I’m a very active online shopper and I have shopped at almost every website in India. You name it and I have tried it. I recently bought samsung galaxy S3 for my wife and galaxy note 2 for myself on the 30th of October. I was in US when I ordered the product and was supposed to fly back on the 3rd of nov. The next day I got to know that because of the hurricane my flight via new york might be cancelled so I called up Infibeam and asked them to cancel the order and refund my money. They said that there would be a cancellation charge of 10%, which made me really angry.
One, they wouldn’t have procured the product in night to make me pay cancellation charge and plus they should understand a customer’s situation. When I am stuck in someting like the hurricane the least I expected Infebeam to make me pay the cancellation charge without a reason when they haven’t event procured the product. After several international calls and long waiting times to speak to their customer care executives they told me that my money would be refunded within two days. the next day I checked their website and they had shipped the order. there was no one at my address therefore the product would have been reverted. I called them up and I was again reassured that my money would come back to my credit card in a matter of days. I was able to take my flight after that and I reached India.
I called them up again on 5th nov and to my horror they told be that I can only get infibeam credit and not the refund. This was really disappointing as I have never faced this situation before with any website where the retailer locks your money in and does not give you the freedom to shop. Honestly I would have bought the cellphone from infibeam again even if they had reverted the amount back to my credit card. I have to leave tomorrow for Singapore and on monday I asked them if they would be able to ship the product within 24 hours(as they claim int he product details) then Im planning to re order else I will fight for my money and buy it from an outside retailer. the executives promised me that they would ship the product within 24 hours. I called them up 10 times and got a different message each time, they have no clue whatsoever as to when the product would be shipped and someone told me a couple of hours, some told me next day and some told me a couple of days. I was furious and after waiting for a day and a half, I requested for cancellation. but again infibeam being infibeam, clueless and inefficient told me that I will have to wait for 24 hours to get a confirmation on how much money I would get back.
Which was funny and shocking even when they know its their mistake they are not ready to commit that they would refund my money, for every query they have to run to their ’concerned department" who might be a bunch of useless fools and take 24 hours to respond. I mean how hard is it to check my case and tell that it’s their fault and they would refund the money to my credit card. Now an executive promised that their won’t be any cancellation charge and I would get my money. Another told me that their would be a cancellation charge. I wanted the phone badly as my previous galaxy note has died down and I’m using a very basic phone on which I can’t check my emails. I’m a very busy person and it’s important for me to check my mails on the go. Therefore I need a smartphone, but Infibeam has made it really awfully insane for me in the last couple of days.
I shopped at infibeam as I had heard about it and they were offering prices lower than flipkart. There were other websites like indiatimes, shopclues which were selling the product at 3000 less than infibeam, but still I chose to go with infibeam as I had faith in their dealing. I have been terribly disappointed and would never ever shop again with these bunch of frauds and cheaters who do not respect a customer and his time. I know that they cant compare themselves to flipkart by any stretch of their imagination. Here are a lot of reasons why you shouldn’t shop at infibeam:
They apply cancellation charge on every transaction. They call it procurement charges, but they would charge you even if they have not procured the product.
There customer care is useless. You would be lucky if your transaction flows smoothly. If not, then you are stuck with no resolution. The customer care won’t committ to you for anything(Shipping time, refunds) they would always go back to their "concerned department" who need 24 hours to respond.
the customer care would not follow up. The customer care committs to calling you back but they never do.
they would committ to you something and completely cahnge their words. there is no accountability for customer care. The conversations are not recorded and you have no way to prove that a conversation happened and they have a habit of going back on their words.
There is no escalation point. Just imagine what would you do if you are in my situation. There is no one else to approach, no authority over customer care.
the customer care is not able to take any call. for anything you will have to wait for 24 hours to get a response. they cannot co ordinate with their backend team or the supply chain team so they are pretty much useless. The best they do is listen to you patiently when you are shouting or ranting.
They do not keep their commitments. A product which mentions a 24 hour shipping is not shipped within days also.
You would be lucky if your transaction flows smoothly, but god forbid if there is a problem with your purchase, be sure that you are doomed. no one would be able to help you and you will end up going in circles. Just imagine is it worth saving 1000-1500 bucks. I have learned my lesson and I’m ready to pay for "reliability". Instead of giving the customer freedom of choice and empathizing with him and his situation they try to rip you off. I’m not ranting and being irrational, in case you want prooof I have recorded some conversations with their executives and would be able to point out the inconsistencies. I come from a family of lawyers and if they don’t return my money, im for sure making them pay thrice on account of harassment.