In case you ask any random online shopper about the biggest problem of Indian ecommerce sector; then 9 out of 10 times, the answer would be ‘trust factor’. Portals promise something else, deliver something else; and most of the times, the expectations and delivery are massively mismatched.

In the past, we have witnessed cases wherein stones were delivered instead of iPods (happened on Flipkart) and once, Vim bar was delivered instead of Samsung Galaxy phone on Snapdeal.

Snapdeal, which has recently raised $200 million at a valuation of $6.5-7 billion, is now again facing a major embarrassment when it comes to customer satisfaction and delivering what was promised.

A consumer court in Punjab has slapped a fine of Rs 10,000 on Snapdeal and ordered them to deliver what they had initially promised: iPhone for Rs 68! Note here, that Snapdeal managed to sell Rs 500 crore worth of mobile phones during last Diwali..

The Case

Nikhil Bansal, a BTech Student at Punjabi University saw a listing of an iPhone 5S 16 GB (Gold) on Snapdeal, which was priced Rs 68. On February 12th, he ordered the phone, and started waiting anxiously for such an awesome, cheap deal.

But as it so often happens on ecommerce portals, the order was cancelled and Nikhil never received that iPhone.

But unlike other shoppers, he refused to be silent.

He approached the district consumer forum in Sangrur district of Punjab, and filed a complaint after Snapdeal refused to ‘honor the deal’. The forum passed the judgment in favor of Nikhil, and Snapdeal was ordered to deliver the iPhone at the same rate in which it was initially promised: Rs 68.

Besides, the forum also ordered Snapdeal to pay Rs 2000 as penalty.

However, Snapdeal appealed in the consumer forum against this decision, and decided to fight the case. But again, they lost, as the forum now ordered them to pay a fine of Rs 10,000 to close the case.

This penalty needs to be deposited in consumer welfare fund.

Is it a right decision?

Indeed it is! Just because online medium is easier to manipulate; and promises are easy to be made, it doesn’t mean that ecommerce portals shall resort to false promise and would refuse to deliver what was promised.

As we had witnessed with Micromax, bad customer experience translates into bad future for any company; and Snapdeal might just have learnt a very important lesson here.

Have you experienced any such false promises made by any ecommerce portal? Did you complain?

Do share your experiences by commenting right here!

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