Nov 28, 2019 11:34 AM
2047 Views
(Updated Nov 28, 2019 04:28 PM)
I had purchased a book on Amazon which is an Indian reprint of an American title. The pages were photocopied and not bound properly, so I wrote to O'reilly about it. O'reilly has been really supportive in forwarding my feedback mail but Shroff publishers did not take it well.
This was my mail to O'Reilly:
"Hello
I've been a regular reader of a lot of tech books published by oreilly but the recent indian versions are horrid to say the least. They are photocopied versions of the originals. I am sorry to say this but I for one have completely stopped buying the grayscale reprints because they are shabbily xeroxed and bound together.
Could you please let Shroff Publishers know that they are ripping customers off?
Regards"
This was Shroff's response:
"Your mail was forwarded by O'Reilly to address your concern.
Please let us know which titles you are referring to? As far as we know, we try to give the best quality books in India. If you are reviewing the books on Kindle and then assuming that all O'Reilly books are in colour, then please note, all Kindle versions and ebooks are in colour, but the print versions of most of the US prints too are in grayscale, there are only a handful of color titles.
Also, we are printing our contact details and email ID in the Indian reprints, so customers can contact us in case of any issue, but your mail directly to O'Reily gives an impression that you are holding some grudge against us and purposely writing to OReilly to malign our reputation.
If there was any substance in your complaint, then you would have listed the original US editions of O'Reilly books you have purchased till now and highlighted, how many of these were in colour.
Shroff have been associated with O'Reilly since 1992 and offer the best quality books amongst Indian publishers and find it amusing to read mails from people like you making false claims without submitting any proof or evidence to prove that we are offering photocopied versions"
This is the attitude they give to customers who spend their valuable money to get worthy titles. They have used phrases like'people like you' - seriously, which customer service executive writes mails like this?
Of course, I wrote them a lengthy email with all the proof I have- photos of the book. I have seen other books of theirs being reviewed on Amazon, and I am not the only person shouting! I also attached photos of the amazon reviews. Post which they came back with an apology that was hardly sincere:
"Regret if you felt the tone of our mail was offensive, but your mail to O'Reilly was quite vicious and hurting as we try our best to maintain decent quality. Your experience was with just one book out of the 3, 000+ books we have published, if you check Amazon, most of the Shroff/O'Reilly books have 4/5 stars with positive reviews.
This was one of the colour books we printed in grayscale as the colour print was not viable for the market. We cannot satisfy everyone and people who have given reviews have the right to complain, but they are forgetting that if they are buying Rs. 3, 000 - 4, 000 books for Rs. 1, 000 - 1, 200, then they have to sometimes compromise and accept low quality. Amazon return facility is for this very reason, you do not like the product, return and then you have the choice to buy the US Colour Print for Rs. 3, 000 - 4, 000.
We once again apologise for your experience."
They still called me vicious! I mean how much did they know of me to make judgments like that? That was it. The worst customer service experience from a publishing house.
I do not recommend them at all and will never buy from them.
