The idea behind this post is not to lambast Flipkart (or anyone else for that matter), but to offer some constructive feedback to let them know that they need to fine-tune their response (and policy if required) so that they can continue doing the absolutely awesome job that they're already doing especially when it comes to some spectacular customer-service. Confused? Read on.
Ever since Flyte launched on Flipkart, I've been using it often not just because I am interested in purchasing music, but am generally enthusiastic about the kind of content that people consume as well as the obscure stuff that keeps showing up on and off. There seems to be a serious, concerted effort by the likes of all the music labels who are digging out all their inlay cards, digitizing all their music, investing in providing accurate metadata/information about songs, and sourcing their long-lost albums.
I have been a Flipkart fan ever since I started using their service to buy my first book on 24th October 2011 (which incidentally was a pre-order): "Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography - Walter Isaacson" and have since used their service to buy various things apart from books with music having caught my fancy.
As a music aficionado and a guy who works at Google, I generally have this OCD about incorrect data being supplied and users being provided incorrect information. On one of my various late-night browsing endeavors I happened to get sucked into the vortex of browsing for songs/albums to purchase and happened to chance upon a rare album called 'Lata and Kishore - Live Concert at Sangit Kala Kendra'.
I was flabbergasted not as much by the fact that I had happened to stumble upon this album, but moreso by the song listing provided.
Here are some anomalies that I found (circled in red) and my commentary alongside.
1) Album says 'Lata and Kishore' but the album artist is 'Asha Bhosle'
2) Artists listed on the album include everyone except Lata & Kishore.
3) Most of the tracks that mention 'live' are not 'live' (except Main Shair To Nahin by Shailendra Singh).
Before you jump to conclusions about how boring a post this is and how often you see this etc., what I was most surprised (and upset) by was that I mentioned these things as feedback against the album hoping that Flipkart will notice this anomaly and send me an email letting me know that they had removed the album and will correct the metadata and add it back to their list.
Well, I did get an email. But, it was to inform me that my comment was removed due to their 'policies' (working in an MNC I so hate that word).
Here's the email I received from them verbatim. Note the highlighted part that confused me at first and then shocked me. Perhaps the shock was out of the confusion that it caused, but I had such high expectations from Flipkart that it surprised me that they had a policy which would not allow people to let them know that the track listing was incorrect so that they can avoid purchasing this album on the pretext of expecting something and being delivered something absolutely different.
What do you think? Probably an over-reaction on my part?
Dear yyyyy,
Thank you for sharing your thoughts at Flipkart.com for "Lata And Kishore - Live Concert At Sangit Kala Kendra ", dated 6th May 2012.
Thank you for bringing this to our notice and we have forwarded your concern to respective department and upon verification we will do the necessary amendments.
As per our review policy (www.Flipkart.com/s/help), we are not allowed to accept the mention of incorrect details on our website and hence your review has been removed we apologise for any in inconvenience caused.
(We are not allowed to accept the mention of incorrect details on our website...what?? seriously??)
We would shortly roll-out a customer centric forum welcoming your experiences and feedback on our service and products. We appreciate your patience in this regard.
Please feel free to share your concerns or queries with us at cs@Flipkart.com.
Looking forward to your product specific reviews on Flipkart.com.
Yours Sincerely,
Customer Review Team
Flipkart.com
Ever since Flyte launched on Flipkart, I've been using it often not just because I am interested in purchasing music, but am generally enthusiastic about the kind of content that people consume as well as the obscure stuff that keeps showing up on and off. There seems to be a serious, concerted effort by the likes of all the music labels who are digging out all their inlay cards, digitizing all their music, investing in providing accurate metadata/information about songs, and sourcing their long-lost albums.
I have been a Flipkart fan ever since I started using their service to buy my first book on 24th October 2011 (which incidentally was a pre-order): "Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography - Walter Isaacson" and have since used their service to buy various things apart from books with music having caught my fancy.
As a music aficionado and a guy who works at Google, I generally have this OCD about incorrect data being supplied and users being provided incorrect information. On one of my various late-night browsing endeavors I happened to get sucked into the vortex of browsing for songs/albums to purchase and happened to chance upon a rare album called 'Lata and Kishore - Live Concert at Sangit Kala Kendra'.
I was flabbergasted not as much by the fact that I had happened to stumble upon this album, but moreso by the song listing provided.
Here are some anomalies that I found (circled in red) and my commentary alongside.
1) Album says 'Lata and Kishore' but the album artist is 'Asha Bhosle'
2) Artists listed on the album include everyone except Lata & Kishore.
3) Most of the tracks that mention 'live' are not 'live' (except Main Shair To Nahin by Shailendra Singh).
Before you jump to conclusions about how boring a post this is and how often you see this etc., what I was most surprised (and upset) by was that I mentioned these things as feedback against the album hoping that Flipkart will notice this anomaly and send me an email letting me know that they had removed the album and will correct the metadata and add it back to their list.
Well, I did get an email. But, it was to inform me that my comment was removed due to their 'policies' (working in an MNC I so hate that word).
Here's the email I received from them verbatim. Note the highlighted part that confused me at first and then shocked me. Perhaps the shock was out of the confusion that it caused, but I had such high expectations from Flipkart that it surprised me that they had a policy which would not allow people to let them know that the track listing was incorrect so that they can avoid purchasing this album on the pretext of expecting something and being delivered something absolutely different.
What do you think? Probably an over-reaction on my part?
Dear yyyyy,
Thank you for sharing your thoughts at Flipkart.com for "Lata And Kishore - Live Concert At Sangit Kala Kendra ", dated 6th May 2012.
Thank you for bringing this to our notice and we have forwarded your concern to respective department and upon verification we will do the necessary amendments.
As per our review policy (www.Flipkart.com/s/help), we are not allowed to accept the mention of incorrect details on our website and hence your review has been removed we apologise for any in inconvenience caused.
(We are not allowed to accept the mention of incorrect details on our website...what?? seriously??)
We would shortly roll-out a customer centric forum welcoming your experiences and feedback on our service and products. We appreciate your patience in this regard.
Please feel free to share your concerns or queries with us at cs@Flipkart.com.
Looking forward to your product specific reviews on Flipkart.com.
Yours Sincerely,
Customer Review Team
Flipkart.com
4 comments:
Hi Manan,
Sorry for this awkwardly worded response. The simple response should have obviously been to thank you for the note and that we will work on improving names/tags on our site. And we will, besides also making sure that such messages don't go to customers inappropriately.
Karthik
Corporate Communications - Flipkart
I have known of other instances when the meta-data wasn't exactly correct. Now, I'm not an employee or anything but I find OK Listen to be a much better website for music downloads overall - in terms of interface n everything. of course, downside is that their catalog is limited to independent bands/ artists only
btw your image captcha below is like the most annoying and cryptic thing ever!
Lovely work you have here!
great
i love your blog a lot.
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