In India, there’s a certain mentality that seems to be there. And it’s not customer is always right!
It’s about providing service. And unlike many companies who are totally head over heels about providing fantastic customer service, Indian companies are about providing least good service. Just a bit better than the competition.
Latest example I have seen is Infibeam.
They are an old player in online shopping in India. They’re more like Microsoft on online shopping, without deep pockets. Outflanked by competition and playing catch up. (Flipkart outdid them with better design. They have recently started improving.)
Anyway, I started ordering from Infibeam back in 2010 when PayPal funds could be spent in India. I did not have a credit card and they were only online shopping site with PayPal checkout. And in three year, I have not shopped much but I have placed 21 orders through them and have recommended them to many friends.
But I am not going to order from Infibeam ever. There has been a recent order that they serious messed up. On 22 May, I placed an order for iPad smart cover through them. It got a bit delayed but it reached me in first week of June. I had told another friend about it and she ordered on 22 as well.
While I have gotten my cover here in a state quite far away, she hasn’t gotten it yet. And it is not the fault of courier company. The cover has not yet shipped!
She has made at least 3 calls to their “customer service” and their response has been, “Ma’am, the order has been placed but it has not been shipped due to some reason. And we don’t know the reason.”
I have been patient till now but I asked the status yesterday that it has not yet shipped! What kind of online shopping company would do that?
The problem here is that I can’t seem to find the cover offline and most other companies have this:
Before this, I had ordered a smart cover from another company, which seemed a bit shady at first. I placed order and 2 days later, they called me to tell that the cover they were showing in inventory was not available! They refunded my money though.
Infibeam has been sitting on it and saying that it will ship in a day or two.
This has been really pathetic service from their end. I was pleased to get an order next day in May but after this, I am not going to order from them again.
Bye Infibeam, hope you are able to survive the onslaught from competitors who have better prices and design (and now Amazon is also here in India).