Doing some work for 27coupons.com ?? Beware....

It’s no secret that websites take help of bloggers and content writers to promote their websites and bloggers do it to try something extra and maybe give a bit of variety to the blog. What I’m trying to tell you is along the same lines and a warning that in case you do get a mail / a chance to work for 27coupons.com as a blogger to promote their website, stay away from them because this is my ordeal and how you can be safe from the hassles.

I won’t hold back any names, so that you don’t get duped. This thing goes back more than a year back. It dates back to March 2015 when a blogger friend of mine asked me if I was interested in doing a sponsored post. I said yes, the payment was through flipkart vouchers. I created a blog post for 27coupons.com sharing the details about the coupons on their website after checking it first by myself to gauge the authenticity and ease of use. I submitted the blog post and my contact details to the friend who forwarded it to the agency looking after the website. The coupon came after 2 days directly on my email through the agency. The trouble started after that, everybody knows that flipkart vouchers are valid for one year from the date of issue. On receiving the voucher, I checked its validity and balance, was 500 valid till March 2016 this year. Months down the line, when I decided to use it in October 2015, I got the first shock of my life as I found out that the balance was 0 (somebody from the buyer end had already used up). I investigated with flipkart and they told me the name of a particular lady who had used the voucher. It clearly implied that it was not used by me as my email ID was not associated with the transaction done on that voucher.

I contacted the owner of the agency and told him about the whole issue. He responded promptly and within the next 24 hours sent me another flipkart voucher of same value in lieu of the one used up. He told me that he knew nobody of the said lady name and would investigate. Fast forward to 3 days back (July 2016). I was buying a gift for my sister from flipkart and saw that at the time of redemption the website showed incorrect voucher number or pin error message. Due to these details I could not even check my balance. I again contacted flipkart and after 12 hours of investigation they sent me a mail saying that the voucher was generated in October 2015 but its pin had been changed in December 2015. I being the recipient of the voucher can’t do anything as only the original buyer has the power to do anything with the pins. Armed with such information I again contacted the owner of the agency and brought him up to date with the whole matter and asked him if he could do anything in that regard. The reply which I get, “This time the pin was kept very securely. So I don’t think any leakages has happened at our end. I won’t be able to do anything in this case.” I even got flipkart to check on the records that the said voucher was purchased on the email ID of the agency.

This sent him the voucher and pin details again and I requested him to share them with me but I have got no response. Everybody who’s reading this post and has ever used flipkart knows how they work if they are gifted. The number and the pin have to be correct otherwise it won’t work. Now I am only trying to use the details which were sent to me. It’s all about who uses the voucher first, as both the original buyer and the recipient have the details. Despite flipkart telling me to contact the original buyer and giving me the proof on email that the pin number had been changed just two months after it was sent to me shows that there is something seriously wrong with the agency. Either they can’t catch the security breach from their end or they’re trying to be too smart. Having two incidents of almost the same nature within 1.5 years speaks a lot about them.

Although it might be a small value voucher but anybody who’s worked for something they have written knows the value of remuneration. Isn’t it tiring and friggingly ridiculous to see a spate of mails going on between me and flipkart just to get all the details out to know where the goof up happened? In the end what happens? The said agency washes its hands of the whole affair. फ्री का promotion करवा लिया. The website 27coupons.com is another front for the same agency so getting in touch with them is no purpose. 

My sole aim to write this post was to share my trouble which I had with this agency/website in regard to payment and maybe some or the other people might connect with this post who have gone through the same pain of not getting their due payment for their work. In my case it’s a simple case of security breach within their own company and they are not ready to accept it and I am at a loss. So my advice to you for the future is to stay away from any work that you may undertake for this website/agency as there might be hassles with you just like me in payment.

Website- 27 coupons.com

Agency- Diffion consulting based in Bhubaneswar.