Got potatoes or soap from an e-commerce website instead of your phone? Here’s how to deal with them

As convenient as online shopping can be, especially during the festive sale season, getting cheated is a risk that people, unfortunately, have to assume. Recently, a man ordered a laptop from Flipkart but received several bars of soap in the package.

In another incident, a businessman in Bihar had ordered a drone from the e-commerce platform Meesho, but instead, received some potatoes.

It is natural for us to get a little desolate whenever something like this happens. We also fear that we have been cheated out of a lot of money, which, at the time at least seems impossible to recover. You may also feel like calling up the platform’s customer service helpline and giving them an earful. Realistically, that wouldn’t be helpful. But there are other things that you can do.

Believe it or not, it is actually possible to make your case properly and get your money back, or the actual product that you had paid for. The important thing to note, however, it to let cooler heads prevail, take a deep breath and approach this in a step-by-step manner. 

Before we discuss that, here are a few practices that you should follow when taking delivery of any package that you may receive from an e-commerce platform:

Document everythingFirst and foremost, start recording a video of the package, as you’re receiving it. Platforms like Flipkart claim that they have processes such as Open Box Delivery, wherein the delivery person will open the box in front of you while delivering it. The reality is, this is a practice that exists only on paper. Rarely will you see a delivery person waiting for you to unbox it in front of them.

Wait before sharing your delivery OTPMost e-commerce platforms now require the user to share a delivery OTP with the delivery person. The purpose of this OTP is usually to ascertain that the package is being delivered to the right person, and moreover, that the package received was in proper shape, and hadn’t been tampered with. Open the package in front of the delivery person, and ensure that the unboxing or opening of the package is being recorded. Only then provide the delivery OTP.

Now, no matter how hard you try, there will be times when you won’t get the chance to open up and inspect your package in front of the delivery person.

Here’s what you should do if you receive a package from an e-commerce platform like Flipkart, Meesho or even Amazon, which does not contain your prodcut, but some other stuff.

Make an unboxing video and take picturesFirst and foremost, make an unboxing video while you’re opening the package. You should especially do this in case you suspect that your package was tampered with, or if you have purchased a high-value item, like a phone, or a laptop etc. In case you haven’t taken a video, do take a ton of pictures, especially of the box and the content that you received. Take photos of any damages that the box might have had.

Gather all the information and evidence that you might needGather every tiny bit of information and keep them handy. Starting from the date you placed your order, to the day and time you received your order. It would also be great if you have the name of the delivery person who delivered your package. Also ensure that you have the transaction ID readily available, in case you have already paid for your order.

Approach the customer service centreOnce you have all your videos, photos and other evidence ready, simply call the customer service centre. They might ask you to share a few videos and photos, and a few other information, so share whatever you are asked to, barring your banking details. Also this would be a good time to ask the customer service representative for your complaint number, or the ticket number. This way, you will be able to refer to to this call if things need to be taken forward. Now, if your customer service representative is able to resolve your issue on the spot, then well and good. If they ask you for a couple of day’s time, ask them to put it in writing and to send you an email regarding the same. 

Send the company an emailIn case your customer service representative was not able to resolve the issue, or, if they said that they would email you about the issue you raised, but haven’t, send an email to the customer service department, with all your photos, videos and mention the complaint number, or the ticket number that you had received. You should be getting a response within one or two working days, tops.

Flag them on social media, especially on TwitterIn case you don’t get a response even after sending an email, get on social media. We have seen that Twitter works better compared to Instagram or Facebook. First, just tweet out to the company, stating your issue, and sharing the photo and the video and ensure you use the correct hashtags, especially if the e-commerce platform is running a campaign. There’s a good chance that you might get a response, but in case you don’t Tweet out to a few influencers that the e-commerce platform has worked with previously. You can also try reply tweeting on a few posts of the influencer. This increases your chance of getting a response from the e-commerce platform. This is also the chance for your story to get viral on social media, in which case, you will definitely get a response.

File a complaint with your local consumer forumNow, even after doing all of this and trying everything, if you’re still not getting a satisfactory and reasonable response, don’t be afraid to approach your local consumer forum and register a complaint with the Consumer Courts. People assume that this will be an expensive affair, but more often than not it is not. Moreover, if you have a lot of money hanging in the balance you shouldn’t hesitate to approach your local consumer forum. People think that approaching the consumer forum is a long and tedious process, and most platforms actually rely on customers simply giving up and not approaching consumer forums when things go south.