For those of us who’re left with little time to check-in to a brick and mortar store, online shopping might seem like a respite. But, wait — before you take a breather on seeing your order confirmed — for, the e-arena has become very dicey, and the stuff that is in your cart may not really reach your doorstep. While we document harrowing experiences of wide-eyed city buyers, here are ways to gauge the right site and make a safe purchase.
‘WAIT’, WHAT? While apparel e-stores have a notorious history of making a miss on deliveries; online services are proving to be real party poopers. Punya Poonacha, a 25-year-old, communications professional reveals a rather harrowing experience, “Housejoy! They stole my clothes that I had given for laundry, and they didn’t take any action for 15 days. I went on social media and spoke about their service and they blocked me and reported me to Facebook. Now, after a month, they’re harassing me for my account number because they want to give me Rs 1,000.”
DELAY, DELAY, DELAY!: Speaking of a similar harrowing experience, Nisha Sharma, who heads a content firm, shares, “I ordered online on this grocery store grovers.com. The order was placed on Thursday and we kept getting messages that it’s on the way. This went on till Sunday mid-morning. In exasperation, I tweeted about the experience on Twitter and they responded with the excuse that they had sent someone on Saturday but no one was at home. This was untrue as my mum was home all day and no one had called or rang the bell.” Enthusing how such a lackadaisical approach can pose serious issues, she adds, “Then they apologised and promised to look into the same. We got the grocery items half hour later. Imagine if someone was dependent on these items, they would have had to starve. At a time when online stores offer almost instant delivery, such an attitude is unacceptable.”
WHO’S CHECKING? Albeit the popular advertising and excess price slashes, popular food sites aren’t lagging behind. Akarsha Kamala, a filmmaker and content curator states, “Wanted to experiment with a restaurant, which had a delicious menu. The delivery time was 45 minutes. After the 45th minute when I called the customer care they said they are extremely sorry about it and checked with the restaurant. Meanwhile the tracking display on the app still displayed that the order is on its way at least half an hour away from my house. After about another 30 minutes the restaurant called me and said they will deliver it. My patience and hunger had run out. Swiggy said they will give me a discount coupon of 150 after I threatened to use the social media. I cancelled the order and I have tried to avoid Swiggy ever since. Swiggy also does not verify the quality and hygiene of the restaurant before enlisting it on their app. People like us have absolutely no idea because there are no reviews usually for street food restaurants.”
