About 2 weeks back, Laxminarayan Krishnamurthy received a package from Snapdeal. He was shocked to find that, instead of containing the Samsung Core 2 Duos smartphone ordered and paid for by him, the package contained a bar of Vim soap and a brick! He described this on Facebook on October 24, 2014, stating, “Beware of Snapdeal guys!! It’s a fraudulent e-retail company. We have lost our money and there’s been no response from Snapdeal whatsoever.” On October 28, he commented, “Snapdeal has finally promised to return the money within 5-6 working days!!”
On November 3, 2014, Firstpost reported that Hindustan Unilever Limited sent Laxminarayan Krishnamurthy a Samsung Core 2 Duos phone with a letter that read:
“The pictures you posted online show that our brand was used in this incident. Vim is one of our iconic brands with some great consumer franchise. We felt bad about it, not to mention what you went through. Here is a small gesture from our side to cheer you up.”
Opinion is divided about Hindustan Unilever Limited’s action. While some people agree that it’s a sweet gesture, others dismissed it as a publicity stunt.
What do you think?
Proactive Indian 
Regardless of the intention, it was a brilliant marketing move.
If it was a marketing move, the intention is clear!
Bah!! Except the folks who got the phone, whoever believes it was a sweet gesture, is still living in mom’s womb.
Agreed!
A brick! I have my misgivings about the overdose of promos from e-retailers. There are more instances of “well known” online stores not even sending an acknowledgment for an order placed, leaving the buyer with no way to follow up with them thanks to their “purchase as a guest” feature.
Arrgh. Nothing like the fun of chatting up a shopwallah and getting stuff. If only it weren’t for the discount overdose online!
Yes, the massive discounts make most customers ignore all negative aspects of any shop or e-commerce portal.
Sending a soap is bad enough but why a brick.
What is Snapdeal’s response?
They need to be hauled up notwithstanding what HUL has done.
Surprising that a multinational co like HUL should stoop to this level for cheap publicity!!!!!
huh!! I’m so surprised!! Why a brick?! Did snapdeal ever respond back?
They’ve refunded the payment, expressed regret to the customer and promised to ensure that such things don’t happen in future.
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Anything is possible in apna India.