Timtara.com – Is This The Beginning Of The End ?

Posted on August 6, 2012 by Jay

 

I am ashamed !

Why..Jay ?

…because I live in a country where people with authority and power are not reacting to the grievances of the common man.

If this would not have been the case, can an online retail shopping portal like http://www.timtara.com survive and flourish despite hundreds of complaints against them which can be verified by anyone just by doing a google search.

Here are the facts and some probing questions to prove as to why ecommerce in India is nothing less than a joke.

I am surprised that the serious and well funded players in the business are not waking up to this call from their bread and butter – i.e. the online indian retail customer. This is a segment of people who should be nurtured if the serious players want “their” industry to grow and “they” get the volumes necessary to make a profit in the long run.

How long can these retail online players survive by announcing only their top-line revenue…anyways ?

It is a matter of time before they need real bottom-line net profits to come their way without which they will perish. Wake up…Guys…and nurture your target segment so that they continue to believe in the online retail ecommerce story in India and continue to purchase online.

Furthermore, the well known brands like Havells  themselves are willingly letting unauthorized online retailers like http://timtara.com to sell their products ?  Who will bell the cat ?

But the real focus of this post is on a Noida based online ecommerce portal called Timtara.com.

Here are the facts :

I did my due diligence and by doing my research came to know that http://payu.in is the payment gateway for http://timtara.com. Payu.in is launched by Naspers and they are also associated with the ibibo brand which has been in existence in India for a long time. They had the timtara logo clearly displayed as one of their clients on their website. See my twitter update for proof.

Ref :
http://twitter.com/jaytweeter/status/230566791049535488

I completed my transaction and was given two order ids by Timtara.com. One of the order ids was a Havells India product and it was received by me broken into multiple pieces.  I asked for a replacement and when I realized that no one from Timtara was even bothering to read the tickets, I immediately did some basic research on google and mouthshut ….and came across these signals of serious wrong-doings by timtara.com :

 

http://therodinhoods.com/forum/topics/fraud-alert-timtara-com

http://www.mouthshut.com/product-reviews/Timtara-com-reviews-925617246

http://www.grahakseva.com/complaints/32301/timtara-fraud-of-online-shopping

 

I thought it was better to be safe than sorry and then asked for a refund from http://timtara.com but no one really cared for this as it had become pretty much routine for them as several people are still waiting for their refunds.  Since that day, I have made hundreds of calls to people like Harish and Raja from timtara.com and sent emails to many people of timtara like Kangan and Tanu including Mr Bose, the founder of http://timtara.com.  They never reply and they never pick up the calls you make to them.

 

To this day, I have NOT received the refunds for either orders as confirmed by HDFC Bank.

 

I noticed some seriously wrong things happening and here I am asking the questions to whomsoever it may concern. Maybe, a person in power and authority will check this and take necessary action with timtara.com and associated parties BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE. Maybe, the brands themselves will realize that their products are being sold without approval and take action.

 

1. Why did payu.in have the timtara.com logo on their website when they are NOT the payment gateway for http://timtara.com ?

 

2. Why did payu.in remove the timtara.com logo from their website a day after my tweet ? Ref :   http://twitter.com/jaytweeter/status/231371271710072832

3. What is the payu.in business model ? Is it a payment gateway only ?

 

4. If payu.in is NOT the payment gateway for my orders as clearly mentioned by Mr. Neeraj Sachdeva from payu.in - how did Mr Neeraj Sachdeva of payu.in  have access to my order details with timtara.com ? Ref :   http://twitter.com/jaytweeter/status/231369411796271104

5. How did payu.in know that techprocess.co.in was the payment gateway for this order ?

 

6. Why did Havells India Sr Mgr Customer Service, Mr Lalit Pant say that Havells India has NOT authorized http://timtara.com to sell its products and refused to co-operate with me in getting the refund. If this is the case, why is Havells India not taking steps to protect themselves by asking a show-cause to timtara.com Ref :   http://twitter.com/jaytweeter/status/231653124534841345

 

7. How is http://timtara.com  selling Havells India products without getting appropriate authorization to distribute its products and why is Havells India not reacting even after being told that their product was purchased from http://timtara.com and is refusing to give me a refund ?

8. Has anyone (brands, investigating authorities, etc) probed http://timtara.com as to whether they have the necessary approvals from the brands like HTC, Sony, etc which they are openly selling on their website ? Have they probed regarding the floating money that is yet to be refunded to paying customers who have asked for a refund ?

 
9. How did Techprocess clearly mention through an official email from them that they do not have my order id’s with timtara.com in their records when payu.in is clearly mentioning that techprocess.co.in is the payment gateway ?

 
10. Does my credit card issuing bank – HDFC Bank have the information regarding the payment gateway through which my order was processed ? Mr Sumit Gupta (Sr Mgr) clearly mentioned that they cannot know the payment gateway. Mr Amrik ( Sr Mgr ) clearly mentioned techprocess as the payment gateway and said he will pursue this case based on my complaint. There is something seriously wrong in the process followed by HDFC Bank (being such a credible institution) as contradicting statements from senior managers of the credit card  division will increase the confusion and make the online purchaser more vulnerable to being exposed to situations like this. I have not heard from Mr Amrik till date although I have followed up twice as on 06th Aug 2012 @ 6:00 P.M

 

 

11. Where will the buck stop especially when timtara.com is sitting with funds from customers who are actually waiting for a refund , the product/brand owner is saying that they have NOT authorized http://timtara.com to sell their products and both the payment gateways who are supposedly involved in this are denying that they have anything to do with these order numbers of http://timtara.com.

 
12. Is the media aware of this ?  If not, when will it be aware ?

13. Who/ Which or What is the regulatory authority for online ecommerce in India ? Do we have one at all ? Will this thing be realised by the governement and other authorities only when it is too late ? Isn’t it funny that online shopping portals are cropping up like mushrooms and we do not have a single regulatory body for this ? They just need to do a google search on timtara.com, go to mouthshut.com and read the reviews left by individuals all travelling in the same boat without knowing who to tell their story to…………..

 
THE END IS NEAR FOR TIMTARA ?

 

WHEN WILL IT HAPPEN IS THE MILLION DOLLAR QUESTION ?

 

Perhaps, it depends on the media, all those influential bloggers in India, the people with authority and power to take decisions and ………people like us who raise their voices.

Is anyone listening ?