commented very negatively on their website -
"The most awful seller",
"Very late delivery. Not sure the problem is with seller or Flipkart or the logistics. Still not delivered",
"No it wasn’t good m not happy wid my product cz it was fine on online screen but it wasnt like dat in reality"
I hope Flipkart goes through their customer reviews very seriously.
Thank you Flipkart. I apologize for any inconvenience and disappointment this review might have caused."