Flipkart, what happened?

Update 3:  8:00 PM, Jul 7, 2012

Flipkart has removed the stock of all Milagrow tablets from their site. Now, whatever you make out of it, the action has been swift and complete.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Update 2:  8:00 PM, Jul 6, 2012

1. Flipkart has removed most of the fake-looking reviews from the Milagrow Series of tablets. This happened very quickly. Good on Flipkart.
2. Now that Flipkart agrees the reviews were fake, it's puzzling to me why is it still selling tablets from a company which obviously gamed Flipkart's system. There is no one else in this world who'd benefit from the fake reviews other than Flipkart or Milagrow. I am now of the view that Flipkart should come out clean by at least accepting Milagrow was responsible for this. Or else, I'd still put the blame on Flipkart.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Update 1:  4:00 PM, Jul 6, 2012

1. Flipkart has been amazingly prompt in responding to my criticism. One of their employees contacted me on this blog promising me that they'll take action. Flipkart's twitter page is also filled with open admission of lapse and promise of action. I am not sure if there is any other company in India which will be so fast in responding, forget accepting a problem. Faith in Flipkart restored (for now).
2. Someone at reddit pointed me out that this post makes me look like I am a Homeshop18 agent trying to defame Flipkart. I'll repeat what I replied to that person:
    I have used Homeshop18 and I have had very bad experiences. I will most probably never use them again (unless the price difference is huge). Flipkart is every penny worth their service. Personally, I have never had any problem with Flipkart.

I'll keep posting the developments via top posts on the same article (for multiple reasons).

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Original Post:

Everybody loves Flipkart. I do. I was one of those earliest customers who'd force his friends to buy every book from Flipkart, not only because it had great discounts, but because deep inside I wanted it to succeed, to really become Amazon, so that one day, I could shop Fridges and Air Conditioner from it. And that day did come.

I feel sad saying that everything is not okay at Flipkart. They are not the innocent little start up that they once were.

The prices are higher for most of the items when compared to sites like Homeshop18. Though I'd agree that there is a premium involved in the kind of prompt service that Flipkart provides, but still, gaps of more than Rs 1000 for items in 10-15k range can really force you to even risk shittier services. And mind you, Homeshop18 is not that shitty anymore. They are getting better, just as Flipkart has been getting worse. And I thought competition would better Flipkart's service.

There was actually a time when the blogosphere was filled with positive reviews of Flipkart. Now you can find many stories saying just the opposite. I won't collect them here. I'd just link a representative story, where they even quote a Mouthshut guy saying they deleted hundreds of fake reviews promoting Flipkart: http://www.pluggd.in/flipkart-deleting-negative-reviews-297/

Well, I don't know how Mouthshut established that the reviews on their site were fake, but I have got quite a bit of fresh evidence of fake reviews, right inside Flipkart!


So, I just happened to check out this tablet "Milagrow TabTop MGPT01-32 GB":
http://www.flipkart.com/milagrow-tabtop-mgpt01-32-gb/p/itmd37xgfesk2gzv

The product page screenshot:

It's a tablet that costs around 27.5k, and is nowhere even comparable to say, an iPad2 which costs 24.5, or Samsung Galaxy Tabs, but for some crazy reasons, it has a rating of 5 stars from every reviewer except one, who gives a 1 star rating :)

Here is the screenshot of the ratings:

And here are all the reviews. Do spend time to find out for yourself if these are "real people"!

All this about a tablet which people won't buy even in 15K. So who are these people who are buying it in 27.5K and are extremely satisfied? 5 stars, all over, you know :)

Let's look at the history of user Aakash Kochhar. See a pattern?

So the user Aakash Kochhar has 5 stars for only Milagrow Tablets and 1 star (lowest) for every other tablet. I could have believed it to be genuine, had everyone on the review page not turned out to be same. Here are some more samples.

User Dilawar Khera:

User Anirudh Lamba:

User David D'Souza:

So all these different customers consistently give 5 stars to Milagrow tablet and take the pain to trash all other tablets by giving them 1 or 2 stars. Wow!

This is not only limited to one Milagrow tablet. All Milagrow tablets have a swarm of fake reviews giving them almost 5 stars aggregate rating and trashing all other tablets from all other companies!

_____________________

Here is another example, in which almost all reviews seem to be fake:
http://www.flipkart.com/milagrow-mgpt04-16gb/p/itmd9aqndzgkhctw

The screenshots are:

_____________________

In fact, check the whole series:

http://www.flipkart.com/browse/computers/tablet-20277?filter=brand%3AMilagrow

It's filled with fake looking reviews.

I really really hope this has been done from outside and Flipkart takes this kind of SEO-bullshit seriously. In fact, I had almost made up my mind to buy one of these Milagrow tablets. And I feel lucky that I read the reviews and found how clearly they were fake-looking.

The only thing that really worries me is that these Milagrow tablets have Flipkart's Flyte ecosystem installed (as advertised.) This would mean Flipkart would be extra careful with this product line as it is directly endorsing and marketing it as one of its own. 

Since I really like Flipkart, I plan to make a series of such exposé to bring Flipkart back to its old days. Yes, I have more material. If Flipkart does not take them down, I'll post it soon when I have time.

I love you, Flipkart. I won't let you go rogue :'(