My Order details (Which I expected before ordering):
Product Name: American Tourister Cyber C1 Backpack (Black)
Product link in Flipkart: link
Bag type: Cyber back pack
Order received date: 13-10-2014
Retail price: Rs.1480/-
Offer: 55%
Offer price: Rs.814/-
EAN Id/Bar code#: 8901836088984
Mfg by: Equiplus india Export Pvt. Ltd, C-21, Panki, Ind. Area Site-1, Kanpur 208022 UP (No website for this company)
Customer care: Email-service@samsonite.co.in Service Engg: Tel No. -02553-229700 which are actually not working
Actual money worth: Rs.250/- (You can get the same bag for Rs.200 from any local sellers nearby railway station in Mumbai and Bangalore) but I have ordered in flipkart for Rs.814/-
Once I have received the bag, I saw the logo, it was AT not American Tourister. The detail mentioned in the warranty card was looking like its actually from american tourister and the warranty card had the logo of AT, and the other details printed in the warranty card was looking like, its from American Tourister only and Marketed by Samsonite South Asia Pvt Ltd, like how the American Tourister original warranty card looks like.
I had doublt while looking into the logo, and did a search on google about the product information. After spending 90 mins I concluded that the bag is from some local manufacturing company not from Samsonite/American Tourister, and collected all the information before calling Flipkart customer care.
There is no information about AT company in google. Usually when you type any branded product bar code in google, the actual product information will come in the first link itself. But here there is no information about the product itself.
No information about the EAN Id/barcode in google
No Cyber type bags in American Tourister official product website
Flipkart website link for this product (see the product title)
My flipkart order invoice
I have called flipkart customer care and the person who attended the call challenged me that the bag is from american tourister only. I explained him all the information one by one which I have gathered and finally he told me that, you have bought what you have seen in our website and they never refund my money though its proven this is not a original product. I told him many times that I have purchased this because of the product title was mentioned American Tourister but his final answer was "this is the responsibility of the customer to verify the product before purchase (even though the product is having good brand name) and I can only send email to cs@flipkart.com if I need any queries". Before hung up my call, I told him that I will complain in consumer court regarding this, and he is not even bothered about that.
After the call I composed long email with all the screen shots which I found, and sent to cs@flipkart.com. After that I have collected all the India and US samsonite and American Tourister contact mail ids and sent email to them with product name and barcode# details, and have asked them about product originality and about the samsonite marketing and service. In the same email, I have kept flipkart customer car email id in CC.
Actually the bag is very small and not worth to buy for Rs.250 also. It made up with very low quality material and you can buy the same or better than this at any local shops nearby any rail way station for Rs.200/- if you are the good bar-gainer. The ultimate thing is that they have mentioned in the warranty card, 1 YEAR WORLD WIDE WARRANTY, but the mfg company/service center in India itself is non traceable.
So, friends my advice is, when you purchase something through online, first check whether the product is original or not by searching the bar code in google as soon as you receive the product. This is not happened only for me, and many of them are already complained about flipkart and still they are continuing this. Flipkart service delivery is fast, that's the only reason I used order things in flipkart, but if they repeat the same in future, they will loose all the customers soon. This is how they are offering >50% for many branded products and be careful before ordering anything in flipkart. Its very difficult to differentiate whether the product which you have bought is original or duplicate and all looks same when you see the product. Like this we can expect duplicate product in many categories like shirts, mobile pouches, chargers, etc in online purchase. I identified only this as I have purchased the bag and don’t know how many other category products are like this?
Actually the original bag (same model) from american tourister bag has more pockets than this duplicate one also with less price. So, don’t go and order simply when you see the offer of >50% or more.
See below the product comparison of Original and this local product
All of these products are not from American Tourister though its mentioned like that:
American Tourister Cyber C1 Backpack (Brown)
American Tourister Cyber C1 Backpack (Red)
American Tourister Cyber C1 Backpack (Black)
American Tourister Cyber C1 Backpack (Purple)
American Tourister Cyber C2L Laptop Backpack (Green)
American Tourister Cyber C2L Laptop Backpack (Black)
American Tourister Cyber C2L Laptop Backpack (Red)
American Tourister Cyber C2L Laptop Backpack (Orange)
American Tourister Cyber C3L Laptop Backpack (Red)
American Tourister Cyber C3L Laptop Backpack (GRP)
American Tourister Cyber C3L Laptop Backpack (Green)
American Tourister Cyber C3L Laptop Backpack (Black)
Actually I would not have written this blog if they have been agreed on my queries when I called to their customer care first time, but they made me to believe that this is from actual brand and not duplicate product. For some of the products flipkart used to show the message like its 100% original (see below image), and for many of them they don't show this. If they are selling actually all original products in their site, they don’t need to show this message against only for some products. When you see the below image from flipkart, you will realize the original word is mentioned only for some products.
The one good thing for me is flipkart made me to open my blog account after 2 years to write this. Thanks to flipkart. This is the end of my blog and I am waiting for their response about my refund. Wishing you all have a safe and careful online shopping. :-)