GATI - Very bad Courier Service

Product: Symphony Hi!Cool Air Cooler

Ordered from: Snapdeal.com

Courier Service: GATI

This is regarding a Symphony Air Cooler we ordered from Snapdeal, an online shopping website,on March 31st, 2014, Monday. It was mentioned on the Snapdeal's website that it will be despatched in 3 business days, i.e. Thursday. So, we thought that maximum it will reach us by Saturday. 

After 2 days, we got a message from Snapdeal stating that the material is despatched from Delhi through a Courier Service GATI (meaning 'Speed' in hindi) and it will definitely reach us by April 7th, 2014, Monday. We are regular online shoppers but this was the first time we were shopping from Snapdeal. Also, never ever has any product taken so long to come especially by Flipkart, where the product is delivered much before the due date.

We thought since this was an electronic item, may be thats why the long time. But, our shocker came on April 7th, 2014, the committed date by Snapdeal for delivery, when after contacting GATI, they said the shipment has already reached Hyderabad North on April 6th, 2014 but it can't be delivered before April 9th, 2014 because they don't have vehicle !!! Three days the shipment was supposed to lie and rotten in GATI's godown at the city of delivery, just because they can't arrange for a vehicle? AND THEY CALL THEMSELVES INDIA'S PIONEER IN EXPRESS DISTRIBUTION AND SUPPLY CHAIN SOLUTIONS.... how do they do this... without a vehicle???

This was not all. When contacting Snapdeal's Call Centre again, they reiterated that as per their system, the Air Cooler should be delivered on April 7th, 2014. Again, GATI said April 9th, 2014. There was definitely a big communication gap between both the service providers but none was able to give a solution and was passing the buck on the other. Snapdeal said that they have handed over the product to GATI on April 2nd, 2014. So, does it take 5 days for the shipment to get couriered from Delhi to Hyderabad, by a so-claimed leading Courier company. How were they bringing... by BUS?

In all this poor business communication between Snapdeal and GATI, it was us, the customer, who was getting frustrated. But, one thing we were satisfied with and that was we had not paid the money for the Air Cooler yet and it was a 'Cash on Delivery' order. So, our money was not stuck.

But, because of the extreme heat conditions happening in Hyderabad, we were just not ready to wait one more day. We clearly told GATI Call Centre representatives on April 7th, 2014 that we want the Air cooler the same day, as was promised by Snapdeal, otherwise we will not accept the order. 

May be because of our threatening to cancel the order, we got a call from GATI's delivery boy the next day morning, April 8th, 2014, saying that he will deliver the Air Cooler by 1400 hrs that day. So, we thought to accept it if it comes by that time. 

But, we kept waiting-and-waiting and nobody turned up. When we called the delivery person at 1700 hrs to ask his whereabouts, he didn't receive the call.

Frustrated by the bad service, we looked for Symphony Air Coolers dealers on internet and found one near our locality Ameerpet, Pragati Enterprises. To our luck, he said that he has the product ready and he will directly send it through his person. We don't even have to come to his shop. 

So, in the end, GATI person never turned up but the delivery boy from Pragati Enterprises came within half-an-hour. This shows that these so-called brands like 'Snapdeal' and 'GATI' are just big names. It is still the local corner electronics shop vendor which comes to our rescue in times like these. 

After about an hour, we got a message from GATI saying that on our orders, the shipment was being redirected!!! Orders... what orders.... we never gave any? 

The most humorous part happened on April 10th, 2014 when again we got a call from GATI Couriers asking whether we want the delivery!!! By that time,we had already purchased the Air Cooler from Pragati Enterprises and said NO. The GATI courier person on the other side sounded really happy after hearing that. He must have been relieved that one work is less. 

Because of the poor experience from GATI, I am scared to even shop from Snapdeal now, as they have GATI as their courier service.

My suggestion to GATI - If you can't be good at your work, please shut the shop.

My suggestion to Snapdeal - Please remove GATI as your courier service provider and decrease the communication gap between yours and your partner's systems and Call Centre representatives. Please don't let the customer suffer because he has trusted you.

Complaints for GATI from other customers:

It seems I am not the only one. Here is a sneak peek of some other complaints about GATI I found on the net:

1) I had ordered a few books from sauda.com which they sent through this courier company. The books had reached the destination on the 11th and they were delivered 3 days later. I lost my sleep and patience.

Please DON’T EVER go to this courier company. The staff is highly irresponsible and the customer service of this company is simply USELESS.

2) Never buy anything from an ecom site that is delivered by GATI. You will not get the delivery. The status updated will be completely wrong. Customer Care have no clue but always say only one sentence 'Sorry for the inconvenience’. They can say this all day long. I spent 3 hours over 3 days to just speak to them and make them work. 

But they are horrible. .....Now the courier is lying in GATI"s godown. HELL

3) A very disgusting service from Gati. I had my product available with them on 13 Nov and its been 23 Nov and they have not yet delivered it to my house. I raised a complaint but of no use. I have been promised a new date and not yet got the delivery. Please do not go to Gati if you want you stuff to be delivered on time.

4) Dear All,

Its my humble request not to select Gati Movers and Packers services for any purpose. These people are liars and cheaters. They quote something, they have something. They deliver too late, u can imagine the condition of your shipment.

Also many materials on the missing list. Please don’t use Gati Services.

5) I had ordered something from an online shop in India. Gati’s website is showing 3 delivery failures against a parcel scheduled to deliver to me - Once due to office/residence closed, then due to network failure and one due to address not found. All 3 bogus reasons because the Gati office is right across our street so no reason for them not to locate the address.

Not a single person visited our apartment once. No one responded to my complaints and a girl called Neha on the online chat, told me a bunch of lies including "Technical problems because of which she was unable to track my order (the fact: I could track it on another window on Gati’s website at the same time)", etc. Anyway, when I called my vendor and they applied some pressure on Gati to which Gati said that they will deliver at 11 am - my mom waited till 2 pm and none of these jokers showed up. Better still, they did not pick up any calls. Anyway, it was NOT a pleasure doing business with Gati.

Regards,

Pragya Banerjee
MBA (Finance); 7+ years of work experience
email:pragyasonal@gmail.com
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