I have been using Flipkart for years now, have always appreciated their prompt and fast delivery and have always been very happy with the user experience.
But, I had this nasty experience with flipkart and I don’t know what to make of it!
In December, Flipkart ran a promotion scheme, which claimed to have a 10% cashback on any order of above Rs.10,000 that is placed as one transaction and paid through HDFC credit/debit cards. The cash back was promised “before” 5th of March 2014 (not “on or before” or “by” 5th of March).
I went through the terms and conditions carefully, took a screen capture of it, saved the T&C page. And then proceeded to purchase 4 items of cumulative worth Rs. 11,421. This entitled me to a cash back of Rs. 1,142, to be received ‘before’ 5th march. I set an event for 4th of March to check my account to verify the refund has been completed and forgot about this.
Sure enough, I got an alert yesterday to check the cash back refund status. And surely enough it wasn’t done.
So, I contacted Flipkart customer support and reminded them of this. And to my surprise I got a reply that said
“We would like to inform you that, 10% cash back offer was applicable only if the order value of Rs 10,000/- or more, but we see that, above mentioned order value is of Rs 9,825/-, so you are not eligible for the 10% cash back.”
Being puzzled I went and checked my order accounts. Surely enough my single order was split in to two ORDER-ID by Flipkart! One order was of Rs. 9,825/- and another one of Rs. 1,596/- and in their book it rendered me ‘ineligible’ for the cashback!
I rechecked my HDFC CC statements. And it was clear that the order was charged as a single transaction of Rs. 11,421/-
So, I wrote back to Flipkart stating this, and reminding them that how they treated their orders internally is no concern of mine. I received following reply –
“Please be informed that the products in the mentioned orders were placed via different sellers.Hence, a multiple order IDs were generated. As per the terms we are sorry to inform you the cashback cannot be availed. Any inconvenience is regretted.”
So, Flipkart split up the order internally for different vendors ‘they use’ to sell through their site. I have enclosed the ‘terms & condition’ below, and it very clearly states that there was no requirement for me to place the order of over Rs.10,000/- on a single vendor(seller) within Flipkart. So, I wrote back stating the same, and also made a copy of the capture I had kept.
I received the following reply:
“I have went through the payment records once again and feel like i owe you an apology. As per the terms and condition a single transaction was made towards the above mentioned orders of Rs. 11421/-. Hence, i would like to inform you the orders are eligible for the cashback.”
What the above meant – If you have meticulously kept the proof of purchase, and the copy of terms & conditions, and follow up diligently without forgetting the monies owed back to you – Then Flipkart will pay. Otherwise, Flipkart will be happy to keep your money – unjustly. And it will even try to talk you out of it with some crazy explanation.
Sorry to say, I will be very sceptical in future of any promotion schemes of Flipkart. And I’ll also be very hesitant to buy from flipkart, if the same item is available from other sellers.
Hope Flipkart will refund this amount without any further follow up being needed from my side. But, I am posting this detail so other buyers can be beware of such ‘practices’.
I am very sad to see that my favourite shopping site has come to this.
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HDFC Offer Terms & Conditions
- Get Extra 10% Cashback on purchases of Rs. 10,000 or more on domestic HDFC Credit Cards or Debit Cards.
- This offer is valid starting from 24th December 2013 and ending on 1st January 2014, both days included.
- This offer is valid on purchases from all sellers on flipkart.com
- For an order to be eligible for the cashback, it should be paid for in-full by HDFC Debit or Credit card only. Partial payment by Wallet or eGiftVoucher would not be applicable.
- The maximum cashback that can be redeemed per card (including all add-on cards) on the HDFC cashback offer (from 24th Dec. 2013 to 1st Jan. 2014) is Rs. 5,000. All add on cards along with the primary card put together can avail Rs. 5,000 cashback only during the promotion period.
- Debit cards and Credit cards held by the same customer would be eligible for separate cashbacks. Add-on cards would not have separate cashback eligibility.
- EMI transactions would be eligible for the cashback offer. However, interest would be charged on the original pre-cashback principal amount. Cashback posted by the bank will not affect the EMI schedule. Example: if the customer has shopped worth Rs. 20,000, then the cashback he/she would get would be Rs. 2000. However, the interest would be charged on Rs. 20,000 for the outstanding period.
- This offer will not be applicable for Card-On-Delivery transactions.
- The cashback will be credited to your credit card/debit card before 5th March, 2014
- All government Levies like Sales Tax, TDS, any Local Tax, Octroi etc., shall be payable by the Cardholder as applicable at the time the respective Programs were offered.
- In case of any dispute, decision of Flipkart Internet Pvt. Ltd will be final and binding.
- Orders that have been cancelled by the customer will not qualify for cashback.
- Will I get cashback if I place more than one purchase transaction on a card?
Yes, as long as each individual purchase transaction is Rs. 10,000 or more. However, the maximum cashback amount that can be redeemed per card across transactions offer during the offer period is Rs. 5,000. - Will I get cashback if my purchase transaction of over Rs. 10,000 is across multiple sellers?
Yes. As long as the total value is Rs. 10,000 or more, the purchase transaction can be across products from any sellers on flipkart.com
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