[Resolved]  Indiatimes — Cheating/Fraudulent behavior by indiatimes online shopping

To start with I am not at all a happy customer of Indiatimes. After doing extensive online/ offline research, I zeroed down to this washing machine Godrej 6.5kg Fully Automatic Washing Machine - WT 650 CF (Carmine Red) with order number [protected] on 11th November for my mom this winter.I was confident of both the Product and Service that I was going to get as indatimes being a TOI initiative. Alas now i believe I was totally wrong. Anyways i will illustrate the course of events that followed after my purchase. I followed up after 6, 7 days about shipping with Customer Care as i wanted earlier delivery (delivery date being 28th nov) and was informed that they will try their level best to deliver it before 28th Nov. Again I called up on 21st nov and was informed it was due for shipping on 20th Nov itself but it couldn't somehow. On 21st it will be shipped for sure. But then on the same date i got the intimation that suddenly the product has gone out of stock and it can't be delivered. The mail even gave the false impression too as in i cancelled the order myself. Content of the mail from indiatimes said "Sorry to hear that you want to cancel your order". What an irony and what a false claim. The best part is consistently from that day i can see the product listing in the indiatimes website available for purchase to this very moment as well while submitting my complaint. Please find below the URL http://shopping.indiatimes.com/electronics/top-loading-fully-automatic/godrej-6-5kg-fully-automatic-washing-machine-wt-650-cf-carmine-red-/10394/p_B2046264 and check it out yourself. Now i have too many serious accusations for this company. I never requested for order cancellation sohow could someone give this false impression in mail. If the product was out of stock when i placed the order then why the same was not updated in their web site. Was their inventory management system that bad? And if it was in stock that time then why they didn't deliver it to me. What took them 11 days to check their stock? Why even after intimation to me by indiatimes on 21st nov still the product is listed in their website(today being 26th nov). Is it some kind of a scam where customers pay good amount for a product then they earn the interest component for 15 20 days and then inform the customer that product is out of stock and return the principal amount paid. Good way of earning interest without even doing any work. Kudos to this way of generating profit. It is a nice business proposal and it should be taken up by other online sellers as well. This looks a big online scam to me. I would like to hear back from you. I guess i shouldn't leave any stone unturned for justice to prevail. I tried to follow up with their customer care many a times after that mail but mostly informed that they are escalating the matter and they will get back to me but they never did even till today. I even sent few mails even to their operations head. See i bought this product for my mom especially for this winter season and indiatimes ruined her excitement completely. Thanks. According to me even after all that hassles i had to go through i said the least indiatimes can do is to provide options for similar product with same delivery date and similar configuration i was getting when i got the product. I asked them to arrange a w/m of similar configuration and similar other attributes including discount(15%), gift items as was applicable while i placed the order and deliver it before 28th nov. But they are not at all bothered about customers’ concerns caused by them. They want to pocket in the interest and return the principal sum by 5th december. Just returning the full money after 20 days looks a bigger conspiracy to me and i will be completely vocal about it. I have few more concerns to state here: - I was getting good offers both offline and online at the time I placed this order which I have missed out on now. What about my sunk cost, opportunity cost and all the mental agony, follow up calls, efforts i had put in, hassles that I am going through even now. - If the product was out of stock, what took Indiatimes 12 days to realize that (without any intimation to me on delay) even after following up with them regularly proactively? - What is the value of all the inconvenience indiatimes has caused to me in terms of holding up my money for a long period as well as now when I am having to wait for the refund so I can restart my hunt for a good deal on the product? - Given that I needed this product for my mom especially for this winter season and they ruined everything completely. Of course they owe me the money I paid, there is nothing special they are doing to refund my own money back after eating out all the interest earned on it. Few information i would like to share with you in addition is that the product is still shown in the website (http://shopping.indiatimes.com/electronics/top-loading-fully-automatic/godrej-6-5kg-fully-automatic-washing-machine-wt-650-cf-carmine-red-/10394/p_B2046264#) and customers can buy the same though the discount offered is not INR 2504 but only INR 1335. So either they are lying that the product is out of stock else indiatimes wants to earn interest in the same way from many other customers via same vicious cycle. FRAUD. Also I opened a case with indiatimes but the same was closed (case no# 1174486) without any remarks and without even consulting me. I guess i would like to inform that they have lost one customer for lifetime and i would share this information to as many potential customers as i can and i will post to all the online consumer forums. What bugs me is that nobody even cared to empathize with customer from their business front. I have lost all my faith in them. Also I have snapshot of the product availability on their website. If needed i will post the same too. Regards, Piyush P.S. I am totally aware about indiatimes disclaimer as in they can withdraw any offer, product ... any time they want. But something like above amounts to an online scam.