JUST ANOTHER CON?. Review on Medlife

JUST ANOTHER CON?

When my regular source for “Pedigree adult dog food” ran out of stock last May, I did an online search for this product.

Among the results I got was the following(This is a direct Cut-Paste from the google search page):

Pedigree Adult Meat & Rice Dog Food - 3 KG

₹ 473

Medlife

Free delivery

This was the lowest price I could find online for this product, so, I visited the Medlife website on 07 May 2019 and placed an order. And about 20 days later, I placed a second order for the same product on the Medlife website.

In the meantime, Medlife had started inundating my cellphone with promos. And one fine day, I received a Survey questionnaire from Medlife, for answering which I was promised a reward. After completing the survey, I received a message informing me I had won a 25% discount on my “next purchase in Medlife”, and giving me a code to use.

So, the next time I visited the Medlife website and placed an order for Pedigree dog food, I applied for the discount, using the code I had been given. I got a message stating: “Enter a valid discount code or gift card.”

I sent in an email, asking why I was unable to avail of the discount that I was entitled to. In response, I received an email telling me that, “We would like to inform you that Pinhealth is just a part of Medlife. So an order placed from Pinhealth will not be applicable for coupon codes or discounts which you can avail from medlife.”(Sic)

“Pinhealth” apparently is an arm of Medlife. It is tagged online as “Pinhealth by Medlife”, and one can place orders for a range of health products, including monitoring devices, “multivitamins”, “pain relief” products and “diabetic care” products. So, as the above email response to me itself states, “Pinhealth is a part of Medlife”. And if Pinhealth is a part of Medlife, then why should I not get a Medlife discount on what is bracketed as Pinhealth orders(like “Pedigree adult dog food”)?

I wrote back, asking(I quote): “If Pinhealth is a part of Medlife, then how is it that a discount awarded for completing a Medlife survey is not applicable on Pinhealth - which, as you confirm, is “a part of Medlife”? This seems to me not just illogical, but unsound reasoning.”

I made two additional points: One, that I had accessed the product(Pedigree) and put it in my shopping cart via a search on the Medlife website: https://medlife.com/MedicineSearch?

Secondly, I pointed out that, since I had previously bought only Pedigree adult dog food via the Medlife website, and the Medlife survey was sent to me as a two-time buyer of this product via the Medlife website, the discount legitimately applied to me.

I also pointed out the contradiction in, first, stating that “Pinhealth is a part of Medlife”, and then seeking to disconnect the two by saying that the discount applied to Medlife and not to Pinhealth. I stated, “Being a part of something means being an integral component of a whole, so on what grounds do you deny me the Medlife discount on what is termed a Pinhealth order? Are you trying to play me for a fool?”

I cautioned that, if I did not get a positive response, and one that conformed to logic and common sense, I would share my experience with the online community.

All I got was a deafening silence. I am therefore sharing my experience on mouthshut.com. Medlife shares this in common with most corporate entities: that they will resort to all kinds of gimmicks to get what they want from their target consumers – including information obtained from surveys. Often, they do this by promising rewards which they then decline to hand out, on one pretext or another.

I had been considering ordering my regular monthly(medical) supplies from an e-tailer, but after this deceitful practice by Medlife, I will definitely not be placing my orders with this e-tailer!

I will add that, despite my opting on the Medlife website not to receive any more notifications, Medlife continues to send me an increasing number of nuisance-value promos. All that they care about is the bottom line.

With consumer courts loaded to straining point, websites like mouthshut.com are offering a much-needed service. Consumers need to make the time and effort to use such sites because it is only when enough consumers publicize the questionable practices of the corporate sector that it will grasp the fact that it cannot get away with fooling “all of the people, all of the time”. If we want integrity in the corporate sector, we need to fight every inch of the way. It won’t happen if we only fume in silence.