Have you ever been to a typical Indian goverment office to get some work done? Or have you been to any branch of a government bank located in some obscure remote village?
If yes, then you must have seen the coordination(or the lack of it?) amongst the staff. Mr. X says something else - and Mr. Y says something other - usually contradicting Mr. X.
Maybe not always, but 90 times out of 100 - you will face this situation.
Fortunately, I didn’t have any hassles with https://shop.rediff.com, but I would definitely like to highlight their way of working - and the **ZERO coordination between them and their vendors**.
*28 August, 2007** - I ordered for the book "One night at the call center" through Rediff shopping. Prompt email acknowledgement of payment receipt and registration of my order within 12 hours. They also give the contact details of someone from Rupa & Co.(the publisher of the book) for any queries.
*3 September, 2007 - Book delivered to me at my office address!*
*Now, the readers might be wondering why the hell is this stupid fellow writing this crap as a review?:-)
Read on. The fun begins now.
*15 September, 2007** - I receive an email from rediff shopping saying - "oops, your order has been delayed. We are sorry to inform you that your order number 4075461 has been delayed. Please bear with us".
*25 September, 2007** - I receive another email from rediff shopping having exactly the same contents as that of the mail received on 15 September, 2007.
After that, absolutely no communication for a long long time. I was not bothered as I had already received the book and had already read it at least 5-6 times by that date:-)
*20 October, 2007** - I receive an email from them saying that - "Dear Sir, your order number 4075461 One night at Call Center has been delivered to you. You should be receiving it within 4 working days. Please contact Rupa & Co. at 011-xxxxxxxx in case of any queries"
*26 October, 2007** - I receive yet another email from rediff asking me to post feedback on my shopping experience with Rediff. And voila, **they don’t allow more than 255 characters in feedback**! Also, my feedback hasn’t appeared yet on their site - maybe after 3 months, they might show it:-) Will post the link as soon as I see it.
So, this is the state of affairs at rediff shop.
ZERO coordination between rediff and its vendors. Just see the datelines, even 2 months after I have received the book, they have no trace of the status of delivery.
Just imagine your plight if there is long delay in the delivery of your order - there will be practically nobody to whom you can address your complaints! Worse than a sarkaaree office.
Given my first and probably last experience with them, I will never recommend this site to anyone.
Shop at your own risk, and just pray to GOD that your order gets delivered without any hassles.:-)