@Ouch - That thing you mentioned in another thread about trying to charge a
smartphone without inserting the battery, I did something equally embarrassing myself earlier this year. I bought a toaster on
Amazon and didn't realize that I had to first put in the 2 slices of bread AND switch on the power for the lever to lock! The manual was a single leaflet which was absolutely worthless. So I tried to depress the lever without the bread (or the power) and thought the lever was 'not working'. Just like you, I, too, thought it was DOA, asked for an exchange, and without any drama, Amazon got it replaced.
It was only when the second unit was also showing the exact same 'symptoms' that I explored further and realized I was the one who was at fault there. Imagine my embarrassment at not being able to operate umm ... a toaster.
Now, as for my earlier post, I wrote an email yesterday itself, and interacted with 3 CS reps. While they do seemingly use templates for their mails, many of the parts they had to write themselves, and to my amazement, unlike most other call-center employees and CC reps, all three can actually write coherent English without resorting to nonsensical Indianisms like
'Hellllo, myself Aakash. What is your good name please?'
Not only did they initiate the refund (including shipping costs), they also gave me a Rs. 250 gift card earlier today after messing it up initially yesterday. I already have that money in my Amazon wallet (or whatever the hell it's called), and the refund cheque will apparently reach me in "7-9
business days". The overall experience was harrowing, but the guys were polite to a fault and apologized so often that I was feeling a trifle embarrassed myself. I had always trusted Amazon more than
Flipkart, but this has increased my respect for the company. I hope they don't become too 'Indianized' in the foreseeable future.
