Man orders iPhones, Snapdeal delivers pieces of wood!!!

NEW DELHI: A Pune-based man who ordered iPhones from Snapdeal got a rude shock when he opened the package. Instead of Apple's shiny new smartphones, the box had pieces of wood inside.

Darshan Kabra, a resident of Aundh, Pune, had ordered two iPhone 4S units from the online marketplace on December 7. His order number 3862653450 was delivered on December 11 at his home. In his excitement to get his hands on his new iPhones, Kabra opened the package even before the delivery person left the premises. To his shock and anguish, the package contained wooden sticks instead of iPhones.

Fortunately for Kabra, he had chosen the 'Cash on Delivery' option while ordering the two iPhones, which were collectively worth Rs 40,508. He refused to hand over the money to the Snapdeal delivery person, thus saving himself the wait of getting the sum refunded.

Below is an image of the undertaking that the delivery person signed:

Speaking with TOI Tech, Kabra said, "Normally, the delivery guys don't let anyone open the box without payment. However, I insisted on opening before handing over the cash. Since it was cash on delivery, I got saved."

He added, "Please warn the public about such frauds."

An email sent to Snapdeal public relations representatives on this matter did not elicit any response.

The case is similar to another recent instance where Snapdeal reportedly sent a bar of Vim soap and a brick to a person who had ordered a Samsung Galaxy Core Duos smartphone.

In that case, Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL), the maker of Vim soap, had sent a Samsung Galaxy Core Duos unit to the Snapdeal customer. But sadly, there was no good Samaritan that could help out Kabra as Snapdeal didn't even bother to acknowledge his complaint.

Update

Here's the statement Snapdeal's vice president of marketing, Sandeep Komaravelly, sent to TOI Tech at 6.35pm: "We deeply regret the mix-up that inconvenienced our customer. As soon as the case was brought to our notice, the team got in touch with the customer and arranged to hand-deliver the ordered phones."

The company also added: "We have initiated an investigation to identify and address the origin of this issue. We will take stringent measures to rectify this and prevent future occurrences. As one such initiative, we are in the process of introducing tamper-proof packaging. For us at Snapdeal.com, nothing is more important than a seamless customer experience and we are continuously working to improve our processes to enhance this experience."