Deluged with consignments courier firms refuse new e-commerce orders

Orders have piled up at various delivery points leading to delivery companies declining new orders since the last four to five days

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Diwali may be long over, but e-retailers and courier firms companies continue to struggle to reach consignments ordered for the festival by hapless consumers. And given the pile-up of consignments across delivery points, their wait is only set to get longer. The situation is so grim that some courier companies including Blue Dart have even stopped accepting new orders e-marketplace operators since the last four to five days.

"Earlier we were making 100 to 200 deliveries a day, but with over 3,000 deliveries to be made daily, our resources are fully occupied and hence new requests are not being accepted," said an executive at a Blue Dart centre in Mumbai. Queries seeking official comments from Blue Dart Express remained unanswered.

Though courier firms and e-tailers did not quantify the delayed shipments, vendors estimate it to be around 25-30%. While refraining to comment on non-acceptance of new delivery requests, FedEx officials acknowledged surge in e-commerce shipments. David Canavan, vice-president operations India, FedEx Express Europe, Middle East, Indian Subcontinent and Africa (EMEA), said, "E-commerce continues to grow at a fast pace in India. Over the past few weeks, the market has seen a surge in the volume of e-commerce shipments during the festive season. We continue to work with our e-commerce customers to ensure that we deliver the best possible service in a seamless manner to support this growth."

E-marketplace operators Flipkart, Amazon, Jabong, Myntra and Shopclues did not respond to queries. A Snapdeal spokesperson denied delays in shipments from their operations saying, "Our deliveries are on track."

eBay India said e-commerce industry has received unprecedented and overwhelming response this festive season and that there were some delays during the peak Diwaliweek. However, Vidmay Naini, director and business head of eBay India, denied any instance of courier companies not accepting new shipment requests. "We work with eight different courier companies and this approach helps mitigate any such challenges that may occur," said Naini, adding that eBay hasn't faced any incidents of fraudulent delivery or misplaced/lost merchandise.

Also, vendors are raising concerns on rising instances of fraudulent deliveries. Recently, a Snapdeal customer received a Vim soap bar and a half piece of brick instead of a Samsungsmartphone. The Snapdeal spokesperson said, "It was an unfortunate incident. The customer was given an option to take refund or seek replacement – he chose refund. The fraudulent delivery is being investigated currently."

Vijay Kumar, chief operating officer, Express Industry Council of India (EICI), said the express courier industry typically experiences misplacement or loss of over 0.5%. 

In an earlier story (published on October 23, 2014), dna had reported issues at FedEx operations in Bihar wherein sales tax authorities had sealed 6,000 odd shipments citing non-payment on value-added tax. According to vendors, the problem persists and it's having negative impact on business. "We don't have an option but to cancel those shipments and are now trying to send fresh merchandise through a different courier operator or possibly offer a refund," said a vendor requesting anonymity.

Kumar of EICI said express companies are only carriers of shipments. "As far as sale is concerned they never get any information / knowledge about the terms and conditions of sale between the consignor and consignee. They are in no way dealers or agents of neither the consignors nor the consignees," said Kumar. Courier companies which carry these shipments on behalf of e-commerce companies pay entry tax to commercial tax authorities online before delivery of such shipments, said Kumar.