Sep 15, 2018 08:14 PM
39008 Views
I placed an online order on https://amazon.in(Order # 406-7928646-6275519) on 17-Jul-18 for purchase of an American Tourister suitcase. The seller, who is located at Baroda dispatched the suitcase without the warranty card and other cards/brochures that come along with all “new and original” American Tourister suitcases.
In my opinion, the seller wanted to cheat the customer i.e., me right from the beginning, on the basis of my following observations:
1.In my opinion, the seller dispatched me a used bag/suitcase, as it was a little bit soiled on the bottom, which I noticed only when I was bubble-wrapping it, to be returned to the seller.
2.It is my opinion, that the seller would have thought, that if the customer is either inadvertent or in a hurry to travel, he will accept the used suitcase as it is.
3.The fact that the seller was not able to send the warranty card/other cards/brochures along with the suitcase despite making a formal request for the same proves beyond doubt that the seller had sent a used suitcase/bag, with the intention to cheat, as every “new and original” American Tourister suitcase comes with the aforementioned cards/brochures, and this fact was confirmed by sales personnel of American Tourister outlet of Borivali, Mumbai.
Secondly, on accepting to take back the suitcase, the seller only wanted it to be delivered by Indiapost, however, when I wrote to the customer service email address of https://amazon.in which is cs-reply@amazon.in, the customer service executives/agents intervened and gave me the option to return the suitcase through courier, and in turn, they would refund me the charges incurred on the same. The charges would be substantial as I am located in Mumbai, and as mentioned above, the seller is located at Baroda.
Accordingly, I sent a mail to the seller and the customer service email address mentioned above, making it clear that I shall be sending the suitcase only through courier service and not by Indiapost, as sending it by Indiapost would be inconvenient for me, as they do not offer home pick-up service, and it would also entail additional transportation costs from my residence to the post office. The seller did not respond to my email address, however, the customer service executives, once again assured me that whatever costs I incur would be refunded to me in full.
On dispatch, I once again wrote to cs-reply@amazon.in that I have dispatched it through DTDC courier service, and the return shipping charges amounted to Rs. 2, 607/-. All along I was assured by customer service executives of https://amazon.in, that I shall get the refund of the same.
On receipt of the suitcase, the price of suitcase i.e., Rs. 4, 337/-, was promptly refunded, however, the seller refused to refund the return shipping charges of Rs. 2, 607/- that I had paid to DTDC couriers in cash.
However, despite the seller’s refusal, the customer service executives of https://amazon.in assured me to refund the amount from their side, and gave me the option to get the refund, either by way of a gift certificate or by way of NEFT transfer to my bank account. Giving due consideration to the following points, I chose to get the refund by way of NEFT transfer to my bank account:
1.As I had made the aishwaryasingh23ment to the courier company by way of cash, it would only be sensible to get it in the form of refund in the bank account. Had I made the aishwaryasingh23ment using gift certificate or reward points, it would have been a different story.
2.As I was cheated once, (please note that I was given a suitcase without a warranty card and other cards/brochures/branding material. Further it was a little bit soiled on the bottom.), I was wary of making another purchase at https://amazon.in. Please note that the seller “Agarwal Enterprises” is still present on https://amazon.in, and he sells different items apart from suitcases. Moreover, he might be operating using different names.
3.Gift certificate has an expiry date.
However, all of a sudden the customer executives took a complete U-turn and informed me that refund by way of a bank transfer is not possible, even though I have their emails, which prove beyond any doubt that they have gone back on their words. I tried to escalate the matter, however, as you may be aware that there are not many avenues to do that. They do not have a nodal/regional/country head of customer service who can look into the matter and make amends to the misdeeds of their lying customer service executives. Also, by forcing me to accept the gift certificate, https://amazon.in are forcing me to make further purchases on their website, get cheated again, and in the meantime increase their profits.
