Last week, electrical engineer Chiluveri Sucharan and his family became perhaps India’s first household to receive a box containing two mangoes, from Flipkart.
The family had ordered for a phone, worth nearly Rs 10,000... not the mangoes, definitely. “Of course I was surprised. I was holding on to the mangoes for a replacement, but they got spoilt and I threw them out,” says Sucharan, a Karimnagar-based electrical engineer, who had made the purchase using a credit card on June 8.
Sucharan’s package (a neatly-packed case with two mangoes in it, sent via Flipkart) captured nationwide attention — prompting a full-blown investigation by the e-commerce giant who is “looking into the matter”.
But Sucharan is not alone. From bustling Visakhapatnam comes another incident of packaged rubbish. Hiranmoy Barai is now a local (and national) celebrity after he was delivered rocks in a parcel from online retailer Amazon. “I got phone calls from as far as Kerala after DC published my story. I was stunned. Amazon called to check if the parcel was tampered with but in all honesty, checking the packaging’s integrity is not the first thing you do when you receive a product you have been waiting for. It could be some mischief yes, I’m not ruling that factor out. I have ordered products from Amazon before and they were fine. Amazon told me it’s investigating and as of Tuesday, June 16, the company officials are saying I will be getting a full refund soon,” says Barai.
Barai adds it was a mix of strange emotions when he opened the box. “You are left wondering what the hell’s going on? Rocks? I hope Amazon catches those responsible.” Flipkart, meanwhile, is investigating what happened to Sucharan’s order. As of Tuesday, the Karimnagar man and his family are happy — they finally received the phone they were waiting for.
“My issue is over... I finally have the product I asked for. It is indeed a strange incident,” he says. It wasn’t without drama though. His replacement was almost cancelled when Flipkart in an earlier response said the order had been cancelled as they had noticed “an unwarranted return”, which did not comply with their ‘Returns Policy’.”
“All that’s in the past now. I’m happy I got the phone finally,” said Sucharan. Flipkart, however, is investigating and representatives admit the incident is a rather weird one. The firm has also launched an internal investigation into the case as it’s believed there could be a third party involved and staff are also looking at CCTV images.
A formal statement from Flipkart read: “Flipkart observes a zero tolerance policy on incidents that impact customer trust. We are investigating this case. Based on surveillance records, validated by the inward and outward logs at the warehouse, it is clear that the packaging has been intact till the point it got dispatched. As a responsible marketplace, we have initiated the process of replacement for the customer in good faith and are putting all efforts to find out the real facts of this incident.”
Hiranmoy Barai really feels it could be a prank. “I heard about this one case when the delivery boy started running away as soon as the customers started opening the pack. I don’t remember what they found inside... but it wasn’t what they ordered. I hope more people read about this and know such things happen.”
