Aziz Siddiqui: July 2011

July 9, 2011

A comedy of couriers: How DTDC stole my package

UPDATE: This is a clear miracle! Some guy from senior management caught the thief and handed over the phone to the sender. Blue Dart took care of the rest and finally... I got the phone!!! w00t!

First things first... DTDC cargo and company stole a mobile phone from a package intended for me by cutting through the parcel and misreporting the total weight. The phone cost about Rs 8000 and was bought off my second salary :-(

I was getting a lot of praise lately for being very good at buying online. Almost everything I ever owned was bought online... I even bought an air conditioner!
Now since I was not born with a silver spoon, I believe in getting stuff for cheap. My first purchase was a Benq 1500 camera and I never looked back since. After a long, fine journey of internet deals, I hit a roadblock yesterday.... a huge one!
The whole story:

-I found a Motorola Charm on Sulekha .com

-I got in touch with the seller, a software engineer in Pune.

-I got all information I needed- recent pics of the phone, defects if any, reason for sale,

-I asked her(yup, it's a girl)questions like crazy,bargained and settled at a price, and when it came down to shipping I made my Mistake 1 : I suggested she save on shipping by undervaluing the package. Because, I was at the paying end and I wanted to get the best deal.

-Sent the money over Net banking

-She used DTDC(god, I so hate this name now) to ship . Consignment No. P16106136.

Here's what she did:

- She announced the package as a photo frame. Mistake 2
- She didn't ask for insurance on the product coz of ^
- The box was weighed at 400gms.

-When the box was sent from office, computer records showed it was only 250gms(a friendly guy at DTDC mehdipatnam showed me the whole package path) implying the phone was taken away at the booking office itself:

DTDC Vishrantwadi office (die, you mofos)

-The package took three days to arrive during which I must've checked the status a million times.

- The courier guy was the same smiling face I see for the past three years. I light heartedly asked if he minded waiting til I opened the package.
"arey aaram se khol lo bhai" he said and took my signature. Mistake 3.

- Mama smiled as I gleefully opened the package...the charger fell out, den the handsfree. My face must've turned red. I wasn't speaking... the bubble wrap in which the phone
was supposedly packed, was empty.

- I immediately called the seller. She was "Oh my God what are you saying? check again." I explained the situation.

- She went to the booking office to check and I went to the local office here at mehdipatnam. The guy was friendly and admitted they had rogue employees in DTDC with a very profound line:
" Yeh India hai. Yahan har jagah chor hotey hain"
He confirmed the package was 250gms when it left pune and that he'd vouch for me.

- I shot off some strong worded emails to about five emails listed on DTDC's website of which two bounced.

- Sender had a lengthy confrontation with all the DK Boses at Pune office. They cited all above mistakes to cover their lame ass story of "integirity" and "values"

- The Police, being the police it is refused to file a case and suggested the sender goto consumer court.

- A missing phone case was however settled for and an FIR lodged.
- She got a call in an hour. The police called her over to the station where the other party was already waiting. Citing the above mistake they canceled the FIR. On top of that, the *beepers* from DTDC threatened to sue her.
- Fed up of all the *beep* she was facing, she offered to share the loss with me by returning half the money. I must say at this point...never have I seen such honesty and good ethics in a girl before. Professional to the core. Even guys flinch at the thought of going to a P.S... she casually walked into one. kudos.
In any case, the phone's gone now and some low-life *beeper* will use it and live his sorry ass life in the gutters of Pune ...

Moral of the story: I'll *beep*ing stay away from DTDC. And I'll make no mistake on my part again and check the package before signing. I'll make the courier bloke sit for an hour if I have to.
Note: This post contains some strong words. I just couldn't help it... professional courtesy be damned for this article. Also, I used a brand logo of the courier in question - DTDC *beep*ing cargo limited. It has no resemblance to the original now that I've given the delivery guy the look he so deserves.

July 7, 2011

Close your eyes.... and listen

I was in Inter when Mom got me my first Chemical Brothers cassette(and my favorite walkman).

Besides the great hits Galvanize and Believe, I'd always felt this tune was the best of the lot... the section in the middle(if you have the patience) from 2:40 is absolutely wonderful.

Presenting Close your eyes

"In your eyes I can see, that you're cracking up,
In your eyes I can see, that you've had enough (and it pains my head)
In your eyes I can see, that you're cracking up,
In your eyes I can see, that you fell in love (and it pains my head)

What - if - all - that - was...
(In your eyes I can see, that you're cracking up [and it pains my head])
What - if - all - that - was...
(In your eyes I can see, that you fell in love [and it pains my head])
What - if - all - that - was coming to me? (and it pains my head)
(In your eyes I can see)
What - if - all - that - was coming to me? (and it pains my head)
(In your eyes I can see)

I'll end this love I'm in
I'll end this love I'm in - this love (x2)

Should I walk, should I wait, (turn the radio on, turn the radio on now)
will I found, Love is in the hands of tomorrow.
(turn the radio on, turn the radio on now)
Should I walk, should I wait, (turn the radio on, turn the radio on now)
will I found, Love is in the hands of tomorrow.
(turn the radio on, turn the radio on now)

What if it all were to change like I thought it would."