Sorry Sunlike* I am not a street fighter at my age maturity is one thing one acquires.
Happy flying.
Sai

Do you see any reference to street fighting, maturity or age in my previous comments
You yourself bought up something that you had accepted as your fault and apologised for.  

Just got email from FK:

QuoteDear Anand,

Greetings from Flipkart!

We regret to inform you that the product "Align T-REX" you enquired about is currently out of stock and hence all the orders made for this item will be canceled.

We request you to use the "Notify Me" option on the product detail page to receive an e-mail notification once the product is back in stock.

If you have already used this option, please be assured that we will send you a notification once the item is available.

so i guess everyone who placed the order will get nothing .

don't want to offend FK fans, in my case orders were cancelled, money refund will take 7-10 days, some bank rules mumbo jumbo, (While paying it is instant and while refunding 7-10 days, didn't understand this, could someone enlighten me) and absolute discourteous operators, experience with Flipcart was pathetic to say the least

PS
This has nothing to do with me getting, not getting align trex, in fact all along i was prepared for a sticker. what an unprofessional organisation

Finally got a call from Flipkart to inform me that it was a bum deal and that they are willing to 'compensate' me (for all my good Samaritan efforts and yadda yadda yadda to help them realise that they had made a mistake yadda yadda yadda). They offered me a Chinese RC heli (I wasn't interested in the details) at a 10% discount  .

« Reply #50 on: June 29, 2012, 01:04:57 PM »

In case if anyone was influenced into buying this 'scamcopter' from Flipkart due to my above enthusiastic post, I apologise to them. I took their words for granted and believed in their promises. Sorry.

Good to hear this and its funny that Flipkart tried selling another helicopter instead of sending the refunds right away...and may be some discount coupons to be used later !!!!

If i was the owner of Flipkart I will simply call VC and inform and apologize about the mistake and make arrangements for refund and also may be a discount coupon for "inconveniences" caused... but here they were trying to sell another cheap Chinese RC heli...hahah...they still have to learn customer service ethics !

Quote from: ebinmoothedam on July 06, 2012, 12:29:29 PM
Good to hear this and its funny that Flipkart tried selling another helicopter instead of sending the refunds right away...and may be some discount coupons to be used later !!!!

If i was the owner of Flipkart I will simply call VC and inform and apologize about the mistake and make arrangements for refund and also may be a discount coupon for "inconveniences" caused... but here they were trying to sell another cheap Chinese RC heli...hahah...they still have to learn customer service ethics !

That is EXACTLY what I had told them. Ebin, I didn't know that you were eavesdropping into my telephone conversation with them! 

Quote from: ebinmoothedam on July 06, 2012, 12:29:29 PM
Good to hear this and its funny that Flipkart tried selling another helicopter instead of sending the refunds right away...and may be some discount coupons to be used later !!!!

If i was the owner of Flipkart I will simply call VC and inform and apologize about the mistake and make arrangements for refund and also may be a discount coupon for "inconveniences" caused... but here they were trying to sell another cheap Chinese RC heli...hahah...they still have to learn customer service ethics !

If it were Best Buy/Comp USA/etc, they would have been Sued by Align by know. Apart from full refund to all customers and free coupons/goodies as compensation. Again as I say:

'Customer is not GOD in India. He is DOG'.

Wish they open FDI retails so these unethical Desi sweatshops get some real International competition.

Did I mention Infibeam trying to sell Dremel 300 at jacked up MRP tags, and much costlier than open/local prices shop. If they think they have any other USP than managing to give at least 15-25% discount than local prices, they are living in wonder land.  They would perish more faster than they rose, in a over price sensitive market like India.

Quote from: VC on July 06, 2012, 12:23:02 PM
They offered me a Chinese RC heli (I wasn't interested in the details) at a 10% discount  .

This is not done. I believe in every Customer Support operations the front guys are entitled to give some percent or amount discount to complaining customers. I have personally experienced it with AirTel and Jaquar.

We are far from seeing a zappos CS culture in India (http://www.zapposinsights.com/). Personally I don't believe it will happen ever.

If we leave aside online shops for a while, I have never seen a regular store with support or buying experience comparable to Western standards. Can you imagine store cleaning staff or porters pushing you around in a US store like they do here in Big Bazaar. I dont know why but I do not expect same quality of service from them.

On the other hand, I can't imagine a Walmart or Costco offering a 6 months "No questions asked Return Policy" in India. It can not work here. I have personally seen many desis in US taking undue advantage of these customer friendly policies.

We cant blame online shops alone for poor customer services. Customer service is a process for them with some SOPs and things are not going to change until the businesses starts taking CS as culture. They have to realize that it is the support that makes all the diffrence and repeat customers is key to them. They can not sustain by buying online ads and bringing traffic to their websites without making repeat customers.

Quote from: amit_delhi on July 06, 2012, 02:32:18 PM
We cant blame online shops alone for poor customer services. Customer service is a process for them with some SOPs and things are not going to change until the businesses starts taking CS as culture. They have to realize that it is the support that makes all the diffrence and repeat customers is key to them. They can not sustain by buying online ads and bringing traffic to their websites without making repeat customers.

Amit , do you realize that we mostly pay in 'Dollar Equivalent ' and many time twice/thrice for items from Onions to LCD TV  and Lunch Buffet to Nike shoes in India ? Even if we take account for items assembled outside and and duties etc, at least indigenous items should be fairly priced ?? So if the seller still enjoy Fatty Margins of 15-60% , its not a favor that they give CS (Customer Service) in return for the hard earn money we pay.

Today the CS at MNC food chain is better than so called Indegenious Restros. If you find a fly/hair in your Papa Jones Pizza, you can expect a replacement, but not in your Hyderbadi Biryani/Dosa/Vada/Pulav.

