Today I purchased a Samsung Note 20 Ultra worth Rs. 1, 04, 999/- from your Reliance Digital, Kaikhali, Satyam Tower store at Kolkata. I want to share my horrible experience with you as detailed below:
1.I went to the Reliance Digital store at Kaikhali, Near BP Poddar Institute of Management and Technology, Satyam Towers, Kolkata on 06/09/2020 at around 15:00.
2.I went in with my wife looking to buy a Samsung phone and was confused between either a Note 20 Ultra or an S20+.
3.Mr. Sandip, from Barrackpore, phone no. 8777044491, the sales rep. was there to attend to me. I had clearly told him my only two requirements upfront - a) Since I work in a Bank, that too a PSU Bank, where the close proximity and sheer volume strength of customers pose a threat of COVID 19 exposure, I always take extra care of my phone every day when I return from work like sanitizing and cleaning it. Hence I requested him that I would require a proper Tempered glass to prevent the sanitizer from touching my mobile screen directly and a case to guard my phone. b) Since I sold my old iPhone 8 plus via cashify and I got paid around Rs. 20000 in amazon pay wallet, I wanted to know if it is possible to pay using amazon pay wallet and the difference amount in the card. These were my two most important requirements which I uttered to him multiple times in front of all your other store personnel and mentioned that otherwise, I would not consider a purchase.
4.Mr. Sandip, being an excellent salesman that he is (or pretends to be), assured me several times confidently that both are very much possible. He also said he didn't have the tempered glass at the store but he will arrange it for me and take care of it. He also assured me that he will somehow transfer the amazon pay wallet to my bank account or through UPI and asked me to pay the difference amount.
5.After checking out the phones I had decided to see some more options at the Samsung store at City Centre 2 and after having a discussion with them who clearly mentioned that they were in no position to accept any mode of payment through amazon pay wallet, I had called up Mr. Sandip and asked him again at the cost of repetition whether it is possible to accept amazon pay wallet balance as payment and he kept reassuring me that it was very much possible and he will gladly transfer the fund to his own account and swipe his own card and pay the amount and rest of the amount I'd have to pay.
6.I had gone back to the shop since this seemed like a good deal for me and after wasting 3hrs more of my time, when I and my wife were repeatedly telling him that we have left our baby at home and need to return fast, he kept delaying us trying to call random people and asking for help regarding how to transfer fund from amazon pay to bank account. He involved several other store clerks whose names I don't know but he failed miserably. Meanwhile, he also called someone to arrange a cover and a tempered glass from elsewhere. After that, as I got up to leave and politely asked him to keep the tempered glass and I'll buy the phone from online and then will bring it for pasting the tempered glass, he started moaning and pleading to buy the phone from him and not online.
7.I had a talk with my wife and kinda felt bad that Mr. Sandip was trying so hard to arrange the tempered glass and tried his best regarding amazon pay (which he shouldn't have committed to being an expert of in the first place), I decided to purchase the phone.
8.Keep in mind and under consideration that this is a whooping 1lakh+ worth of phone. After another hour of waiting, finally, a guy showed up with a case and tempered glass was brought by another guy from Axis Mall street vendor.
9.After the payments formality the guy who called himself an expert on tempered glass placements as he said "he does this all the time as it was his job", recommended by Mr. Sandip, despite my several warnings that I wanted him to check the youtube tutorial on how it is done as they did not seem to be aware of how to place the glass, he went ahead and peeled the only layer of plastic that was covering my phone screen which at least would have guarded against sanitizer (refer to Pt. 3 a) and after trying for another half an hour of putting a glue-like substance on the phone screen and wiping it off with a cloth and placing the glass and not able to clear the air bubbles or having any idea with a UV lamp provided with the glass he finally gave up and admitted that he had no clue on how to place this glass as it was new to him.
10.When I protested and demanded they replace my phone as they had peeled away the only protection my phone had, they straightforwardly insulted me and told me that they can't help. As if buying a 1lakh+ worth of device is a matter of joke to them. They even said it is not our fault that tempered glass doesn't work as we bought from outside. I asked them then why I was assured of such service so confidently and why were false commitments made to me prior to the purchase.
Now the point of my long and awry post is to report as a concerned buyer that such is the ground level situation at your prestigious branded store which will ultimately tarnish the status and image of the store.
My two cents, DO NOT MISGUIDE AND STEAL FROM CUSTOMERS! Get rid of such unprofessional idiotic fellows and reconsider hiring someone better who has some decent knowledge of customer handling. Even I am a Marketing MBA and such employees pose a direct threat to company reputation often resulting in class action lawsuits and other consumer grievances.
Regards
A very dissatisfied and disgruntled customer
Pritam Dasgupta
