Flipkart Customer Service - The Worst Nightmare!. Review on Flipkart

Till a few days back I, like many others, was a repeat customer of Flipkart. Having ordered multiple items over a span of last 5-6 yrs, I always thought of Flipkart as a “good” company.

But I could not have been more wrong. The harrowing time which I have faced over the last one and a half months with a mis-shipped product has brought their reality to the fore.

I had heard and read about the brick-instead-of-phone stories multiple times but never thought it could happen to me. But lo and behold, Flipkart had other plans.

I ordered a Seagate 1TB hard disk(order no OD109164971766443000) around 16thMay 2017 as a surprise gift to one of my relatives in Faridabad. It got delivered on 18th May 2017. I called them up to check up on the gift and guess what – a JBL headphone was delivered instead.  And I was the one really surprised.

Now the harassment starts:

1. I call up Flipkart call centre – narrate them the issue. They say “we are very sorry for the inconvenience caused. We’ll correct it ASAP…”.

I asked for a replacement. The executive checks and tells me that the seller does not ship to the pincode in Faridabad!

To which I ask how was the order accepted in the first place? And the executive had no answer.

But she assures me that the backend team will get the HEADPHONES picked up and refund the money. I ask for a request/ticket/incident ID. She says they don’t generate that. It would be available in the call records.

1. I went out of station for a week. When I came back the product was still not picked up. The pick up “WISHMASTER” had come but he wished for a HARD DISK and was not ready to pickup a HEAD PHONE. He said he had no directions/email from the HQ to pickup a HEADPHONE.

   
   




2. I call and enquire on 29th May 2017. Same parroted line …“We are very sorry for the inconvenience caused. We’ll correct it ASAP…”. In addition they tell me it is a manual process and the back end team need to send email and legal team gets involved and yada yada…

   
   




3. Steps 2 and 3 are repeated at least 6-7 times. Every time a HARD DISK is expected to be picked up. I call back, at my wits end, explain the issue again and again get the same parroted output along with the addition “your issue has been escalated and would be resolved within the next 2 working days”

   
   




4. Frustrated and realizing that I don’t have any proof of this unprofessionalism, I start writing to them and, surprise surprise, even after 1.5 months of countless mails, hours of calls, and follow-ups there has been no resolution till date

   
   




5. In fact the icing on the cake was the last customer interaction which I had. He was some hotshot customer care executive from the Bangalore HQ. He told me that it would take another 3 days for resolution. On prodding him as to why the issue not been resolved in over a month, his answer…. “We checked and the seller shipped the Hard disk”. I was speechless for a moment. Then I asked him “Are you calling me a cheat?”. To which he said “I did not say that”.

   
   

I realized that there is no point in talking to such people anymore and lodging a consumer complaint would be the only solace. And so I asked for a written confirmation. To which the HQ hotshot replied – “would be provided in 24hrs”. It has been over 5 days and no written confirmation. At least in unprofessionalism they are consistent.

Also, I must give a shout out to the diligent customer care of Flipkart. Some salient features of their service:

1. Same parroted line over and over. And nothing else worth of value

   
   




2. Need to explain the issue over and over again to every person

   
   




3. Ask for escalation and the supervisor/senior is never at his/her desk

   
   




4. Demand escalation  and you might be transferred to a colleague

   
   




5. Demand escalation and then you would be told that you would receive a call from the senior folks within 2 or 24 hrs(depends on the mood). And you guessed it right – the elusive call never comes

   
   




6. To meet their KPI’s/SLA’s the written complaints are closed with some innovative reasons, like “You decided to keep the(mis-shipped) product”

   
   




7. Some, like the HQ guy, are absolute gems – downright boorish, rude and arrogant

   
   

Such magnificent customer care Flipkart. Hats off!

This no longer is about the money. It is just that how these companies treat their customers hoping that they won’t or can’t hit back and they have no choice but to keep getting oppressed and continue to remain their valuable customer.

Anyways, learning’s from this fiasco:

1. Don’t order from Flipkart if you have other options. For similar priced products ALWAYS go for AMAZON

   
   




2. If you must order from Flipkart, take COD and check product for mis-shipment right on delivery

   
   




3. Despite all the hoopla Flipkart still has a really long way to go

   
   

PS: A similar issue was resolved by Amazon within a week. And Flipkart here is the example for you to learn from – they refunded the amount BEFORE picking up mis-shipped item. This is called caring for your customers and believing in them and perhaps this is what contributes to “Customer Centricity”. Not just some random slogans/ads and parroted lines.