Samsung India eStore which was launched in mid-March 2012, and has been offering Samsung mobile products online in the country, is facing flake for the lack of a good cancellation policy at the online store.
An Online Petition against Samsung India eStore to offer better Cancellation policy has been making rounds. Basically, the issue is that the Samsung India eStore does not have clarity on cancellation of the orders.
Samsung India eStore is just like any other e-commerce website but offers only Samsung products to consumers for online purchase. One consumer raised an issue over strongly worded Terms of Service related to cancellation of order placed with Samsung India eStore. After placing an order, when the user wanted to cancel the order, the request was not entertained.
Samsung India eStore is serviced and managed by Savex Computers Ltd., who also happen to be a distributor for Samsung since 1996.
The Terms of Service on Samsung India eStore related Cancellation states
Order once placed (in case of Cash on Delivery, order once confirmed) shall not be cancelled. Savex will not accept any cancellations against orders paid for using online mode of payment (credit/debit card and netbanking). In case of requests for order cancellations on a Cash-on-Delivery Order, the order should not be confirmed on the telephonic call made by our Customer Care to verify the order.
Many consumers found this unreasonable and signed up for the Online Petition. Following that, Samsung India eStore made a special landing page detailing relaxation on the Cancellation. The landing page – Cancellation, stated that the cancellation request should ideally be made within two hours of placing the order. Also, the consumer will be charged 2 percent from the cost of the product as the cancellation fee, against the recovery of payment gateway costs.
An average Indian consumer finds this infuriating for not being able to cancel an order. The Mobile Indian had reached out to Samsung India for sharing the official statement on this matter and at the time of this story going live we didn’t get any inputs.
The Terms and Conditions page of the Samsung India eStore states in bold capital letters – ACCESSING, BROWSING OR OTHERWISE USING THE SITE INDICATES YOUR AGREEMENT TO ALL THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS IN THIS AGREEMENT, SO PLEASE READ THIS AGREEMENT CAREFULLY BEFORE PROCEEDING.
Usually, the merchants are co-operative enough to cancel the order and refund the amount in select genuine cases. Also, if the buyer has used Credit Card to purchase that product, then the buyer can visit the Bank to apply for “Chargeback”.
Our take
Consumers often get lured by attractive discount and the price of a product. And that is natural. But the trick is to duly check the deal before throwing away your money. Here are our two cents to avoid any kind of annoyance with the eCommerce websites.
Read the Terms of Service
We recommend reading the terms and conditions of any eCommerce website before giving away your personal details and feeding your bank credentials while placing an order. Placing pre-orders offered by e-Commerce websites are fine unless you have clearly read the conditions presented by that website. Look out for the estimated time of delivery and availability of the product in the listing.
Pre-orders
The e-Commerce website has a very limited number of units, initially. That is why the pre-orders are mostly on “First come, first-serve” basis. Always check the estimated date of launch/availability before paying entire amount for a product.
Any popular eCommerce website will take you through number of steps to ensure that you have provided information consciously. And at any point of time you decide to change your mind, close the tab and move on.
Most e-Commerce websites also have a clear Return Policy which basically covers the conditions to be followed if the buyer has received a faulty product or is not satisfied with it.
Unfortunately, the Consumer Protection Act 1986 does not cover the e-Commerce websites and hence no written regulations exist in India. Thankfully, the Banks are co-operative enough and might open up an investigation in usually cases like stolen bank credential that may be used for fraudulent tractions.