Promise Vs Reality – Big Basket :(

#LockdownTales

I have been a Big Basketeer for the longest time ever since Vidya introduced us to it in Bangalore in 2012, but over the last one year, I have shifted completely to Milk Basket because I found that Big Basket was largely stocking only those items that were under their own brand and not other brands that I liked. For instance, the 24 letter Mantra Poha stopped being available and I was forced to buy only Big Basket Poha if I wanted to. Also Milk Basket had the convenience of getting your products the next morning before 7 am.

For the first ten days of the lockdown, neither Big Basket nor Milk Basket was allowed to deliver. Then they were allowed to deliver at the Tower gate and we had to go pick up our package. Just about a week back both, Milk Basket and Big Basket have been allowed doorstep delivery.

I was running low on Tamarind and South Indian food is incomplete without Tamarind. Milk Basket had no stock of Tamarind but Big Basket Daily had stock. I ordered a 1Kg pack of Seedless Tamarind. The photographs below will show you that far from being seedless, this package had more seeds !!

I understand that there is a lockdown in place, and am thankful to get “some” tamarind as against none, but the bigger question is why promise something and not deliver on it ??? Just say that its Tamarind and no promise of it being seedless. If its mentioned that it is seedless, then it better be ! In the same way, every pack of millet that I would buy from Big Basket would have tiny stones … there was a time when every afternoon was spent by my mother, mother-in-law and me for a few years picking stones from pulses, rice etc. In today’s world of packaged groceries the customer is paying more, because they would not like to spend time cleaning the product.

Am not getting into the adulteration bit, because that’s a whole another issue, but why isn’t a big brand like Big Basket even delivering to one of its simple promises ? If their expansion has been too rapid, its not the customer’s fault. They are bound to lose customers if they restrict the choice of brands and if they don’t deliver to their promises. Don’t know if Big Basket cares enough to change though.

Remember – Its not Covid19 that will shut down businesses, its also not delivering to their promises that will shut down businesses.