Flipkart & the Pointy Haired Ones

Update: Flipkart customer service called to 'assure' me that an ETA of 'within 2-3 business days of placing oprder' is a better ETA than 'May 2'.

I said they are morons and stand by it!

_________________________________________________

I have been a fairly regular customer of Flipkart, having ordered ~ 50 books / CD's in the course of my online shopping with them.

If memory serves me right, when I first ordered a book, I was pleasantly surprised to find a book ordered late on a Saturday night delivered the following Monday.

Of course, there have been ups and downs with Flipkart making (and then rectifying) pricing "errors", suffering from poor website response times and throwing 500/502 Bad Gateway errors every now and then. However, I'd been going back to Flipkart because it seemed reliable for timely delivery.

Not any more.

On a a recently placed order (this weekend), the ETA changed without warning from 'May 2nd' to '3 business days from order date'. Now, a glance of the My Orders page gives me *no* useful information. In order to (try and) calculate when my order will arrive, I have to click the order, look up the order date, and then try and figure out Flipkart's holiday list in order to determine when the '3 business days' will be up.

In today's day and age of *intense* online competition, what kind of organization goes from being user-friendly to user-unfriendly? Does Flipkart actually think that reducing functionality is the way to keep customers coming back for more?

Certainly seems like Flipkart is being taken over by the Pointy Haired Community.

Eagerly waiting to take my business  to www.amazon.in!

_________________________________________________

Update: Looks like I'm not the only one having issues with Flipkart. Lots of disgruntled customers vent here.

RTE -- A Cynical Half-Measure?

The Supreme Court recently upheld the Right to Education (RTE) Act as legal, after the government's lawyer said that the fees of children from economically weaker sections (EWS) will be paid for by the government.

That said, the government is willing to pay less than Rs. 20000 per child per year. I don't know of *any* half-way decent school that charges an annual fee that is not atleast double or even 4-8 times that amount. The government's argument of "we spend that much per child in Kendriya Vidyalaya" rings hollow because private schools are *not* central schools.

In an interview, Kapil Sibal suggested that schools should approach corporates to pay fees for the children from EWS, because, according to him, corporates were waiting to do so! Mr. Sibal, given that you are sure corporates are waiting to fund RTE, why don't you write it in the bill/get it passed as an "RTE Tax" in the budget? why send schools out with a begging bowl? Is it because your words come from your hat instead of from conviction? Oh, and while you're at it, can you please tell me what happens to the 3% education cess that you collect from me on virtually every tax I pay?

Another issue with the RTE is that the children from EWS are taken care of from the ages of 6-14, i.e., grades 1 through 8. Children are expected to speak, read and write alteast one language and know basic math. concepts *before* they get to grade 1. How does Mr. Sibal intend for this to happen for the children from EWS if they *start* school in grade 1? And, even more weird, what sense does educating them till class 8 make? A decent milestone would have been the 10th grade (which would get them a certificate), or even better, the 12th grade (which would ensure that they are in school till they get to the legal age of work).

To summarize, RTE is nothing but a cynical modern-day equivalent of "garibi hatao" peddled by the Congress in the hope of winning elections.

What a shame.

Nupur Talwar -- Victim of a Witch-Hunt?

In 2008, a young girl named Aarushi Talwar was brutally murdered in her own home in UP. The local police, in their haste to "solve" the case, came up with some theories and allowed the media in for a look-see at the scene of the murder, thereby destroying vital evidence.

Aarushi's father, Rajesh Talwar had spent more than a few days in jail when the CBI (to whom the case was handed over) concluded there was insufficient evidence against him and proposed to close the case. A judge ruled against closing the case and he remains an accused. He is currently out on bail.

In a twist of events, Aarushi's mother Nupur Talwar has also become a murder accused. Denied bail, she has been take to jail tonight.

Watching (what the media report about) the case, I cannot help but wonder if this is a witch-hunt. The same CBI that said there was insufficient evidence to prosecute Rajesh Talwar now opposes Nupur Talwar's bail because she may tamper with evidence. Tamper with evidence four years after the crime? Which was insufficient to proceed with the case?

To be very clear, I have *no* idea whether the Talwars murdered their daughter or not. I just find it very strange, that four years on, the CBI is ok for the murder victim's father to be out on bail but not her mother. When they are both co-accused.

On another note, as a parent myself, I cannot help but empathize with what the Talwars must be going through. To lose a child has to be the hardest thing in the world. And when that happens, instead of mourning for the child, the Talwars spend their time in and out of jails and courtrooms as murder accused.

If they are innocent, by the time they get to prove it, will their lives not be completely destroyed not only because they've lost their only child, but because they've been spending their time fighting to prove their innocence instead of getting closure and moving on?

Tragic.

Airtel ... Aarggghhh!!!

Unfortunately for me, I am an Airtel Broadband customer.

Last month, I received an email stating that a pack worth Rs 85 had been activated on my account. I called up the complaint number (198) and got it cancelled, and also said that I *never* wanted any service activated automatically.

So far, so good. Until ... 30 days later, I got the following email: 

"On your request our Customer Care Executive has made purchase for you, the PC Secure subscription has been activated for your airtel broadband ID ...
Price(INR)	:	85.00/-"

Once again I called up the complaint number (and navigated through irritating options till I was able to speak to a "human"), to be told that I wouldn't be charged, and if by chance I was, I could call and get it reversed. I wasn't satisfied (given that this was the second time it was happening). I asked for a complaint #, which the customer "care" representative refused to provide. Instead I was connected (after a long hold), to the "escalation" department who tried to tell me that unless customers give "feedback" how would Airtel know? And then tried to blame the email on the "server" that sent it!

The above interactions clearly indicate:
*> Airtel doesn't care two hoots about customer service.
*> Airtel is opportunistic and will not hesitate to slap on charged unless you track communication *very* carefully.
*> Airtel hires morons as programmers who are unable to draft emails that indicate a service is free if it is free, and put customers through torture of interacting with customer "care".
*> Airtel has no concept of quality control -- why send repeated emails to customers saying they will be charged for (what they later claim) are free services?
*> Airtel Customer Care Dept is (probably) taking higher management for a right royal ride -- by not issuing complaint numbers to customers who call with complaints (and then claiming to have great service -- see? no complaint #s?)

Airtel surely makes the pointy haired community proud of it!