Online Shopping India : My experiences

I wanted to write for a long time about online shopping. Before I do so, I would like to confess I am a shopaholic who at times tries to justify incessant shopping by renaming the addiction as 'retail therapy'. Moving on..

Well my first online shopping experience was from the site which I believe is the 'Leader' of the pack i.e. Flipkart.

Yes, when I said shopaholic, I didn't just mean tops and dresses. I meant EVERYTHING.

Undoubtedly Flipkart is one of the best when it comes to customer service in both literal and figurative terms.   Not only have a I shopped by the 'cash-on-delivery' system, but also by card. And here comes the reason why I want to write something about 'Online shopping'.

It has been more than a year since I have shopped, gifted and received gifts for friends and from friends online. I find it really easy because it saves me a LOT OF TIME.

Best online sites on my list are:

• www.flipkart.com (for books, gadget accessories)
• www.jabong.com (for tops and dresses)
• www.zovi.com (for cosmetics)
• www.myntra.com

While Jabong and Zovi were the first ones I tried, Myntra was the latest that I added to my list. And must say, again fast and good. They deliver what they claim.

Now coming to my bad experience. First let me mention the name of the sites

• www.medplusbeauty.com 
• www.yepme.com

While for the first four, I could easily order, cancel and solve card issues caused due to gateway clogging by calling the customer service (e.g: I didn't receive an email confirmation from flipkart for a pre-ordered book, I just had to call and I received the email and the sms both within an hour).

Medplus was a TENSION. I had ordered via card for a lipstick and 2days post placing the order, when I tracked I was delighted to see that my order was shipped that very day itself!! 'Yay!'.

Or so I thought. 4days later when I tracked, the same thing happened. First call to medplus customer care, 'some technical default' (felt like I was talking to another telecom operator), the girl said she will give me a call in 10 minutes and 24 hours passed while I waited. Next day again I had to call, this time I was a bit rude, because my money was on stake, so finally I received an apology over phone and was surprised that 5 days post placing the order online, my order was actually dispatched!! I received what was ordered 10 days post the actual date of me ordering online.

Myntra ->ordered, cancelled, called the customer service, confirmed the cancellation and received an email from them. As smooth and fast as the above single line.

Myntra is a notch above, because they not only sms you the date and time of delivery, you actually get a call from the courier service people to let you know 'exactly at what time they will deliver the parcel'. THUMBS UP.

Same goes for flipkart.

YepMe. I want to request www.yepme.com that before they come up with an ad on the television with Cyrus Saahukar vouching on their services, return policies and fastest delivery system etc etc., 'ONE OF THE NUMBERS MENTIONED IN THEIR SITES FOR CUSTOMER SERVICE WHEN CALLED SAYS 'Please check the number you have dialled'

Do I need say anymore about my 7 days of tension regarding my order? Oh before I forget, the second number which works is always 'BUSY' (for obvious reasons).

If that is not all, then i came through a major technical glitch. Since I had such a hard time with yepme tracking my order, I mistakenly entered another docket number in their courier service site and to my utter suprise I was seeing the order some man from South India whose order was cancelled. I knew his name and address!! WOW!!

So if anybody else did the same mistake as me, then well YepMe and their courier system will be able to help knowing about shoe sizes and addresses of total strangers all over India!! Do I want that?? NO.

With 'innumerable' other online shopping sites in India fighting to create their own brand value, I have realized that you can trust only the leaders who started the rage of online shopping in India.

Honestly my latest tryst for online shopping with the last two sites and my horror for doing the same made me think I should let others know what I know.

I am sure that it is not always bad for medplus or yepme, but seriously first impressions for a few not-so-lucky like me can be very dangerous.

PS: Online shopping is like buying from proper shops like flipkart, jabong, myntra and zovi or from 'street shops' like medplus and yepme. 

So SHOP AT YOUR OWN RISK. 

Poulami