Over a month into launch and Micromax is in great trouble now. More than 3/4th of the Pre booked Micromax Canvas 4 phones are still not delivered. More over except a very few, Micromax hasnt refunded the 5000 rupee pre book amount to their customers. Customers were already pissed with 'not so great' improvement from Canvas HD, and now with the money related issue piling up, things are going from bad to worse!
So lets analyze the situation here. Canvas HD was a super hit. And if you rewind your thoughts, you would remember what happened during the launch of the phone. The Pre booking started on the 14th of Feb 2013 at 12 Am and withing a few minutes, a majority of the phones were sold out. This is where Micromax experienced the niche in the market. The 'Pre Booking' idea. Then the production of the phone was not happening in a real pace (Some said its because Chinese New year and stuffs), what ever the reason may be, Micromax was successful making more and more people attracted towards the product. Micromax became an instant hit - Good publicity with a super smartphone launch and a bad publicity due to the lack of availability of the product, but at the end of the day, all that mattered was publicity!
And then they came up with the Canvas 4 idea. This time around people were sure about one thing - "I was not able to get my Canvas HD phone because I didnt pre book it. So this time around, as soon as the pre book tab pops up, i will just book it. Earlier I book, faster the product will reach me'. Cant blame anyone for thinking that way. With all the ads and stuffs, people were just overjoyed and was waiting for the launch. Then Micromax came up with a fantastic offer - 'Prebook you Canvas 4 for just Rs 5000'. That made things lot better. Look whatr the Micromax Twitter handle had to say about the prebooking status as on 28th July 13 (Almost a week before the launch).
Now just do the math and you will have an idea of how much Micromax has earned by pre booking its Canvas 4. Now here comes the question. If so many pieces have been pre booked, why are you not delivering the product? If not delivering, why dont you refund? Now this is what I think the reasons could be.
- All the money has been spent on the Ad campaigns, and now they dont have the monetary support to pay back to these many numbers
- The manufactures (The Chinese distributors) are not delivering the products on time
- Micromax wants to get more publicity for their upcoming Canvas 5 release
- The initial shipment had some defects, so Micromax wanted to get the things sorted out
What ever the reasons may be, customers are not happy. This is what a few of them had to say on their Facebook page
Ajay FoXiz says "hai sir booked micromax at 28th june very 1st day after two days my order was missing in login account 5000 rupees wer taken from my account after launch tooo my orders is not listed n money was not even returned even cannot connected to customer care too it has been 1 month im longin back of u so sad pls rep sir"
Roxstar Roby says "Still waiting for your reply..!! I haven't received my shipment of Canvas 4 i.e. Booked on 29th of june and all the payment made on 11th of july. Same day i got an email by saying that you'll get the Mobile within 7-10 working days now its 29th July and i haven't received anything. Your Customer care # is not working, NO REPLIES OF MY EMAILS, NOT ABLE TO TRACK MY CONSIGNMENT ??? WTF, Still you thinking for delivering or should i go with CONSUMER COURT ? "
Kheema Pandey says "I am very very disappointed with Micromax services. I placed a Canvas 4 Order on Tuesday i.e. on 23 July 2013 from Micormax estore. , I send severa maill request but these people are not replying of any emails. Still waiting for the Phone. No idea when I'll get."
This is my personal and sincere request to Micromax - We know this is a really competitive world and staying on the top of a business like where you are in - The smartphone business, is real tough! We know that you need to apply some market strategies to get your product on to the top, and reap profit. As customers we understand that. But, there is a limit to everything. A business is run not just by you. We as customers contribute equally into that. You should understand our emotions. Our money is hard earned. 5000 Rs might not be a big deal for you, but for us it is. So please stop what ever you are doing here and just get the things sorted out. Humble request.
Sincerely
A Person who was a Micromax fan once.