Caveat Emptor: Let the Buyer Beware!!

Websites that offer huge discounts on products and services in your area/locality/city are burgeoning like mushrooms these days. Mostly the products or services on offer are not the everyday necessities but in general cater to giving you a slice of that lavish lifestyle you always dream of. 

Courtesy : americanbedu.com

The general idea is to get many buyers for the seller and thus create a win-win-win situation for all. The seller is happy as the sales reach the peaks. The buyer is happy to get hold of a good bargain and the service provider is happy to make a commission out if and create its loyalists.

SoSasta was a start up which became an instant hit when Groupon a World Giant in this field decided to enter India and bought the start up.  Having subscribed for the Kolkata deals and regularly getting tempting offers, I decided to buy a watch given the huge discount on offer. The process to buy the voucher was streamlined but the customer would always keep wondering about the delivery and purchase options as full details were missing.

The contact number provided keeps ringing and no one picks the same. I was lucky to reach them on my tenth try and spoke to lady who was very helpful to stating that apparently there is no voucher required for the sale whereas the email I received stated that voucher will be sent soon. Next I was asked to send a mail with all details but no response from the service providers till today. Every business organization must understand that this is the era of customer satisfaction. While a prompt service might not have forced me to blog about it but poor service will always do…

One search on twitter and I learnt I was not alone:

‎	PurpleMossE‎ Hello someone from @SoSasta pls write back...one of ur offers bought has incomplete details... Twitter - 700032 16 May 2011

‎	sum1‎ @SoSasta Sent 2 emails to contact@sosasta.com. Last one was 10 days ago. Still no reply. Call that customer service bcoz I don't

While the online shopping scenario is picking up speedily in India with international service providers heading to the country like Amazon which now provides free shipping and sites like Flipkart are creating benchmarks in customer delight, such bad experiences will leave people with a bitter taste in mouth. 

Update: 
People from SoSasta have explained about the issue with their vendor for the deal and have also mentioned to take steps towards informing the customers about such situations in future. Its good when companies take the extra pain to reach out to all their customers big and small.


This episode also explains how internet and social media interaction is changing the dynamics between Businesses and consumers.