Review Amazon India - Feedback Thread

6pack said:
What should I do if I scheduled a return and the courier didn't show up?
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Speak with Customer representative, either (S)he will ask you to send at your own via Bluedart else if the item is small then (S)he will just give you a refund, But (S)he'll tell you what to do.
Happened with me once or twice.
 
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paarkhi said:
Speak with Customer representative, either (S)he will ask you to send at your own via Bluedart else if the item is small then (S)he will just give you a refund, But (S)he'll tell you what to do.
Happened with me once or twice.
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Thanks. Chatted with an Amazon rep and I got the pickup rescheduled.
 
The hard disk I sent for return was delivered the next day according to BlueDart tracking. Amazon is still showing waiting for return. Are they purposely stalling marking the item as received so they can keep my money for few more days?
 
Just noticed that Amazon Reviews section is a Complete Hellhole, Even Common sense & Logical reasoning doesn't exist, ignorance and confirmation bais to support terrible decision is the norm.

These Top reviewers are Nothing more then making profits off incentives.

There is No review in the first place,

step 1) give 5 stars and HD pictures

step 2) Iamverysmart, justify the purchase by being completely Biased

step 3) Try to find Issues but you cannot, Thanks to your suspension of critical Thinking.

step 4) People who brought the product will mark you as helpful to support the decision, completely ignoring their own experience and opinion.

Some Steelseries products like headsets are a Fine example of this, look at top reviews, I refuse to believe they actually tried to give a honest review, just a naive, biased Brand promotion.
 
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PHOENiX117 said:
Just noticed that Amazon Reviews section is a Complete Hellhole, Even Common sense & Logical reasoning doesn't exist, ignorance and confirmation bais to support terrible decision is the norm.

These Top reviewers are Nothing more then making profits off incentives.

There is No review in the first place,

step 1) give 5 stars and HD pictures

step 2) Iamverysmart, justify the purchase by being completely Biased

step 3) Try to find Issues but you cannot, not because there are none but because you never bothered to learn how to find them in the first place.

step 4) People who brought the product will mark you as helpful to support the decision, completely ignoring their own experience and opinion.

Some Steelseries products like headsets are a Fine example of this, look at top reviews, I refuse to believe they actually tried to give a honest review, just a naive, biased Brand promotion.
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man, these days many reviewers are getting free products and inturn theyre publishing biased reviews. something must be done
 
adventureguy said:
man, these days many reviewers are getting free products and inturn theyre publishing biased reviews. something must be done
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but what can be done? on amazon India people suspend critical thinking and Up vote 5 star reviews and support their decision with confirmation bias, which in turn make it to the top.

see reviews for Logitech Prodigy keyboard for example, poor at the U.S price, Masterpiece at the double of murica Indian price.
 
The problem with reviews has always been this - If the product is decent but not great people still rate it 5 with "caveats" within the review because they are happy. But for another person the same caveat will be a big problem and the review will be 1 star. So reviews tend to be either 1 or 5, very less 2-4.

Still my recent experience with Amazon has been that they are now going the Ebay way. Falsely marking items as shipped while they are not. I got some item which showed up as "Delivery by 8pm tomorrow". Items are marked as shipped but no tracking as Amazon says some deliveries happen that way. That was a lie as items are never delivered. Later they claim it is running late and will arrive in next 2-4 days. Sometime later the item starts to track correctly. So good use of the "Prime" customers.
 
sharktale1212 said:
Still my recent experience with Amazon has been that they are now going the Ebay way. Falsely marking items as shipped while they are not. I got some item which showed up as "Delivery by 8pm tomorrow". Items are marked as shipped but no tracking as Amazon says some deliveries happen that way. That was a lie as items are never delivered. Later they claim it is running late and will arrive in next 2-4 days. Sometime later the item starts to track correctly. So good use of the "Prime" customers.
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As you've said, they are going the Ebay way. But not because of the reasons you've mentioned.

They are literally like Ebay. As in it's not a shopping site now, it's a marketplace where anyone can become seller. What you've said are just effects of their decision to become a marketplace.

Going forward, I'd suggest you to check out items which are 'fulfilled by Amazon' as those items are handled by Amazon not some random guy.
 
Mr.J said:
As you've said, they are going the Ebay way. But not because of the reasons you've mentioned.

They are literally like Ebay. As in it's not a shopping site now, it's a marketplace where anyone can become seller. What you've said are just effects of their decision to become a marketplace.

Going forward, I'd suggest you to check out items which are 'fulfilled by Amazon' as those items are handled by Amazon not some random guy.
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The order I am talking about was Fulfilled by Amazon. A random guy can never do a "delivery by 8pm tomorrow" on Amazon. So no it's not a random guy like you assumed.

As for the effects of becoming a marketplace. They have gone downhill after the whole free Prime thing before this whole marketplace hoopla.

