Abu Bakr Siddique ordered four motorcycles at Tk 720,000 on Eorange six months ago. He complained to the Directorate General of National Consumer Rights Protection or DNCRP after failing to get the delivery. Now as the owners of the e-commerce platform have been arrested, he doubts whether he will get the products, ever, bdnews24.com reports.
A number of online marketplaces has come into being in recent times as the e-commerce business in Bangladesh enjoyed an uptick in sales amid the coronavirus pandemic. Their lucrative discounts drew a huge number of customers as well, but most of them are now tainted in controversies over their failure to deliver the products despite being paid.
The DNCRP has recorded over 13,000 complaints against 19 e-commerce firms from July 2018 to June this year. Evaly tops the list with nearly 5,000 of those complaints within three years from its launch.
After facing only 38 complaints in that period, Eorange has been hit with thousands of complaints over the past few weeks.
“We can’t find time to keep count of the new complaints. We will look into these after resolving the old issues,” said Bablu Kumar Saha, Director General of DNCRP.
Alesha Mart had 10 complaints, Falgunishop 599, and Priyoshop 562. Most of these complaints have been resolved.
Among the old e-commerce firms, Daraz had 1,019 complaints against it, Shohoz 93, Ajker Deal 177, Food Panda 261, and Chaldal 183. Most of these issues have also been settled.
Almost all the complaints have something to do with the failure to deliver months after orders were placed. The others include customers not being refunded or refund cheques being dishonoured.
Some of the customers ordered up to Tk 6.3 million per person from an online delivery firm while a retiree gave all of his pension money to Eorange, said Hafizur Rahman, director general of the commerce ministry’s WTO cell.
The customers who were cheated on have invented different Bangla terms, such as “Bike Dhora” — a customer who was subjected to motorcycle sale fraud, for identification.
“From all these, it appears to us that this is not a normal business or trading. This is totally abnormal and unethical,” said Hafizur.
The offers by Eorange included a scheme under which a customer’s money will double in 15 days and they can buy products with it. The company is accused of defrauding the customers out of tens of billions of takas through the offer.
At one stage, its founder Sonia Mehjabin tried to flee Bangladesh by transferring the ownership. She and her husband Masukur Rahman landed in jail recently after surrendering to court in a case over charges of Tk 11 billion worth of embezzlement.
The new e-commerce guidelines stipulate delivery within 10 days of order, but Dalal Plus has offered a 45 percent discount on motorcycles with a promise to deliver within 40 days.
Hafizur said they were receiving complaints against Dalal Plus, Shreshtho, Falguni Shop and Dhamaka as well.
MOUNTAIN OF COMPLAINTS
On Thursday morning, hundreds of Eorange customers gathered at the DNCRP office in Dhaka’s Karwan Bazar to file complaints.
The number of such customers increased by the hour. At one stage, many of them occupied the empty spaces of the building to fill in the form.
Some of them said they decided to complain after failing to contact Eorange about the products they had ordered since the lockdown after Eid-ul-Azha.
Most of them are in their 20s who ordered motorcycles.
One of them, Mostafa Kamal, said he ordered a 1,500cc Pulser motorcycle by purchasing a Tk 85,000 voucher in June, but did not receive it after the 25-day deadline passed.
At Evaly, the customers are notified about several stages of delivery, such as pending, confirmed, processing, picked, shipped, delivered and received -- a process that appears to keep the customers from complaining while killing time.
Evaly customer Bappy, who gave a single name, said the two motorcycle locks he ordered in June were shown as picked, but there have been no update since then. “I don’t think I will ever get these products.”
Nasir Uddin, a Laxmipur native, was excited after getting Tk 1 million products from Evaly. He then opened three accounts and borrowed from his relatives to order 70 products worth Tk 2 million more.
Now he has come to file a complaint as he believes he is at risk of losing the money.
It has become difficult to get comments from the firms after allegations surfaced.
Evaly Managing Director Mohammad Rassel’s mobile phone number is not in use for quite some time. He recently said on social media they would be able to clear the deliveries in six months.
Eorange owners and officials are in jail while the owners of Dhamaka and Falguni Shop could not be traced.
DNCRP officials said these owners of the e-commerce firms are under the radar of law-enforcing agencies.
WHAT THE AUTHORITIES SAY
DNCRP chief Bablu said they were trying with their limited manpower to resolve the complaints.
“But we don’t have the judicial authority to act against the organisations whose owners have gone into hiding or been arrested.”
Post and Telecommunication Minister Mustafa Jabbar said the commerce ministry looks into the e-commerce firms. “The post and telecommunication ministry will do whatever it is required over the recent revelation of irregularities,” he said.
Muhammad Abdul Wahed Tomal, general secretary of the e-Commerce Association of Bangladesh or e-CAB, said they would revoke membership of no fewer than eight firms after demanding explanations from 16 companies.
The situation developed when numerous organisations followed the “wrong” business model which Evaly introduced after its launch, according to him.
“This model was proved wrong in a review by five Dhaka University teachers and two lawyers one and a half years ago. You can’t make profit in this way. But they (Evaly and others) didn’t listen to us.”
He believes the government should shut down the firms that have no chances of survival.
The commerce ministry’s Hafizur said stringent action will be taken against the controversial companies, but added the customers should be more aware about the risks.
“A customer has ordered 200 cans of mustard oil. We’ve heard about an order for one truckload of Coca-Cola. How should we treat them – as consumers, or businessmen?” asked DNCRP chief Bablu.
“Consumers should buy products they need. These organisations and their customers are behaving abnormally. But we always try to ensure consumers’ rights.”