How Infibeam.com and DTDC swindled me...

I’m a huge fan of buying on Amazon.com.

Note that I say Amazon.com and not “online shopping”.

I’ve shopped on Amazon since 2001 and have come to love the “Amazon Experience” – be it the artificially intelligent auto-bot that makes buying recommendations based on my past purchases and of others that have bought items similar to the ones that I have, or the ability to track a package as it moves through a complex logistics run, or the manner in which the price-up/price-down information of items that I intend buying are displayed when I log on.

Most of my World Cinema DVD collection (running into a few hundred disks) was purchased in the US and as international shipments on Amazon and http://www.moviemail-online.co.uk/ (another excellent online shop that I’d recommend).

In a decade of shopping over Amazon, I have only twice not received the DVDs that I’d ordered for. During both these instances, when I filed complaints with Amazon, they shipped replacement DVDs to me over International Express Courier (which probably cost Amazon twice the MSRP of the DVDs themselves). No questions asked.

So when Indian companies such as Infibeam and Flipkart proclaimed themselves to be Desi avatars of Amazon, I was but naturally interested. My purchases on these sites over the past 18 months have primarily been books. Almost all my orders were fulfilled without incident.

Emboldened, I decided to shop for a 32GB Flash drive on Infibeam.

The nightmare began.

Read for yourself and decide.

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From: Rajeev Balakrishnan

Date: Tue, Feb 15, 2011 at 6:33 PM

Subject: COMPLAINT ----- Regarding my order

To: customerservice@infibeam.net, css.co@dtdc.com

Hello,

 

I am writing to Infibeam and DTDC after calling and having a conversation with associates on both sides.

 

I had ordered a 32GB Sandisk pen drive (USB) from Infibeam via Purchase Order: 7845932 and Order ID: 16440984.

 

The order was delivered to my office security today by DTDC with shipment number Z31888965.

 

Before opening the package, I noticed that one end of the cover had been cut open and pasted back using cello tape.

 

Since the cover clearly states that the package should not be accepted if tampered, I have not taken possession of the package.

 

On feeling the cover closely with my fingers, I can sense the original packaging inside the package but not the hard plastic shell of the USB pen drive.

 

I am appalled with the terrible customer service from Infibeam and DTDC and would like a quick refund of my money.

 

I am traveling out of town from tomorrow (16th Feb) till 22nd Feb and will not be able to check and take delivery of another package from Infibeam/DTDC.

 

Please make immediate arrangement to pick up the package and refund my money.

 

Thanks,

Rajeev

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From: Rajeev Balakrishnan

Date: Wed, Feb 16, 2011 at 10:19 AM

Subject: COMPLAINT ----- Regarding my order

To: dtdcco@dtdc.com, dtdcho@vsnl.com, css.co@dtdc.com

To the concerned official,

 

I have again spoken to Mr Abid (9246501920) at DTDC this morning regarding this - he has refused to have the package picked up because the security at my office signed for it.

 

I have tried calling the Branch Manager Mr. Ranjith (9392481952) multiple times, but he is not picking up my calls.

 

Rajeev Balakrishnan

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From: CSS.CO@dtdc.com

Date: Thu, Feb 17, 2011 at 3:41 PM

Subject: COMPLAINT ----- Regarding my order

To: Rajeev Balakrishnan

Dear Sir/Madam,

We refer to your mail, highlighting the difficulties you have encountered with regard to your consignment and regret if our service standards have fallen short of your expectations.

We have forwarded a copy of your mail to our concerned officials with a request to investigate your complaint, we request you to kindly bear with us, we will respond to you.

In the interim, we would like to thank you for bringing this matter to our attention, as it is feedback such as yours, which enables us to improve our services.

We do hope that we are able to restore your faith in DTDC.

Thanking you,

Yours faithfully,

for DTDC Courier & Cargo Ltd.,

K.Shivan

Customer Support Executive

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From: Rajeev Balakrishnan

Date: Thu, Feb 17, 2011 at 9:03 PM

Subject: COMPLAINT ----- Regarding my order

To: CSS.CO@dtdc.com

Thanks for your response.

 

You mail does not identify what the solution is - I have lost INR 2600 in the transaction.

