Goodlife.com Firstcry.com Review

This is a review of the online shopping sites firstcry.com and goodlife.com. This is a perfect example of a great business gone really bad after success. This review has been updated on Dec 10, 2012.

Firstcry.com claims to be Asia’s Largest Online Baby and Kid's Store and Goodlife.com is its sister site that started with make up and personal care products, but now sells a lot of other stuff including their new category world food. These are the safest sites on the internet for online shopping. I have been a regular customer with them since Nov 2011 but my shopping experience with them has degraded with time. Finally, I have reached a stage where I have decided never to return to them in the future.

I was introduced to them through a Facebook ad in Nov 2011. Discovering them was a life changing event for me and this is where my actual journey for full-fledged online shopping started. Everything was out of the world, right from the variety, the quick and helpful customer service, the toll free number, the courier and the packing was foolproof. It used to take me time to open each item as it was extremely sturdily packed and the cardboard box in which the orders used to arrive were so hard, I used to keep them for storing other stuff. The discounts were great too and there was some or the other offer going on all the time.

They took their time to establish their brand and rapport in the Indian market till the time customers started trusting them blindly. But then came the twist. This business had high esteem in my eyes, till they started abusing their rapport to rip off customers, a few months back.

WORST PACKING:

Suddenly I started receiving poorly packed stuff since my last few orders. After having set up the expectations bar so high in the past, such an adverse change was shocking to me as a customer. As long I was receiving my orders intact, I was fine with the degraded packing. 

But in my last few orders, I have started receiving my orders packed in paper-thin cardboard boxes, which get badly crushed by the time they reach me, items get damaged, there is no bubble wrap (at least in my orders), makeup or liquid items have no sealing and the liquid leaks, and I receive half filled bottles. 

UPDATE ON DEC 10, 2012: I recently placed two big orders with them again. While one shipment was again screwed up, the rest of the products have reached me safely and this time my experience has been much better after so many months. Firstcry is going to pickup the damaged product and is looking into the matter. The problem of poor packing and damaged products is arising from their Delhi warehouse. All items shipped to me from Pune warehouse are perfectly packed and reach intact.

1.5 YEARS OLD PRODUCTS: 

The items that are being sent to me are sometimes a year old and this recent order had items 1.5 years old, despite my leaving instructions at two places during checkout, sending them a few emails and calling them a few times requesting to send me fresh products. In the past, I used to blindly place orders with them because the stuff I received was always fresh. 

POOR DISCOUNTS: 

They send you mailers for anything from 10% off to 25% off from time to time. But I have seen many other online businesses offering you the same or even higher discount, without the need to apply any special discount coupons.

USELESS DISCOUNT COUPONS: 

Many items listed in the 10% discount category are already on discount from the brand itself. Most customers do not understand that the discount coupon works on ‘whichever higher’ basis. If an item is listed on the site at 8% discount and you happily apply a 10% discount coupon, you only get extra 2% discount from the listed price (10% site discount on MRP > 8% brand discount on MRP: whichever higher concept). Therefore, except when there is 10% off on the entire site, you get only a small discount.

CUSTOMER SERVICE: 

Earlier they used to reply to my emails within an hour and mostly used to call back. But now they do not reply to emails before 24 hours and just send copy pasted answers without even addressing my concern. 

 I am still happy and impressed with the phone response team. Except for a few members, most of them are helpful to the greatest extent. Every time I had a problem, they went out of their way to address it. It is still a very professional business to deal with. They have refunded my money each time I was not happy with the order, and that too without any fuss. This is the only fact that still makes my heart ache, if only their warehouse/logistics team was a little more responsible with the quality and packaging of the products being sent. I would love to see this business go back to the previous quality that I enjoyed for many of my orders till a few months back. 

They used to have 24X7 online chat support and very prompt chat response too. But now clicking on that button just gives you a form to fill in. Then somebody emails you back within 24-48 hours with a copy pasted answer.

Unlike most other online businesses, their Facebook contact either never responds to your concern or replies very late, sometimes after weeks. 

SHIPPING:

Despite their shipping within 24 hours claim, they now take up to 48 hours to ship your prepaid order.

The site says free shipping on all orders above Rs 100, which is kind of misleading. That's only for prepay customers. You need to read the shipping policy so you are not misled. I found many customers on their facebook page complaining when the courier asked them to pay additional charges for Cash on Delivery orders below Rs 300.

CHECKOUT:

There is a special instructions box that shows up at two places during checkout and payment, where you can give any special instructions line ‘Pls ensure all items are fresh’ or ‘Pls send through so and so courier’. They no longer read those instructions.

ORDER DELIVERY: 

The courier service has gone from bad to worse because now I receive my orders in 8-10 days as opposed to 5-6 days in the past.

PRODUCT REVIEWS SECTION: They have a review section on their website for each product, where you can leave a review of the product. Earlier they used to email you to discuss on the negative reviews. But now any review you post just disappears and gets automatically deleted within a few minutes.

WHY I LOVE(D) SHOPPING WITH THEM:

24X7 Customer Support and Toll Free Number (1800-123-4545)

Minimum shopping amount only Rs 100 for prepay customers like me.

Single shopping cart and combined checkout for both sites.

Cart remains intact till I clear my cache and cookies. Most times I add items but do not checkout immediately. Till the time I do not clear cache and cookies, the items show up in the cart even if I come back many hours later. This is convenient for I don't have to search and add those items again. But this can be tricky if you don’t know about it. So always recheck the quantity of items before checking out.

SHIPPING POLICY: 

1. Free shipping on all PREPAID (credit card, debit card, netbanking) purchases above Rs. 100. This is definitely a plus over other shopping websites when you want to purchase only one or two items.
2. For Cash On Delivery (COD) option, free shipping on all orders above Rs. 300. If your order is between Rs 101-300, you will be charged Rs 25 as Delivery charges.
3. All orders below Rs. 100 are charged an additional Rs. 50 for shipping.
4. Most Important: If you purchase something below Rs. 100, and opt for a COD, then you would be paying the bill + shipping charges (Rs.50) + as well the COD charges. (RS. 25)

THE VERDICT: 

I have had excellent shopping experiences with them in the past. So despite several bad orders in the near past, I gave them benefit of doubt and kept ordering. But I can't be blind to my poor experience anymore. I AM DONE WITH THEM AND PRESENTLY WON'T RECOMMEND THIS BUSINESS TO ANYONE.

With so much hype around online shopping, I am not surprised to see that this business does not stand anywhere in the list of my fellow bloggers. When I started having bad experiences with them, I checked out other sites only to find fresher products and much higher discounts than goodlife.com and firstcry.com.

If you are new to online shopping or are already an online shopper, I encourage you to read my Online Shopping Guide to be a smart and informed online shopper. You will be glad you did!