- A seller on Amazon sells a Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra bought under Flipkart’s Smart Upgrade plan.
- The customer bought the smartphone in November 2021 for Rs 57,499 from seller Divine India on Amazon.
- Now, Flipkart has warned the customer to block the smartphone due to non-payment of the remaining amount.
E-commerce websites like Flipkart and Amazon have been convenient for consumers to buy what they want. But they are only as dependable as the sellers selling the products. There have been instances where a customer has received a bar of soap instead of an iPhone. More recently, a new scam has come to light. A customer who purchased a phone from Amazon received a notification from Flipkart that the device will be blocked due to non-payment. Let’s take a deep dive into the matter and understand what’s happening.
Here’s what happened
According to a tweet from the Twitter user @JBhattacharji, she purchased the Samsung Galaxy S20+ from Amazon India. The smartphone was sold by seller Divine India on Amazon for Rs 57,449 in November 2020. Now, 12 months later, the customer is getting a prompt from Flipkart asking her to pay the remaining amount or upgrade the smartphone. The prompt warns the user that Flipkart will block the smartphone if the customer fails to pay the remaining amount.
After some thorough investigation, the customer was informed that the smartphone was originally bought from Flipkart under the Smart Upgrade Plan, which the seller later sold on Amazon. According to the customer, Flipkart has denied providing any support, while Amazon has made no comments on the issue so far.
What is the Flipkart Smart Upgrade plan?
Under the Smart Upgrade plan, Flipkart gives customers an option to pay the 70% of the smartphone’s value and pay the remaining 30% after 12 months of purchase if they intend to keep the smartphone. But, if you want to upgrade to a new smartphone, you need to return the smartphone and get a new one from Flipkart valued at more than the 30% amount of old smartphone.
Let’s consider you buy a smartphone worth Rs 81,999. Using the Smart Upgrade plan, you only need to pay 70% of the price, i.e. Rs 57,399, and then decide to return the smartphone after 12 months, meaning Flipkart bought back your smartphone for Rs 24,699. Now, you can upgrade to a new smartphone worth more than 24,699. Else, you can pay Rs 24,699 to Flipkart and continue using the smartphone.