 

Who is to be held responsible?

 

Rajeev

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From: CSS.CO@dtdc.com

Date: Sat, Feb 19, 2011 at 5:51 PM

Subject: COMPLAINT ----- Regarding my order

To: Rajeev Balakrishnan

Dear Mr.Rajeev,

 

In continuation to our earlier mail, our investigations with our concerned offices reveals that the said consignment was booked in good condition and delivered in the same condition without any remarks on the Delivery Run Sheet.  

In this regard, we would like to inform you that there is an option of booking all the valuables in open condition which will be checked at the time of booking and at every point till it reaches the destination, which we are afraid that the same was not utilised in your case and in such cases, it becomes very difficult to pinpoint where exactly the service failure has occured if any, as the consignment moves through different hands in linehaul.

This is for your kind information.

We regret if any inconveniences caused to you.

 

Thanking You,

 

Yours Faithfully,

For DTDC COURIER & CARGO LTD.,

K.Shivan
Customer Support Executive

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From: Rajeev Balakrishnan

Date: Sat, Feb 19, 2011 at 11:14 PM

Subject: COMPLAINT ----- Regarding my order

To: CSS.CO@dtdc.com

Mr. Shivan,

Thanks again for your response - however, your email fails to take into account the following "facts".

My phone number was on the shipment - your delivery person did not call me before making a delivery. Is this your standard procedure - especially when the shipment is being delivered at an office address?

Or is it merely your modus operandi to pass off damaged/stolen shipments to unsuspecting customers?

The shipment was received by the security guard. As soon as I got the shipment in hand, I had called the DTDC contact numbers (Mr. Abid/Mr. Ranjith) and was first told that the shipment would be taken back by a representative of DTDC.

When I called them subsequently to find out why they had not sent the representative, I was met with a very rude "it's not my problem" response from Mr. Abid.

I can only presume that:

1) You are stating that I am making a false complaint

2) You are aware of pilferage of the shipment and are passing the blame to me over a technicality

3) You are plain unwilling to be responsible for the contents that you take money to ship

I have lost nearly INR 2700 due to DTDC's negligence and I intend to pursue this to its logical conclusion. The packet still remains unopened and if necessary, I will make a police complaint and have a forensic examination of the package conducted to trace any leads.

Rajeev Balakrishnan

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From: Rajeev Balakrishnan

Date: Sat, Mar 12, 2011 at 10:03 AM

Subject: COMPLAINT ----- Regarding my order

To: customerservice@infibeam.net

It has been nearly 4 weeks after I wrote this email and called Infibeam customer service on phone several times.

I have lost INR 2600 for trusting Infibeam and doing business with you.

I have not received a single call from a customer service call after repeatedly being promised of action.

Infibeam, you are just another online fraudster.

Rajeev

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The email trail went cold here.

About 6 weeks back, I posted another grievance message (vented my fury and called Infibeam a fraud) on Infibeam.com at http://www.infibeam.com/deal-of-the-day.html. A customer service rep called the same night, profusely apologized and promised that the product would be shipped to me within the week. Of course, Infibeam didn’t have the b@!!$ to record the conversation on email.

Net Result: NO response from Infibeam till date. I was left defrauded and poorer by INR 2600/- .

Final Warning: I have purchased tens of books from Infibeam. They were all delivered in good condition and on time. This was my first attempt at buying a non-book item. The experience was a nightmare.

Moral of the Story: Books shipped via courier services are not worth stealing. The same cannot be said of other products. Beware!

The Verdict: Comparing one’s online business to Amazon is easy. Setting the Amazon standard and following it is another. It requires vision, sincerity, honesty, reliable business partners and above all the belief that the customer is the one who keeps you in business. In all of these aspects, Infibeam SUCKS!

Epilogue: My wife recently gifted me a Kindle 3G eReader (an excellent Amazon product). My frustration with Infibeam and Flipkart (my Flipkart experience – coming soon as a blog post!) have kept me off Indian online stores for more than 3 months now. These days, I prefer the lightning-fast download of a book on my Kindle 3G (even if it is a tad more expensive) than spend my money on businesses that operate without any notions of integrity.