Thank you for delivering my nose pins (before I died waiting)

The Problem

I didn’t receive a couple of silver nosepins purchased online from an Instagram brand called @Shilpshaala, despite paying a 100% advance for them.

While the brand was unheard of, the proprietor Mr Krishna Rathi seemed extremely knowledgeable as a maker of customised, comfortable jewellery. This was evident on @mivellary, another account owned by him.

Messages and calls to the number I'd paid on, went unanswered for weeks.?True caller, showed this number as belonging to?'You-know-Who!'

?I finally received a delayed response from Mr Krishna about his illness.??Then another advising me to track his daily 'Instagram Stories' for updates on my order. He said messaging each customer wasn’t possible! ??

To my horror,?I soon discovered many online complaints from others in my shoes.??

Absolute Disregard for the Customer?

I hyper-messaged Mr Krishna to warn him, that if he didnt refund/send the products asap, I would post negative stories too on Instagram (where his advertisements didn't seem to stop despite delays)!

"It's a free country and you are free to post as many stories as you wish!" was his response, followed by "but first check my InstaStory today, your product is ready!" The apology was missing.

His juvenile response, made it clear?that he was not a cheat, just someone who had no idea how to run a growing business.

I could see hundreds of customised items being posted on his Insta stories daily.?What wasn’t clear was why he wasn’t delivering them? My guess was that he could be inexperienced...possessive and?perfectionist,?trying to do everything himself.

His Side of the Story

My guess was correct. Two months after receiving my order, Mr Krishna called to apologise. He said Shilpshaala was a one-man show, and he was unable to cope with the exponential demand! He assured me that I would receive the nosepins in a week!

Even though his apology was sincere and warm, the call came a little too late.?For 2 months prior to that, I had felt despondent, silly and unlucky as regards this episode.?

Worse, another month after receiving this apologetic call, all I got was silence again. This time it was unforgivable.?

I finally received the nosepins today, 3 months after paying for them! The product is exactly as described, with perfect customization in good quality.?

A Happy Ending?

Not really.?

My reason for sharing this post on social media, is to declare that he is definitely not a cheat. This is important because two months ago I did the opposite, when he was rude.

Learning for Entrepreneurs ( me, included)

1)?Take on only what you can chew.?Do not advertise (or continue to advertise) if you cannot meet demand.?Pause your campaign, till you are able to honour your commitments.

2)?Delegate:?If you're growing quickly, hire people and let go of work that can be done by others. This includes calling customers, packing, shipping finished goods, and so on.

3)?Apologise and act on your apology-?Yes, a personal call helps. But only if you're ready to follow through on promises made anew.?Else, you've made matters worse.?

4)?Understand the lifetime value of your customer:?While I am relieved to receive what I paid for,?I have decided not to recommend this brand to many friends,?who would have provided Shilpshaala tremendous business!?

Conclusion

Will I order from Shilpshaala again? Probably not. Despite the great quality of the jewellery just received, I cannot put myself through the utter waste of time and agony I have just been through.?

However, and I say this without malice, @Shilpshaala is the brand for you if you want super-customized, delicate, sterling silver jewellery?minus a deadline.

The brand can be found at the same Instagram handle shared in this post.

#deadlines #entrepreneurship #learnings #linkedinlearning #linkedincreators #contentisking #realreview