Snapdeal - snaps money through deals

What happened?

Almost a month back I had placed an order with Snapdeal for a pair of sunglasses, which on the looks of it seemed a very good deal but only to realise that it was not so when I got it delivered.

 

It looked really cheap, the sun-glasses sold by road side hawkers are better than these. I returned it immediately, and they returned me the money in the form of Snapdeal cash (Basically once you transact with them you have no choice but to part off with your money with them)

You may click this to reach the deal.

 

At the same time I placed another order for a watch (Brand: Breo). Thankfully the brand has a website, so seemed to be a genuine one.

Below was the watch for which I placed the order. I placed the order on 8th April and was expecting it to get delivered atleast in a week's time.

 

If you notice the below screenshot there are three things which I want to highlight

 

1) Delivery

2) Price

3) Refund

 

Delivery

Now if you see they claim to deliver the product in 3 business days, so expecting it get delivered in a week time is not asking too much.

 

 

I placed the order on 8th April

 

On 11th April I got the below SMS

 

On 16th April again I got another SMS

 

I dont know if I should be irritated for the continuous delays or be glad about being intimated promptly about it.

 

On 25th April I called them again to know status of my order and then they tell this sweet news that the order was cancelled. I told them that I havent received any sms stating so, to which he said that they dont send sms when an order gets cancelled.

 

Now,

-> When an order is placed you get an sms

-> When it gets delayed you get an sms again and again and again (dont know when it ends..may be with cancelling only I believe)

-> When the order gets cancelled you are not told anything because you are no more a concern for them

 

The reason they state for cancelling is the vendor is not able to deliver the product so they have cancelled and they were suggesting me to place an order for something else.

 

Now if the reason was to be believed why is the deal still listed on the website, is it some gimmick to cheat more customers?

 

The deal still exists. You may click the link to reach it.

 

Price

Coming to the second most important aspect any customer would be interested in.

They say the actual price is 2699/- and they are offering it at a price of 1619/- which is like 40% percent discount. Sounds like snapdeal is only for charity.

 

Below is the original listing on the brand's website

 

It costs $31 and with shipping charges of another $13 it comes to $44 so if you convert it into INR at 54/- it works out to be 2376/-. This is the price I will have to pay if I have to order as an individual. Also I am assuming it to be from UK, while Breo has HongKong also as center.

Overall I dont think the deal is any great.

 

Refund

Finally refunds.

I was very disappointed about the cancelling of the order. I was eagerly waiting for the watch as I wanted to give it as a suprise gift but SNAPDEAL spoiled it all. Also my previous order for the sunglasses was also delivered late. With this experience I told them to return the cash which was in their account. To which they say that they dont have any policy to return money to customers, instead they suggest me to buy something else.

This Trustpay is also another reason to get fooled.

 

When I know the product quality is bad, the delivery is going to test your nerves and there is no refund policy why should/will I buy anything from Snapdeal. When I demanded them to return my money multiple times, because I dont want to deal anything with them, the executive escalated(upon insisting) it to his senior, who told that the request has been taken and closed the call. I was pleased that it was happening but again the next day they tell me that it is not possible and suggested me to buy another product.

 

Hmm.. now all I can do is just write about it.

 

If I were to be the CEO of the snapdeal, I will definitely implement the refund policy. This shows how much confidence I have on the products I am listing. Also, a customer who is duly refunded an amount might even come back to make more purchases because he knows his money is secure.

 

My suggestion to all my readers. Think before you transact. These days everyone is coming up with an ecommerce venture.

Snapdeal started with just a deals website copying groupon and now I feel it has lost it's focus and is copying ebay. No wonder if they copy facebook also creating a social networking platform also.

 

Below is my rating on Snapdeal.

 

Delivery : Worst of All (Takes more than 10 days to deliver any product) (Flipkart is better)

Service  : Pathetic (Takes minimum 3 calls to reach an agent)

Quality  : Dont get fooled by looks of the product (Groupon is better on this aspect)

Price : Its no big deal.