Now yesterday again I got some other stuff from Fulfilled and not random guy with 2-4 days delivery timeline. Ordered it. One part of it will be delivered by Tuesday ie 4th day. While the other has it's date changed to Thursday which is the 6th day. No emails, messages nothing. Just changed it to what they feel comfortable. On asking they blame the system for giving me incorrect dates. Even while I order the same stuff today - delivery shows up as Wednesday. So a lot of excuses going around. If orders are delayed they blame it on the couriers, if dates change automatically it's system's fault.

The issue here is - I completely understand the difficulty in delivering to Indian addresses so they are free to put up a longer delivery timeline. It's up to me to decide whether it is worth it or not. What I don't like is telling me one thing and doing other. I have bought stuff from Amazon US and those guys give credits etc for such mishap but Amazon India is all about excuses.
 
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Wow, wasn't expecting that. That's a new low for Amazon and Indian e-commerce in general. I expected Amazon to set a standard for competition, not lower it to match with them.
 
Amazon has some issues with fakes as well - These could be Amazon Fulfilled or not?

An example maybe? - http://www.amazon.in/OnePlus-Grips-Glass-Pepper-Grinder/dp/B01N2OHXXU/

Here is the article

http://www.moneylife.in/article/all...ent-standards-for-indian-consumers/50075.html


Allowing Fakes and Other Issues: Amazon’s Different Standards for Indian Consumers

Jeff Bezos founded Amazon with the mission to be ‘Earth’s Most Customer-Centric Company’. Amazon has, indeed, set global benchmarks for how to treat a consumer. A quick Google search will throw up innumerable articles, blogs and management books that extol Amazon’s consumer focus and offer tips on how to emulate it (three ways, five ways, seven ways to be customer-centric like Amazon, etc). Jeff Bezos is so obsessed with customer service that he is known to leave an empty chair at the conference table, telling attendees that it was occupied by the “the most important person in the room”—the customer.

But, if you were at a panel discussion organised by the ministry of consumer affairs (MCoA) to celebrate World Consumer Day on 15th March, you would wonder if we were talking about the same company in India. Before going into details, a caveat. My experience with Amazon has been excellent, especially for Amazon fulfilled products (delivered directly by Amazon), usually cash on delivery (CoD), barring one exception. But more about that later.

At the MCoA discussion, which was titled, “Consumer Disputes Resolution in the Digital Age”, a couple of activists raised issues about Amazon that should have put Jeff Bezos on the next flight to India. Instead, Avinash Ramachandra, Amazon’s director, public policy (who was also on the panel), hasn’t found time to respond to my emailed questions for five days now, despite a reminder. Here are Amazon’s issues in India, a country that is important to Mr Bezos.

Fraud and Fakes: An activist with one of India’s largest consumer organisations purchased a cosmetic product made by a large multinational company (MNC) through Amazon. When it was over, she purchased the same product again. The second time around, she noticed that the label looked different, so she compared it with her previous purchase. It was, indeed, different. She wrote to the manufacturer and was told that the product was a fake. The MNC, quite correctly, refused to accept responsibility. The MNC told her that it has told Amazon about fakes and provided it with a list of its official distributors. Amazon’s response was rather stunning.

Mr Ramchandra claimed that Amazon cannot be held responsible for allowing fakes to be sold from its platform, because the government does not allow it to be a direct retailer and it can only operate as an online marketplace. Consequently, it cannot control products that come into its pipeline, beyond preliminary checks. Why did it not accept products only from official distributors of the company? The Amazon representative said that the MNC should get them a court order to that effect.

If anyone figures out why the world’s most customer-centric company needs a legal order to ensure it sells only genuine products, rather than harmful fake ones, please tell us. Meanwhile, we would like to know what Amazon means when its website promises 100% purchase protection, which includes a guarantee of genuine products. The website says, “Sellers are committed to sell only genuine products to customers on Amazon.in. All sellers listing their products on Amazon.in are required to enter an agreement to list and sell only genuine products.” Are these mere words?

Three Strikes and Out: The consumer activist asked why a distributor caught selling a fake product was not blacklisted immediately. Moreover, when Amazon realises it has sold fakes (especially cosmetics), shouldn’t there be a recall of all products supplied by that seller? Amazon had no answer. Instead, Mr Ramachandra went into an elaborate explanation of Amazon’s policies and how sellers who indulge in dubious practices are given three warnings before being blacklisted. Should every seller get three chances, no matter how serious the offence? Forget about product recalls, the consumer activist said that the seller continues to operate on Amazon.

We were also told about Amazon’s system of user-driven customer reviews, where even the most negative ratings are faithfully listed. This, again, is a half-truth. Certain issues, especially problems in Amazon’s service delivery, are not allowed to be uploaded by its algorithm. Consider my own example. I purchased a dhurrie from Amazon that had no CoD option and was to be delivered a good nine days later, which I could track online. There was a courier number of DHL. However, things came to a halt when the product was actually to be delivered. On receiving no further information, I called DHL only to find that the parcel number listed there was false, since DHL only handles international deliveries (first lie).

