Online shopping fraud seems to be rising in India. In the news, online shopping websites are being questioned about their customers being cheated by replacing goods that they have paid for with soap, mangoes, stones and even wood. While online shopping scams are yet to be investigated, there is no concrete evidence about where the theft is taking place. Is it at the vendor end? Or is the courier company involved? Or are the shopping websites themselves at fault? Below are a few cases that were earlier reported, in which, customers have claimed that they have been cheated by online websites.
Flipkart sends rocks instead of 3 laptops:
The leading online shopping website was in the news for delivering rocks instead of laptops.
Flipkart sends mangoes instead of the Asus Zenfone 5:
A smartphone ordered by a Telangana resident, after winning something at their Mega Sale, was allegedly replaced with two mangoes.
Snapdeal sends soap instead of Samsung smartphone:
Laxminarayan Krishnamurthy ordered a Diwali gift (a smartphone) for his wife during the sale last year. She received a Vim soap bar and a stone scrub inside. Interestingly, he was refunded the amount from Snapdeal and Hindustan Unilever Mumbai gifted the man with the very same Samsung smartphone and two bottles of Vim dish washing soap. Not all are as lucky.
Snapdeal replaces new smartphone for old:
A Delhi-based customer ordered a new LG G2 smartphone for his dad, but received a second hand smartphone.
Snapdeal delivers stone instead of iPhone:
In December 2014, a report stated a man who claimed that Snapdeal shipped stone pieces instead of an iPhone that he had ordered online.
Snapdeal breaks its own record, sends ‘nothing’ this time:
Mumbai-based Kunal Kundu did not receive the product he ordered at all. The shipment came without the handset, but the box had the manual, cable and charger in it.
Man buys MacBook Pro, Snapdeal sends Rs 600 heater:
Mumbai-based Nitin Chhabria ordered a 13-inch Apple MacBook Pro worth Rs 84,000, but when he opened the parcel, he found a New Star Fan Heater, worth Rs 600 instead.
Snapdeal packs stones for Micromax phone:
A customer ordered a Micromax smartphone worth Rs 3,710, but received a stone inside it.
Flipkart customer ordered Samsung Galaxy Note 3, gets stone instead:
A man from New Dehli ordered a Samsung Galaxy Note 3 online from Flipkart, only to see stones in his shipment.
Snapdeal send stone, but customer ordered calculator:
Allahabad customer had ordered a calculator from Snapdeal, but they sent him a stone.
Snapdeal delivers stone for Nexus 5:
A customer alleged that Snapdeal had sent him a stone inside his smartphone box instead of a Nexus 5 he had ordered.
Snapdeal ships tile but not the Samsung mobile:
Another customer who ordered a Samsung mobile from Snapdeal was shocked with a piece of tile inside the box.
Snapdeal delivers two coconuts instead of shoes:
And we thought only electronic goods were in focus. This time it was shoes being flicked and replaced by coconuts.
Snapdeal sends earphones for earphones:
Though he ordered expensive Dr Dre earphones, he received a cheaper Samsung replacement.
Snapdeal sends stone for a watch:
Man orders Tommy Hilfiger men’s watch but gets a bubble-wrapped stones.
Snapdeal ships Lumia smartphone, customer receives outer cover:
This man was waiting for his Nokia Lumia, but just got the outer cover in the shipment.
PayTM-ordered wireless router turns up as laptop:
Well, not all are as unlucky. Anuj Chauhan had ordered for a wireless router via PayTM, but to his luck, he receives a Rs 30,000 worth laptop. He contacted the company to give it back.
Disclaimer: The incidents mentioned above are reported online. While there are many cases involving Snapdeal, customers have also reported a few from Flipkart. We have simply collated the above and do not verify their claims. Please click on the respective story headline to read the entire story.
