Portal cons buyers with illegal handsets
13 Jun 2012 1:50 PM IST
Shopping from the web is becoming increasingly popular, particularly for electronic items, like cell phones. This has lead to new, unknown retailers setting e-shops. And, that's where the problem for consumers may lie.
Fashionandyou.com is one such Delhi-based e-commerce site that offers good discounts on Blackberry phones. It started operations in January 2010. A source says that when it first started offering discounts on these handsets, the company did business worth Rs 68 lakh in three days.
But, all is not well with the handsets sold on this portal. Millennium Post has learnt that they are actually refurbished handsets being sold as new devices. 'These are made from parts which are smuggled from the US and assembled here in India. As a result, these come without any IMEI numbers,' says a source, who works in the e-commerce sector, on condition of anonymity. Phones without International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) numbers are banned in the country. Some market research firms put the number of phones without IMEI numbers currently being used in India to about 25 million.
What is shocking is that the fashionandyou.com management is aware of the refurbished nature of the phones, though it has chosen to turn a blind eye to it, alleged the source. In fact, one user recently posted her experience of buying a BlackBerry from the site on a blog. She had ordered a BlackBerry via Order No. 1299114 earlier this year. When the phone got delivered, she found that its inbox had messages dating back to May 2007.
Users have also complained of being sent BlackBerry handsets with operator logos on them – like At&T and Verizon, companies which do not have licences to operate in India. These phones are often locked, and come with a 'vendor warranty' of six months, as opposed to the BlackBerry India warranty of 18 months.
However, the official spokesperson of the portal defends the quality of what is being sold. 'We have over 40 quality specialists in our quality function working with our sourcing teams in field and, at our distribution centres ensuring 100% quality check at unit level for every shipment that arrives in our warehouse before it is shipped to the customer. This ensures high quality standards across the products that are delivered to our customers. Unfit products are not shipped to the customer and returned back to the vendor. The senior management of the organisation is always closely involved in supporting customer delight and consumer concerns if any are addressed and resolved promptly,' said Pearl Uppal Kachru, the co-founder and CEO of the company that runs fashionandyou.com, in an emailed reply.
This reporter brought this malpractice to the notice of BlackBerry India, but it has not replied so far.
Fashionandyou.com is one such Delhi-based e-commerce site that offers good discounts on Blackberry phones. It started operations in January 2010. A source says that when it first started offering discounts on these handsets, the company did business worth Rs 68 lakh in three days.
But, all is not well with the handsets sold on this portal. Millennium Post has learnt that they are actually refurbished handsets being sold as new devices. 'These are made from parts which are smuggled from the US and assembled here in India. As a result, these come without any IMEI numbers,' says a source, who works in the e-commerce sector, on condition of anonymity. Phones without International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) numbers are banned in the country. Some market research firms put the number of phones without IMEI numbers currently being used in India to about 25 million.
What is shocking is that the fashionandyou.com management is aware of the refurbished nature of the phones, though it has chosen to turn a blind eye to it, alleged the source. In fact, one user recently posted her experience of buying a BlackBerry from the site on a blog. She had ordered a BlackBerry via Order No. 1299114 earlier this year. When the phone got delivered, she found that its inbox had messages dating back to May 2007.
Users have also complained of being sent BlackBerry handsets with operator logos on them – like At&T and Verizon, companies which do not have licences to operate in India. These phones are often locked, and come with a 'vendor warranty' of six months, as opposed to the BlackBerry India warranty of 18 months.
However, the official spokesperson of the portal defends the quality of what is being sold. 'We have over 40 quality specialists in our quality function working with our sourcing teams in field and, at our distribution centres ensuring 100% quality check at unit level for every shipment that arrives in our warehouse before it is shipped to the customer. This ensures high quality standards across the products that are delivered to our customers. Unfit products are not shipped to the customer and returned back to the vendor. The senior management of the organisation is always closely involved in supporting customer delight and consumer concerns if any are addressed and resolved promptly,' said Pearl Uppal Kachru, the co-founder and CEO of the company that runs fashionandyou.com, in an emailed reply.
This reporter brought this malpractice to the notice of BlackBerry India, but it has not replied so far.
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