PepperTap: Just Silly

Boon for Customers

We have been ordering regularly from PepperTap and recently realized a flaw in their ordering and invoicing process.

They always have some promo running for new users and others. So we make use of the running Promos. Last time we placed an order for Rs. 1000 and availed a discount of Rs. 200.

The best part (or the worst) was that most of the items were out of stock. So the total delivered order was worth Rs. 475. They topped it up with a discount of Rs. 200 and I had to pay only Rs. 475.

Sweet !
Isn't?

I believe that it's not just me who discovered this. The fact is that consumers are having fun.

Grofers: The Hyper local experience

First Experience: Buying from Grofers

Yesterday I noticed that Grofers.com was offering a 20% sign up discount. That was a good enough reason for me to try it out. So I downloaded the app and signed up.

The interface was good and very quickly I filled up my card with an order worth Rs. 1000. Delivery was smooth and quick in NCR and full marks to Grofers for a hassle free buying experience.

Overall, quality of fruits and vegetables is better than PepperTap and BigBasket. That means Grofers delivery guys take good care while picking up stuff. Prices were at par. Neither too high, not low.

Interesting thing happened when I realized that one item has been wrongly ordered. To my surprise, I could not locate the returns tab in my orders for returning or replacing a particular item.

So, I ended up calling up on their customer care number.

Interestingly, they asked me to send the picture of the item that I want to return on a WhatsApp number. Wow, that's what you would call a HyperLocal customer support.

Subsequently, I send the details to a WhatsApp number and the next day a replacement was sent. 

And to add to the surprise, they did not collect the product that I ordered wrongly.

No tracking of orders and no streamlined process for returns.

In the end, good for the customer but an endless survival struggle for the company. That's what you call burning cash in true sense.

Urbanclap: Nice first experience

Buy trusted Services: Urbanclap

Their title says: Buy trusted services. My first experience certainly proves that. Here's a brief description of how was it...

The story started with bad experiences of dealing with unprofessional plumbers and electricians who messed up a bunch of things at my place. To sum up, I am talking about a messed up AC installation, a leaking geyser and a short circuited door bell. After having paid these unprofessional people quite a sum, I decided to go for Urbanclap.

I must say that the entire experience of booking the service to the end result was quite delightful.

First visit was complimentary as there was a promo going on. So I went ahead and registered myself and booked an electrician visit. It was quite a simple process and I was able to do this within few seconds.

Immediately, I received the message with details of professional and the time of visit. This was followed by a call from Urbanclap asking for few details so that they could confirm the appointment.

The technician showed up on time and he was a very well behaved guy who fixed the things to perfection. He even said that if you see any discrepancy, they will get it covered free of cost.

I recommend them strongly. Even though they are slightly expensive, but the trust and assurance of a professionally managed service makes it totally worth it.

Paytm Customer Support: Lethal

Tip: If you are planning to order something from Paytm, keep your fingers crossed and hope that you will never need to contact there customer support


These much coveted Billion $$ valuation companies are struggling big time to meet a decent standard of customer satisfaction. They offer incentives that are hard to ignore and hence a customer ends up buying from them. What happens afterwards is a true disaster.

If every something goes wrong with your order at Paytm, you will face a tough time battling with their utterly inexperienced Customer Care staff.

Firstly it is almost impossible to reach out to them. One of the classics that I recently noticed is their 24*7 helpline. You are required to call only from your registered mobile number to get attention.

So, here's a simulated situation where I needed to contact them urgently.

I ordered a Dell Laptop and wanted to get the same delivered to my cousin's address. I added her address and proceeded further. At one point I just wanted to ensure if I had applied the promo code. So I went back to check and then clicked next. 

While I was doing this, it selected the other default address which I couldn't notice. So I went ahead and placed the order. Immediately I realized that it is being sent to wrong address. 

So I started calling on the mentioned number frantically. Unfortunately I missed the fine print mentioning that I need to call only from my registered mobile number.

Also, while calling these numbers, I prefer using landlines as it is much more convenient to press 1, 2, 3 and respond to the endless IVRS options. So I could never get through. The response that I got from this number was:

"If you have a compliance related issue, please write to !@#$%".

Amazing !! Kudos to the Product Manager who designed this feature.

I will cover the rest in my next blog.

Stay tuned !!!

Snapdeal "My Orders" down

It's a busy morning and you wake up to see that Snapdeal is performing maintenance.
The usual practice is however to do it post midnight when the traffic is low.

Or they are in crisis situation yet again.

Tall claims of achieving $10 B in GMV when the engineering team is struggling to keep the lights ON.

Phew !!!

Snapdeal Experience - Just another day of chaos

Ordering an essential item from Snapdeal

The other day I realized that my mobile phone was not charging. Some investigation led to the conclusion that my data cable went for a toss. I decided to order a good one online.

No specific reasons, but I decided to go with Snapdeal. Here, I will share the horrible experience of shopping online with Snapdeal for such a small but important order.

A basic search returned close to 5000+ results ranging from Rs. 99 to anything - Impressive !!

Next step was to reach to a good cable that would not end up spoiling my expensive phone. So I tried applying filters on price, rating etc. 

All brands were so oblivious that I had no idea what to order. Still I followed my gut and ordered an appropriately expensive one which had few good reviews. 

I had some money in my Snapdeal wallet which I used and ordered this item.

Since my phone was not charging at all, I need this pretty urgently.

I placed an order on 22nd August and patiently waited for deliver. The seller was quick in shipping the same and the item origin location was Raipur. The shipping partner was eCommExpress.

So far - Excellent !

Today it's 8th September and there is no update on product location. My money is stuck with Snapdeal and they are not letting me cancel the item. I will try to narrate my experience in the simplest possible manner.

Tracking: 

The awesome looking Snapdeal Order tracking page is useful. Since they have some sort of integration with third party courier companies, it shows tracking history right there with a link to the courier website.

The not so good looking tracking page of courier company shows that the packet is stuck in Raipur for quite some days now.

Nobody apart from myself is bothered about the fact that the order is delayed beyond the cutoff date.

So I start contacting Snapdeal support recklessly trying to get an update on my order. And here are some of the classic conversations:

I kept getting back to them with repeated requests to respond back but they just stopped replying.

Upon trying to cancel the order from Website, I got even more entertainment:

I tried at least thrice but got the same response.

All this time, I did not want to talk to them because I have had several bad experiences dealing with the "not so competent" customer support.

Having left with no alternative, I picked up the phone and called up.

Here's the list of entertaining comments that I got back from the support executive:

• Sir, where did you place the order from? App or google search?
• May I request you to try cancelling the order from the same place where you placed the order?
• How many times did you try cancelling the same?
• Can you try one more time from the Help menu on our website?
• Please provide me the complaint reference number from previous complaints.
• None of these complaints are from the Help section.
• If you raise it once from there, we will respond within 48 hours
• If you write from any other source, it might take 7 working days or even more
• You will get your money back only after the product is delivered back to the warehouse.
• Don't worry sir, your money is safe with "us".

Well, I still have no hope that the product will ever reach anywhere. 

And, these are some of the Billion $$ companies that are stealing away all the glory.

Long live Snapdeal - Really Dil ki deal !!