On escalating the issue through a chat, Amazon gave me the seller’s number and asked me to connect with him. A conversation with the seller’s representative was an eye-opener. He claimed he did not have my number (second lie). He also admitted that the parcel had not been couriered at all, but he had brought it along since he was going to be at a fair in Mumbai. He further said that he could only deliver the product three days later when the fair ended. It seemed pointless to cancel the order, if the product was in the city. I agreed. On the day of delivery, the seller told me that the product I had ordered wasn’t available (he probably sold it at the fair) and offered me other options (he sent photos on WhatsApp). By then, I was fed up of the whole experience and wasn’t looking at another battle to get my money back. So, I accepted an alternative which was smaller than the product I had purchased.

From Amazon’s perspective, I needn’t have accepted the alternative product, so I have no complaints about it. But wouldn’t a customer-centric company want to know about the resolution of an escalated complaint? Was the seller even reprimanded for the multiple lies and shoddy delivery? Did it trigger any of the three strikes? I have no clue; nor did I hear any regret for the mess. Instead, a month later, just after the 15th March consumer seminar I referred to, I received a routine mailer asking me to review the product. On trying to post my experience as a review, I was startled to find it got rejected. On reading the review guidelines, I gathered that only product-related details are permitted; service issues need to be mailed as feedback. I didn’t find any feedback button!

Apni Dukaan or Haat/Marketplace?
Amazon’s peppy advertisements encourage you to consider it as ‘Apni Dukaan’, or your own shop. But that is false. Mr Ramachandra insisted that Amazon is merely a marketplace—like a ‘haat’ or fair—where different producers stock their goods and take responsibility for what they sell. He seemed to argue that it was the government’s fault that Amazon wasn’t allowed to be a retailer, and so its services in India weren’t what the world has come to accept.

But hasn’t Amazon come to India with its eyes open and chosen to operate in this market, with all the constraints? Whatever may be my sympathies on the policy issue, how can Amazon use this as an excuse for something as egregious as the sale of fake products in Apni Dukaan? Remember, Amazon is already facing a class action overseas for the practice of bumping up product prices to be able to show a fantastic deal. There have been such complaints in India to the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI), which has upheld the charges of misleading advertising, despite Amazon’s aggressive legal defence.

Since all this was played out before the secretary and top officials of the MCoA, one will also wait to see whether they are even alive to the issues of online retail and the much-touted digital policy of the government. More importantly, if this is the situation with Amazon, which is consumer-focused, one can only wonder what is happening with scores of other online ‘marketplaces’ that have been proliferating over the past decade.
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Something is definitely wrong with Amazon Transportation Services of late. I live in Gurgaon.

For 3 of my current orders where "Amazon Transportation Services" is the courier they are behaving in a very strange way.

In one case, the package shipped from Bhiwandi, Maharashtra, arrived at Amazon's New Delhi Facility after which it was shipped to their Gurgaon Facility. So far so good. However instead of getting delivered, its been SHIPPED BACK AGAIN to their New Delhi facility and is yet to be delivered.

The 2nd case is even stranger. The package was shipped FROM New Delhi, arrived at their Gurgaon facility and has now been SHIPPED BACK to their New Delhi facility!

The third order has been shipped from Bhiwandi, Maharashtra, arrived at the Gurgaon Facility and is just sitting there since yesterday morning.

I just don't get it.
Is there some other logical reasoning behind this method of transportation? Maybe someone can throw light on WHY ATS is behaving in this way.
 
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They seem to stick to delivery timelines no matter what. I had an order reaching Bangalore, staying at the main hub for 2 days but refusing early delivery. All the while Delhivery delivered stuff early - the one I alluded in my previous post - changed to Thursday from Tuesday.
 
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^It seems pretty much what sharktale1212 wrote.
They dont WANT to deliver early even if they can.
Its actually funny. Check out the tracking info for one order just to see what a complete waste of resources this is.
Please keep in mind I live in Gurgaon, which is right next to Delhi.
Friday, 7 Apr
11:31 AM - Item has been picked up by courier. Delhi, IN
7:16 PM - Package arrived at a courier facility NEW DELHI, DELHI, IN
7:51 PM - Package has left the courier facility NEW DELHI, DELHI, IN
Latest update: Saturday, 8 Apr
1:30 AM - Package arrived at a courier facility GURGAON, HARYANA, IN
3:54 AM - Package has left the courier facility GURGAON, HARYANA, IN
7:14 AM - Package arrived at a courier facility Delhi, IN
Courier: Amazon Transportation Services, Tracking #: 521534148209

So, in the span of 6 hours (highlighted in RED text), the package reached Gurgaon FROM New Delhi and was SHIPPED BACK to New Delhi and is yet to be delivered!

In the case of another 2 order, the item reaches Gurgaon, is shipped to Delhi and just sits there. In another, the item has reached Gurgaon Saturday morning and is just sitting there with no further update.

Unbelievable.

In contrast, another Amazon order that was shipped by Aramex arrived 3 DAYS earlier than expected.
 
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