Promises are made to be broken. Review on Flipkart

I ordered Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini from Flipkart on 3 December 2013. My order number is OD31203031653. The product was shipped for the destination via Ekart logistics within 3 hours of order as per the status displayed to me on website.

On the next day, the shipment reached the nearest hub(as per display on flipkart.com). The product was purchased in an offer that allowed a 5% discount on display price and additional 10% cash back from my SBI credit card. Duration of this cash back offer was till 10 December 2013.

Seeing the status of order I was hopeful that Flipkart would be able to surpass the promised delivery date of 9 December. However the status kept unchanged on the website. I called Flipkart on 7 December and asked regarding the status and was told that in 48 hours the shipment would be delivered.

Subsequently I called Flipkart on 9th December and again the customer care people told me that they shall be able to deliver the shipment within next 3 days. A point to be noted here is that this customer care person was not aware of my discussions with Flipkart on 7 December 2013. So it seems that Flipkart does not keep record of promises they make.

Finally On 11 December after expiry of SBI card offer my shipment was cancelled and refund was promised to me. In the apology mail from Flipkart they wrote that sales tax people held shipment and hence the same was not delivered to me. They also wrote that they were unable to arrange the replacement as the products were currently out of stock with them and also that I use notify me option so that I can know whenever product is available with any of the sellers. Another point to be noted that the product is continuously available on Flipkart. Infact on 11 December there was 10% discount and a 10% AMEX offer on the same phone, same color, same seller!

I could have understood that there might be some problems with delivery but cant accept any wrong information. Its a matter of value system. Since I cant do anything else so this review is to make consumers aware of my experience with Flipkart.

Updated Information As on 03 Jan 2014:

Within 2 days of posting the above review a lady(Pavithra) from Flipkart Bangalore called me apologized for inconvenience. She also tried  to pass a credit of 500 points to me which I could redeem on next purchase of same phone from Flipkart. I clearly told her that I dont want to enter into negotiation and if you really want to support/satify customers then you should reactivate the order/get me phone at same price with same promotion. She told it is beyond her control and would talk to her supervisor. Subsequently she called two or three times informing me that price is+500 than what I paid and with 500 points I could get it at same price. I adviced her again and again that there was a promotion that entitled me a 10% cash back on the quoted price( 10% of Rs.21778/-) still somehow she always used to forget this critical detail.She always told me that I will check and come back.Around 24 December she called again now with her supervisor on line and they repeated the same story of 500 points. Further on advising her supervisor of the promotion he told we will come back after checking. I told him keep on checking and take your time btw already you have been checking the same for one month now. I think to fetch details about order including promotions involved should take much less than a month.

Result of all this efforts:- Already dissatisfied customer became more and more dissatisfied. Finally I have purchased phone from a Leading Ecommerce website who have recently launched their operations in India at a higher price. But I got the phone quickly without all such troubles.