The reality of Desi grocery delivery apps, how horribly they fail at what they promise to customers

“Tired from work, braving traffic jams to get to a jam-packed grocery store? Use our app, select the groceries you want from your nearest stores and get them delivered at your doorstep in no time. Best quality guaranteed at the cheapest rate!” Now, anyone in this world would fall for that idea. It is a great concept we agree, but not so great when the grocery apps fail to fulfill the tall promises they make. What seems like a heavenly service more often ends up becoming a nightmare when wrong products are delivered, or it takes an eternity for orders to reach you. Oblivious to how it is detrimental to their image in the market, our desi grocery delivery apps unfortunately are losing a great concept to poor customer service, something that forms the foundation of this business.

The irony is, for customers, it ends up complicating their lives instead of simplifying it! Here’s how:

Vikram Sanghvi, an employee with a Gurgaon-based MNC, who used Bigbasket service found grave faults with the app recently: “I received a phone call at the delivery time saying that my order is out of stock and I will be sent an alternate option. I found out that the delivered product was of higher price compared to the one I wanted. Now, is it my fault that you have run out of stock. If you have, the app should not reflect such products so that one does not order it, but why should I compromise and pay a higher price for something I don't want,” he says.

Unlike Vikram,Vijaya Singh, a homemaker based in Gurgaon, who thought of trying out Grofers app was delivered an alternative without informing her: “I ordered MDH masala packets. When I received the order, they sent me Catch masala packets instead. It makes me feel that they want to promote one brand over the other.” She also pointed that while ordering multiple products from various sections of Grofers – fruits and veggies, cosmetics, bakery – different delivery boys come at different time which she finds quite inconvenient. "One order and you have the door bell ringing 3 times in 15 minutes. I personally don't like this way of delivery," she says.

Akash and Mandeep, both running their start-ups in South Delhi, have a bigger plight. Only half of the ordered items were delivered to them by Grofers. While Akash opted for the cash on delivery option and did not have to pay for all that he had ordered on the app, a furious Mandeep says “It has been over 45 days and still they haven't returned my money close to Rs 520. There is no money return policy, it’s shameful. You make the mistake and customer pays the price for it. Who runs a business like this.”

For Janki, a mother and employee working at an MNC in Gurgaon, it was worse because the products were not delivered until the next day and what she was in store for is quite annoying: “I had ordered pampers for my kid from ZopNow. First, they postponed the order for another day and then they cancelled my order without informing me. When I called them for my money that I paid online, they said supervisor will call back but nobody reached out to me. Pathetic customer service,” she says.

We have all heard of late deliveries, but 6 days!! “We generally shop online and decided to give Godrej Nature's basket online website a chance. It was the biggest mistake ever. We were told our order will be delivered in 48 hours, however even after 6 days we haven't received the order, neither have we received any update. The service is obviously very unprofessional and cannot be trusted, which we did not expect from a Godrej,” he says.

Another young working lady, Shikha Singh, swears she won’t use the apps ever as it gave her the most embarrassing moment ever: “I ordered some grocery through Bigbasket app and I needed it urgently because some guests including my boss were coming over. The order was placed successfully and their call center confirmed the same to me. Not only were they late, but I got a call two hours later only to hear from the team that the items were out of stock and couldn’t be delivered. I had to order food from the restaurant for them. It was embarrassing as I had invited them to a home-made litti-chokha treat.”

Not everyone has been that unlucky though. A couple of them we spoke to said that they received the right orders, except that it took them an eternity to get them at their doorstep. “The orders never seem to reach you before 2-3 hours, even the smallest orders take time. What if you have guests over? One can bring things from the market and finish cooking by the time they deliver,” says Saba Haider, a journalist working with a reputed media house in Noida, who uses Grofers for her household needs.

There are even several users complaining of price disparity. They can’t stop short of calling it fraudulent practices. “I ordered Tropicana 100% orange juice from Nature's Hub. MRP for this product is Rs 120, but on the site it was displayed as Rs 99. Obviously, I was happy at the discount being offered and ordered 5 of them for Cash on Delivery. When the product came, they charged me Rs 120 (original MRP) for the product mentioning this was incorrectly priced on the site. Since I was not at home at that moment and my wife wasn't aware of it, she paid and opened the pack. Now this is totally unacceptable and misleading,” said Ashish Naik, a businessman based out of Mumbai.

Dear concerned companies, we hope you are listening to them. Our humble advice – Please, treat your customers like god. If you don’t, you might fall out of the race even before you picked up. Don’t forget, you are because they are.