Consumer fights back! - 2

Consumer fights back! was all about how a consumer did not give up fighting for his rights, how he waited patiently to get a rotten piece of cloth changed. Well, in this case, this consumer was none other than me.

I was asked to wait for 10 days (for what?, read Consumer fights back!) but I waited for almost twice of this time. When on 11th day, I gave a call to the shop manager of Genesis, Basics to know the status of my complaint; he demanded more time to get it fixed. So, I gave him a call after 3 days and again he started reasoning with me for more time. Now this was enough to freak me out. I directly dialed the head-office number in Chennai and queried about the proceedings of my complaint. My phone call was routed a few times (wasted 10 minutes of out-station call) before I got the right person on the line. When I asked him about my complaint, he said that T-shirt was fine and the disappearance of color was the style. He said that they made that cloth's material deliberately like that. I was not only surprised but completely freaked out. People never stop justifying. They keep arguing until you lose your cool or just agree with what they are saying to put a full-stop to the matter. But I was as hard a nut as he was and after dragging the talk for another 10 minutes, he got convinced to change it one more time. But I would have been happier if he had simply accepted the fault.

I called up the shop manager and apprise him of the situation. He again demanded some more time based on some incomprehensible reasons. So, I went to the shop on the coming weekend and chose a white shirt with a price tag of 800 INR.

The Shop manager asked me to get any other piece of same price range (my pervious purchase was of 700 INR) but I did not find anything good in that range. Actually, I did not want to buy any other color except white from that shop because I wanted to cut down the chances of fading to nill. So I finalized that white shirt. When he asked about squaring off the balance, I reminded him about the phone calls that I made to him and to his head-office, the number of times I had come to his shop to get the T changed etc, which was sufficient to make him quite. So I stepped out of the shop with another piece of cloth with a higher worth and with a color that I like. I have worn and washed the shirt a few times and faced no problems.

All in all, I won the battle against a not-so-easy-to-handle company that definitely wasted my lot of time and efforts but could not break my spirit to fight. I want to thank friends/colleagues/people who read Consumer fights back! and encouraged me to continue my fight.

Consumer fights back!

I always wondered whenever I saw somebody complaining about a product or an item, that he/she had bought and it turned out to be a loss. I always felt what they were thinking when they were buying it? Couldn’t they figure out what it would turn out to be? And then it happened with me (God has his own ways of teaching you a lesson). First thought that came in my mind was, I should not judge others’ perspective with my limited understanding of the situation.

Two weeks back, I bought a T-shirt from Genesis, Basics for 700 INR. I was happy, as usually I become whenever I buy something good and worth my money. I wore it once and then gave it to my maid for washing. When I saw it after one wash, it made me sick. It seemed like it was bleached at different places. The beautiful green color of it turned into dull yellow at several places. It made me furious and I called up the shop manager (I always keep the bill for initial few days). I conveyed to him the whole situation and he asked me to bring it to the shop. Next day, I did the same thing. The shop manager said that he would call me up the very next day with a solution. I waited for his call whole day but he did not give a damn to it so I had to call him up in the evening and inquired about it. He asked me wait for another 2 days, which I was not ready to do. I told him to return my money because few of my friends, with whom I discussed the story, did not have a good experience with this brand. And after dragging the matter for another couple of days, he changed it. This time he gave me same kind of T but with different color, since he did not have the color that I previously bought so I had to adjust with it. I warned him that if this turned out to be in the same way, I would come back to you.

Reluctantly, I wore it once or twice and this time, just to give it extra care, I washed it with my own hands. It doesn’t mean that my maid is not good at washing but I was just being cautious.

When I saw it, I was shocked and much more furious than previous time. Same thing happened to it again. Its chocolate brown color disappeared from certain places and it looked like as if I had been wearing it for ages. I called up the shop manager but he refused helping me. I was really disappointed with his behavior. He said that he had already changed it once and now, he couldn't be able to help me anymore. This was ridiculous, he sounded to me as if it was my fault that I bought from his shop and now, I have to face the consequences. I googled with the brand’s name and found their website. I mailed the whole situation at the address mentioned in it but, as I reckoned, it bounced back (I don’t understand, why they mention an email id when they, actually, don't care about it). Well, I called up at their head-office in Chennai and registered my complaint. After a few minutes, I got a call from the shop manager and sudddenly he started pleading to me to return it to him ASAP (I don’t know what head-office guy told him). He said, he would send it to their head-office and whatever they decide, will be handed over to me.

I have returned it to the shop manager and right now, I am waiting for their so-called verdict, for which I have to wait for another 10 days. But I am more than sure that if it doesn’t fall in my favor, I will again fight back. I will register a complaint in the consumer court because nothing can deter me from fighting for a valid cause.

I know 700 INR is not a big amount but it is not small either. Moreover, when I pay for something, I must get the value worth my money, at least, not less if not more.