I purchased a samsung galaxy S2 from this site(Order no: - LSB-371246) on 9th Sept, and it was delivered to me on time on 12th evening. However, within a few mins of unboxing the product, I noticed there was a manufacturing defect - there were pixel breaks happening on one side of the screen. I immediately notified the customer care by email about the issue since it was post 9 pm, and followed up by a phone call to the customer care next day morning(13th Sept’11). I was asked to share the snapshots of the fault(which I did so prompty), and was told that the concerned department will be contacting me regarding the resolution within 24 hours. However, there has been no calls or even email communication forthcoming regarding this issue from Letbuy.com.
I have made numerous calls to the customer care regarding the issue, and each time I was told that issue has been escalated to the "Concerned department" and I would be contacted within 24 hours.
More than 5 days have passed since I notified them about this issue, and I am yet to receive any communication by mail/phone regarding what action is being taken to resolve this problem.
Their total apathy and complacence and inaction on their part to act upon the complaint(Complaint ID CC110911985) thus far has been a complete shocker.
Trust and good faith goes a long way when it comes to shopping online. I can understand that sometimes the Product Shipped may have some faults(due to manufacturing defects, and yes, I am now also reconsidering my s2 purchase. For a product that expensive, you wouldn’t expect such defects) but atleast you would expect the retailer to act quick and address the grievance immediately. But, given the experience I have had thus far dealing with Letsbuy.com, wherein there has been zero communication and total inaction, and just being constantly fed stories of inefficiencies of one department or the other being the reason for the delay, I would strongly recommend anyone against the usage of this site.
The mental agony and the amount of effort(time and money) in following up is just not worth it even if there is a good offer.
Samsung’s official partner for online purchases on the S2 website was Letsbuy.com. And that was one of the reasons I purchased from this site thinking that in case there is an issue with this expensive purchase, they would be trustworthy and would be quick to address it.
Now that I have faced an issue, and the way it has been handled, I can only imagine what might happen for some of the other products that they are selling.
All in all, It’s been a terrible customer experience, and would strongly say that this site is avoidable given the experience I have had.
Updates from Sept 17th, 2011
Finally after 5 days of following up on emails and phones, and getting no one to call me back, after this post of mine came up on Mouthshut.com, I was finally contacted by one of their executives, who introduced himself as being responsible for Social media, and that he is now on top of this and will help me in getting this resolved ASAP, and will call me back soon with the next steps.
However, the experience post that has been the one of the worst I have had in my life ever.
True to his word, he did call me back(Surprise!). I was called back around 2 pm while I was having lunch, and told that in order for the pickup of the defective product to happen, I had to get a service certificate to be obtained from the Samsung service centre for the defect, and that I need to do this before 3 pm if I want them to initiate the pickup the same day. First of all, I am aggrieved about the defect, and now I was expected to go 6 kms to the nearest samsung service centre to get this certificate and that too against a tight timeline. When I confronted him about the inconvenience of me having to go and get this certificate, rather than Letsbuy.com taking the initiative and getting this resolved, I was told that it would be take them longer compared to if I go and do it. However, nonetheless in order to bring this experience to a close at the earliest, I decided to go ahead and get the service certificate myself and finally get rid of the faulty product which I had been stuck with for the past 5 days.
If this was the process to be followed where in I have to run around to get service certificates, why couldnt they have just informed me earlier 5 days ago when this issue got notified to them?
After waiting for half hour at the service centre for my turn, finally when I got to the front of the line, the SAMSUNG service executive tells me that they can’t issue a DOA certificate now since more than 4 days have passed since date of order. I contacted the Letsbuy customer care again around 3-4 times while I was there and made them talk to the service exec. The customer care executive then assured me that they had finally agreed and would issue me the service sheet that was required. They had a look at the product, saw and agreed with me about the defect. However after 10 mins, the manager of the SAMSUNG service centre(Intouch services at BTM water tank, bangalore) refused to issue me a certificate without actually going ahead and servicing the product.
All that they had to do was to certify that there was a defect(Which is very evident and which they also agreed). However, with complete disregard to my grievance, they were hell bent on servicing the product(which would imply revenue for them from SAMSUNG for the case.) Servicing the product would also imply that the defective product will not be REPLACED for a straightforward DOA case by Letsbuy.
Letsbuy.com then agreed to pickup the product without the certificate and then would followup with the service centres to get the certificate.
I have finally got them to pick up the defective product around 6:30 pm yesterday, and with no firm commitment from them in terms of the timelines when I can expect a replacement to be delivered or get my refund.
SAMSUNG website for S2 claims that it is powered by Letsbuy.com. One would assume this would imply quick action and addressal of any grievances that might come up.
For an expensive phone, there was a severe defect in the unit that was shipped to me. On top of that, neither the service centre of the manufacturer nor the retailer wants to take ownership and resolve the issue on priority.
There has been severe incovenience caused to me this week in terms of monetary loss on account of the numerous STD calls I have had to make, the unproductive visit to the Samsung service centre in the peak of a saturday afternoon, effort in terms of both time and energy spent in following up, and also mental agony caused by having to deal with numerous executives from both Samsung and Letsbuy.
Updates from Sept 21st, 2011
NO DELIVERY YET! Now, its ARAMEX who is taking the delivery all across bangalore but not delivering it. Their whole Service chain is so faulty by design itself. IF you get a good service, then one should consider yourself lucky then.
Update on Sept 24th, 2011 - Finally received the phone as well as the cover in 2 part shipments after more followups. Glad the 2 week ordeal is finally over.
It’s been extremely disappointing and very unfortunate that I have had to go through this, and will never ever wish for anyone else to have to experience this again.
Regards,
Sushil