I have been shopping at Rediff for over 5 years. Most of the time I have had bad experiences. I always try to shop for things that are not easily available at malls.
Many a times, I have got goods that I did not order for or goods that do not work. In India, banks do not charge back if the quality of service or the goods delivered are bad. This one reason is sufficient to put off people from online shopping.
Recently, I booked (April 14, 2008) an AV cable for my iPod. The seller (Ojjas Enterprises (Amazon), Mumbai) sent me a video game kit!! I sent a mail to the seller, no response, called him, no response. Later I wrote to Rediff, asking several questions, the only answer I got was that they will arrange to replace the product. I was told to return the product and they would give me shopping credit that I can use for shopping other goods. I did that, spending 80/-. I got the credit immediately. But what is the point in shopping credit when most of the stuff available at rediff and their sellers are cheap, rotten chinese goods, that obviously do not work?
I was fortunate enough to get the actual product that I had booked. But the process was not as roasy as it looks in words, I had to several follow-ups. As I mentioned earlier, these seller sell Chinese goods and obviously they do not work. The product that I received was no different. I wrote back to Rediff and as usual they asked me send that back and they will give the shopping credit. I protested and told them that I do not want shopping credit to buy more rubbish Chines stuff. They arranged to pick up the stuff from Aramex. One person called me from Aramex and told me that a perrsonwill come any time during the day to pick up the stuff. I scolded him telling him that my wife can not wait for him at home for the whole day, knowing ver weell that these people very rarely keep their words. If they tell that they will come on a particular day to pick up the stuff, surely they willnot turn up. After a lot of delay, one person showed up and picked up the stuff.
My surprise, I got the same stuff back after a few days, with REFUSED onthe package. Why did the seller refuse it? Rediff has no answer. I wrote to Rediff again, they said that they will arrange to pick up the stuff again. In the meanwhile, I got a call from Rediff asking why I am writing to them!! I asked what do you mean, you have such rouge seller who do not respond, whomelse I will contact. The lady on the phone said that I had told Rediff earlier that I will deal with the seller directly. Which sane person on this earth will do that after experiencing that the seller does not respond.
After the sutff was taken back for the second time, Rediff told me tthat they will arrange for a replacement. I told them that I do not need a replacement, because it will also be a Chinese product and it will not work. I want refund. I got the refund on 8 July, 2008, that is almost 3 months!!
In the meanwhile, I had 80/- of shopping credit. What do I buy with this? Is there anything available on Rediff site that is worth paying for? I booked a bundle of DVDs. I did not get them even after 2 weeks, the excuse, the seller is out of stock. HAS ANYBODY HEARD OF BLANK DVD SHORTAGE IN INDIA? Finally, I got the DVDs in a very shoddy package of some unknown brand called AKARI.
The description about products is incomplete at Rediff, mey be deliberate. Their effort towards customer service is best exemplified by the way they treat customer feedback. All the feedbacks are shown in a hapazard way in one place. Feedbacks are not shown below relevant products. How will be prospective buyers know about the product without this? Certainly, they canot believe what Rediff or the seller say about the product. Amazon does it beautifully and also allows users torate the feedback.
I have shopped at Amamzon in the UK. They take customerr service very serously. I had issues with sellers and I got response from them within hours of writing to them. In one case, I got the full refund and the seller for kicked out of Amazon (may be others also had complained). In another case I got 50% refund. When I had problem with mains charger for iPod, they gave me replacement at no extra cost.