Most of my online purchases of computer hardware over the past 15 years or so have been without any major hassle. But it seems the latest two are going to be different.
The two shops involved are computechstore.in and mehtabrothers.in. I enquired about these two sites here at TE before ordering from them and the consensus was that they are reliable sources. I'm not blaming anyone here for the issue I'm having, just mentioning that they are not acting as expected. This is what's happening:
Computech: I placed an order amounting to ~54k on the 15th May (one week ago) but they have neither shipped it nor responded to the several emails I sent them.
A bit more detail: I had an extended power outage right after confirming the order but before I could make the payment. I sent them an email the next day asking if my order was still valid. They said it was and told me to go ahead with the payment. I paid immediately. Then they ignored all my subsequent queries.
Mehtabrothers: I placed an order for a PSU (~7k) on the 13th May (9 days ago). My attempts to pay kept meeting with an undefined issue, so I opted for COD. They too have neither shipped the product nor replied to my emails.
In both cases, my orders are clearly shown on their respective websites. I still don't believe that these two shops are outright scammers. I just think that they lack knowledge of proper business practice, courtesy and a sense of moral obligation.
By contrast, when I ordered something from elitehubs.com in March, one item was out of stock. They quickly and very courteously contacted me by phone and by WhatsApp. After some discussion, they offered an alternative model (a good one) at a discount. I accepted and they dispatched everything within a few hours.
Some readers may want to know if I've contacted the two sites by phone. i haven't -for two reasons:
1. I know from 50+ years of dealing with Indian merchants that many of them will say and promise anything on the phone but cannot be depended on to follow through. So I usually try to have everything in writing.
2. I don't speak Hindi and sometimes have trouble understanding certain Indian accents.
The two shops involved are computechstore.in and mehtabrothers.in. I enquired about these two sites here at TE before ordering from them and the consensus was that they are reliable sources. I'm not blaming anyone here for the issue I'm having, just mentioning that they are not acting as expected. This is what's happening:
Computech: I placed an order amounting to ~54k on the 15th May (one week ago) but they have neither shipped it nor responded to the several emails I sent them.
A bit more detail: I had an extended power outage right after confirming the order but before I could make the payment. I sent them an email the next day asking if my order was still valid. They said it was and told me to go ahead with the payment. I paid immediately. Then they ignored all my subsequent queries.
Mehtabrothers: I placed an order for a PSU (~7k) on the 13th May (9 days ago). My attempts to pay kept meeting with an undefined issue, so I opted for COD. They too have neither shipped the product nor replied to my emails.
In both cases, my orders are clearly shown on their respective websites. I still don't believe that these two shops are outright scammers. I just think that they lack knowledge of proper business practice, courtesy and a sense of moral obligation.
By contrast, when I ordered something from elitehubs.com in March, one item was out of stock. They quickly and very courteously contacted me by phone and by WhatsApp. After some discussion, they offered an alternative model (a good one) at a discount. I accepted and they dispatched everything within a few hours.
Some readers may want to know if I've contacted the two sites by phone. i haven't -for two reasons:
1. I know from 50+ years of dealing with Indian merchants that many of them will say and promise anything on the phone but cannot be depended on to follow through. So I usually try to have everything in writing.
2. I don't speak Hindi and sometimes have trouble understanding certain Indian accents.