nemo_online
Forerunner
I had been shopping for a tablet for my wife and had placed an order for a Samsung Galaxy A7 tablet on the 23rd of August from the “Samsung shop” app. However, sometime after placing the order, I had a change of mind and I cancelled my order. I promptly got a cancellation message on the 24th of August about my cancellation and that my refund will be issued within 7-10 working days. Standard procedure I reckoned and so no big deal. The amount in question was 16,499 which for many forum members might not seem to be a large amount but to each his own.
Doubts began to creep in when till the 2nd of September there was no word from Samsung. What snowballed my alarm was that when I tried to log in to the Samsung online shop via my desktop, using my credentials from the app, it said: "account does not exist".
I sent a mail the same day and to support@samsungindia ( the address given in the app) and received a mail which asked me to again raise my issue with another dedicated customer care team for the Samsung Shop app. (Didn’t quite get why the Samsung Shop App couldn’t directly send me to the concerned team). This was to be done via a new email. So I wrote another email and sent it to the given URL. This time I got an automated email promising resolution of my query within 5 days.
My mind was at unease so for good measure I called up the telephonic support as well.
It was here that much to my surprise I found out that Samsung had so far not initiated my refund. The funny, although not uncommon part, was that despite choosing the option to speak with a representative in English, I spoke with a person who seemed to have great difficulty in understanding my English. All I could take away from my conversation with the representative was that there was no supervisor and the refund would be processed. My understanding from this entire experience was that Samsung was unaware that my refund was to be processed.
From that day onwards, numerous calls were exchanged between me and the so-called customer support team but to no avail. To be precise, I called on the 2nd, 6th, 9th, and also on the 13th. Every day there would be a "sorry" followed by some vague assurances. On the 9th, a guy from the escalations team called back promising a refund within 2 days time and in case the refund didn't come through he would personally follow up and call me again. So, the 13th was the day I was supposed to get the refund. As expected no emails came about the refund and of course, no calls as well.
With age, I am learning to be very patient, so again I called Samsung the same day. The result - Another representative and another lie about a senior who would call me within an hour. So finally, when I realized that no calls would come I was forced to write an email to their grievance department the same day. Another day of silence ensued except for another automated email promising a response. Finally, when I was asking some of my lawyer friends for help and searching for consumer court help online, I got an email on the evening of the 14th that said that my refund had been processed. There was not a single letter of apology or regret in the email. It was as if they had just done me a huge favour by returning my money. Finally, I got the money back in my account on the evening of the 15th much to my relief.
The end result of this experience is that I am going to be apprehensive for some time to come about buying another Samsung product.
As I have written elsewhere on this forum, this is India and of course, we should always expect the worst in terms of customer care, but it is always a bit putting off when such an experience takes place with you. Having said that, I also realize that we as consumers don't have much choice but to buy with a prayer on our lips that everything will go well.
Doubts began to creep in when till the 2nd of September there was no word from Samsung. What snowballed my alarm was that when I tried to log in to the Samsung online shop via my desktop, using my credentials from the app, it said: "account does not exist".
I sent a mail the same day and to support@samsungindia ( the address given in the app) and received a mail which asked me to again raise my issue with another dedicated customer care team for the Samsung Shop app. (Didn’t quite get why the Samsung Shop App couldn’t directly send me to the concerned team). This was to be done via a new email. So I wrote another email and sent it to the given URL. This time I got an automated email promising resolution of my query within 5 days.
My mind was at unease so for good measure I called up the telephonic support as well.
It was here that much to my surprise I found out that Samsung had so far not initiated my refund. The funny, although not uncommon part, was that despite choosing the option to speak with a representative in English, I spoke with a person who seemed to have great difficulty in understanding my English. All I could take away from my conversation with the representative was that there was no supervisor and the refund would be processed. My understanding from this entire experience was that Samsung was unaware that my refund was to be processed.
From that day onwards, numerous calls were exchanged between me and the so-called customer support team but to no avail. To be precise, I called on the 2nd, 6th, 9th, and also on the 13th. Every day there would be a "sorry" followed by some vague assurances. On the 9th, a guy from the escalations team called back promising a refund within 2 days time and in case the refund didn't come through he would personally follow up and call me again. So, the 13th was the day I was supposed to get the refund. As expected no emails came about the refund and of course, no calls as well.
With age, I am learning to be very patient, so again I called Samsung the same day. The result - Another representative and another lie about a senior who would call me within an hour. So finally, when I realized that no calls would come I was forced to write an email to their grievance department the same day. Another day of silence ensued except for another automated email promising a response. Finally, when I was asking some of my lawyer friends for help and searching for consumer court help online, I got an email on the evening of the 14th that said that my refund had been processed. There was not a single letter of apology or regret in the email. It was as if they had just done me a huge favour by returning my money. Finally, I got the money back in my account on the evening of the 15th much to my relief.
The end result of this experience is that I am going to be apprehensive for some time to come about buying another Samsung product.
As I have written elsewhere on this forum, this is India and of course, we should always expect the worst in terms of customer care, but it is always a bit putting off when such an experience takes place with you. Having said that, I also realize that we as consumers don't have much choice but to buy with a prayer on our lips that everything will go well.
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You seem to have the got the feeling that I made a "much ado about nothing" .
