I placed a COD order on flipkart.com for a Micromax A90 when it clearly said "In Stock. Expect delivery in 3-5 business days". Six days later, with no status change on the order, I sent e-mail inquiring about the delay. They sent e-mail back saying that the order had been cancelled "as our suppliers have confirmed it's unavailability". In other words, they lied that they had it in stock and wasted my time. What a crappy company.
Flipkart.com lies about items being "In Stock"
- Thread starter tvarad
- Start date
mehrotra.akash
Adept
Happens, data souces aent always perfectly up to date
greenhorn
Patron
Flipkart was supposed to be the gold standard of online shopping in india. Now I think with them running out of VC money, they're trying the same crap other sellers do. Ordered an ES18 from them, they've been sitting on my money for a whole week now. Maybe Customers are their way of working capital finance 
djmykey
Skilled
Happened with me too. After I received the email that my order was cancelled due to non availability of the item. Whereas the item still showed available on the site. I sent them an email regarding this, they marked it out of stock and then replied saying check now. I guess they are short staffed too just as they are short stocked :bleh: ( I know FK does not stock stuff, so dun start flamin')
Happens, data souces aent always perfectly up to date
Assuming they are warehousing items and using a database check to see what is coming into and going out of it, this is probably the simplest tally to maintain and to take orders according to whether they are in or out of stock. If they are taking orders on expected delivery of stock, then they should mention that clearly on their website and call it a pre-order so that customers can decide whether they want to get in line or not. For me, not only did they take the order by saying it was in stock, but I got pinged by both e-mail as well as SMS and also had someone call me asking me whether I had placed the order on the web.
Assuming they are warehousing items and using a database check to see what is coming into and going out of it, this is probably the simplest tally to maintain and to take orders according to whether they are in or out of stock. If they are taking orders on expected delivery of stock, then they should mention that clearly on their website and call it a pre-order so that customers can decide whether they want to get in line or not. For me, not only did they take the order by saying it was in stock, but I got pinged by both e-mail as well as SMS and also had someone call me asking me whether I had placed the order on the web.
sriharsha_m
Adept
Flipkart was supposed to be the gold standard of online shopping in india. Now I think with them running out of VC money, they're trying the same crap other sellers do. Ordered an ES18 from them, they've been sitting on my money for a whole week now. Maybe Customers are their way of working capital finance
Even my ES18 order was delayed and finally cancelled yesterday.
toxicdrift
Adept
i had ordered a asus optical drive which was supposedly "in stock" .. shipping times showed a 12 day+ wait so i went ahead n cancelled the order since i needed it urgently. plus they keep on fluctuating their prices on products recently. keeps changing at different times of the day so be on a lookout first... even with books they now have a sourcing fee .. wtf!
techie_007
Skilled
Most of their large item inventory as well as stuff like mobiles, computer components etc will be sourced from outside, simply because dead inventory of things like this will be very expensive and vause losses. With things like books, the loss is lower, and distributor often accept them back too.
But yes, this fact should be clearly stated on the website.
But yes, this fact should be clearly stated on the website.
greenhorn
Patron
the reason why people were willing to go to flipkart initially, and why some pay the premium is because flipkart ran a good supply chain - It claimed it had systems and processes in place which gave results (at least they used to - proper item visiblity, proper lead times, resulting in good service levels) while sites like rediff and indiatimes used to pull off these shenanigans. But now that flipkart is also no different, there is no point in paying the premium that they ask for, just to get the same crappy service you get elsewhere. Flipkart claims that they invested in their own distribution system - that's fine, but whats the point if their sourcing cannot match it?
mehrotra.akash
Adept
They keep very limited items in stock, the rest are sourced on order placement
6pack
ex-Mod
dont expect a stampede from foreign players. most will just tread cautiously first. i think min investment is 100million for foreign players.
rdst_1
Skilled
Ordered a Notepal U3 and a Sandisk 64GB pendrive from them. The Notepal was delivered in 3 days while the pendrive shows delivery date as 21st September.
So went ahead and cancelled the order as the delay clearly meant they didn't have it in stock.
At least they have a good cancellation system and you don't have to keep calling on customer helplines and engage in a fight to get your money back.
Also first time this happened to me. I am pretty sure had i ordered the 32GB model it would have been delivered the next day itself.
So went ahead and cancelled the order as the delay clearly meant they didn't have it in stock.
At least they have a good cancellation system and you don't have to keep calling on customer helplines and engage in a fight to get your money back.
Also first time this happened to me. I am pretty sure had i ordered the 32GB model it would have been delivered the next day itself.
Spacescreamer
ex-Mod
^^ If they are advertising next day delivery, either they shd follow "Next day delivery nahi toh free/discount"
else they shd be sued. Blatant way of pulling customers and then duping (incorrect advertising of ETA ie).
That speaks about the dip in service.
I countered their rep about the insane price difference with their Tintin books (which they label as Imported Edition and 'conveniently' i am guessing).. the rep's replied was "Sir, all our products are genuine and first hand"
I didnt knew whether to blast him or simply laugh. Ended up politely saying thank you and ended the convo.
else they shd be sued. Blatant way of pulling customers and then duping (incorrect advertising of ETA ie).
That speaks about the dip in service.
I countered their rep about the insane price difference with their Tintin books (which they label as Imported Edition and 'conveniently' i am guessing).. the rep's replied was "Sir, all our products are genuine and first hand"
I didnt knew whether to blast him or simply laugh. Ended up politely saying thank you and ended the convo.
kaneunderground
Adept
I am waiting for Wallmart in India !