Maybe the CS with RC LHS is better in most cases due to close knit community.

Quote from: ujjwaana on July 06, 2012, 02:57:31 PM
Maybe the CS with RC LHS is better in most cases due to close knit community.

There are other factors involved apart from close knit community.

1. RC LHSs process roughly around 100 orders per day with the help of say 3-4 guys. To scale it to 10000 orders / 500 support personnel is a different game altogether.

2. In RC LHSs there are very less products compared to general online shops. RC LHSs have specialised technical know how of the limited products and a feel for the hobby.

3. There is a instant feedback from satisfied and non satisfied buyers on different forums, so they care about their reputation among buyers.

In case of online shops:

1. In online shops support personnel try to increase their number of incidences closed. They get incentives on the number of incidences they have closed (not solved). Mostly they do not care whether a customer is satisfied or not. They get commissions for up selling products.

2. For most of the products they have not used or even touched them, forget about having specialised knowledge, they only know whatever is written about the product in front of their computer screen.

3. There is no feedback from buyers, they own their customer forums and remove whatever they don't like. There is no regulatory body to govern them. No or very few customer forums.

Quote from: ujjwaana on July 06, 2012, 02:57:31 PM
So if the seller still enjoy Fatty Margins of 15-60%

2-3 days back I was in need of a USB thumb drive, so I went to a nearby store and bought a Kensington 16GB for rs. 550. The MRP printed on that was rs. 1500  . In Nehru Place (big computers market) I can find the same for about rs. 100 less. So we are talking about 300-350% margins here.

I completely agree what ujjwaana said "Maybe the CS with RC LHS is better in most cases due to close knit community."

But in case of Flipcart or other online shops just imagine a scenario. I am a small-time entrepreneur without credit card living in a small town of Barabanki (dummy) and I want to read a book "The Da Vinci Method - Break Out & Express Your Fire" by Garret LoPorto. What would I do?

Option 1. Wait for my next visit to nearby Metro city, search for a shop selling this book and buy from there or
Option 2. Go to flipcart or any other online shop selling it cheaper and buy from them using COD.

What would you choose?

Disclosure: [I am not a Flipcart fan-boy but a online shopping experience fan-boy. I work for a business selling services online and after 10 or so years being in this business we totally realised the fact that Customer is supreme, Customer is very clever, you can not take customer for granted if you want to sustain in business, everyone will realise it sooner or later]

Quote
Option 1. Wait for my next visit to nearby Metro city, search for a shop selling this book and buy from there or
Option 2. Go to flipcart or any other online shop selling it cheaper and buy from them using COD.

It all depends on how you expect others to treat you or what customer service "you / we" expect from the online portals.

Case 1

Barabanki  bhaiya will buy the book from FlipKart, unless he cannot find the book in Barabanki local book shop and that Barabanki has internet connection to login to Flipkart.

But when he realizes that the book is not what he will be getting, but its just few pages of the preface...he tells flipkart guy about the mistake they have made...and the flipkart guy offers him the book GODFATHER with 5%...Barabanki bhaiya unhappy  and says the customer service is bad.

Case 2

Barabanki  bhaiya will buy the book from dedicated book shop (LHS), after asking how many pages in the book and even may be to the shopkeeper that if he himself has read the book Barabanki  bhaiya will touch and feel and smell the book before buys and is happy about the "customer service"....and shop keeper is happy that he made some one happy who shares his similar passion...

My point is, the customer is always the king everywhere, but they are not treated like a king by everyone.

Giants like flipkart earn too much money that they do not care or want to invest in monitor customer satisfaction levels and to drive up or train the staff and management to take measures to keep all the customers happy...because they are huge and its nothing for them if few customers hold the grudge against them...

LHS ....are small and passionate and they can only sustain if similar passionate customer come to them and they will make every step to keep them happy.

Its upto us to realize that we are a close knit community of RC enthusiasts and we should only buy from dedicated RC online shops. If flipkart  or anything like that brings an RC product, cheaper than local guys, its our duty to inform local guys about this and still if they cant sell it cheap..then get from the giants...I believe the local dedicated sellers sustain because of us.

I hope what ever I wrote is in the correct context which is about flipkart giving wrong information, then withdrawing the "offer" and cross selling another cheap item.

A book is a BOOK, will remain 360 pages no matter where you buy it. This may be out of context. For me I dont feel the need to touch and feel and smell the book, I dont know if others do. Dont compare apples to oranges. I am talking about a BOOK.

The other point everyone already agreed "LHS ....are small and passionate and they can only sustain if similar passionate customer come to them and they will make every step to keep them happy."

@amit_delhi - ebinmoothedam  only elaborated the example given by you. Why you are taking it seriously.
You said you are in a business selling services online then how come you are spelling Flipkart as Flipcart .

This indicates I am not a Flipcart or Flipkart fanboy  , its high time we start taking these things seriously.

yes, i was just elaborating the example given by amit_delhi... 

also flipcart or flipkart...it does not have "RC" or "Hobby" in it...and shouldn't be even a the topic of such a big discussion in RC forums..unless they offer free align trex 450 to every registered memebers of rcindia 

if rcbazar or rcdhamaka or similar sites starts selling watches or cookers or tooth paste along with rc helis and planes, then i will come back to this thread...

over and out 

Just to point out, Flipkart doesn't have COD everywhere. Till a couple of months ago, COD in Kolkata was restricted to non-electronic items. Now though I see they have allowed that. And I know a friend in one of the neighboring towns near Kolkata, who tried to buy a book through COD but was unable to do so, as they do not have COD there. However, things might have changed now.