Terrible Experience with NoBroker, Unreliable Service

I was looking for packers & movers services in Pune. As I looked for a quote on no broker, these guys kept calling eight times a day for follow-up with a booking. They promised that there will be a dedicated moving manager who will  coordinate with their ground staff and get the moving done. While they took the booking on call they listed each item and gave the quote accordingly. I felt the price was fair so I went ahead with the booking. I chose one tempo with labor help from a driver and additional to helpers. This was done one day before the moving date. As soon as they got the booking amount payment, their attitude changed completely. Suddenly calls started getting disconnected.

The next day, I received a message with name and number of their driver. Surprisingly a local goon arrived in an autorickshow sized tempo along with four guys. Even before coming upstairs to my house, he opened nobroker app read out list of all my items and said we can’t move all this at once. You will have to pay extra. I reasoned that I had booked a 7 ft larger vehicle which according to nobroker is sufficient for my luggage and suggested that he take it up with the nobroker move in manager. The guy became highly abousive and left immediately along with his guys. In the two-three minutes that this guy and his friends spent on the street next to my house, they created quite a scene.

I dialed no broker helpline immediately and surprisingly suddenly my calls were not connecting to the right department, I was getting transferred multiple times. Quite a few people hung up on me (ahem! the calls got disconnected). Finally, they said that they are arranging another vehicle and this time a right size vehicle with another driver. After 15 minutes, I received phone number of another tempo driver.

My booking was for 11am. The goon had come at 12pm. By the time nobroker arranged another tempo and I could get in touch with the tempo driver it was past 1.30pm. As its a beginning of the monsoon season, I wanted to finish moving my luggage before evening hours to avoid rains. After a while the driver called again and asked me to send location on whatsapp along with the list of items. I requested the driver to open his no broker app so he can see the list, he insisted that I send it on whatsapp. So I sat and typed out the list on my phone. Then there was no response from the driver. I tried to connect with him but his phone was not reachable.

So I dialed no broker helpdesk again. The helpdesk person started a conference call with the driver. To my surprise, the driver refused to come at the agreed amount. He said that he has invested 5 lakhs in this business and he cannot provide service at the agreed amount. Then he demanded INR 1k extra. After reasoning for a while, and seeing no support from the helpdesk person, I asked the helpdesk person to provide another driver who will move our luggage at the agreed amount in the invoice. He refused to do so. I also tried to reason that if all of my luggage does not fit in the vehicle or it overloads the vehicle, I will move additional stuff on my own. But the driver refused to budge. So I asked nobroker helpdesk guy to send me a revised invoice with 1k added so I can avail services from this driver. He refused to provide revised invoice and insisted that I will be paying this 1k at my willingness off the books.

I wasn’t ready for this and by now its was 3PM. I was already on call for more than 100 minutes. Finally, I asked the no broker helpdesk executive to refund my booking amount as they cannot provide service at the agreed invoice amount. The helpdesk person agreed and initiated the refund. I could see the updated status on my booking. Thanked the helpdesk guy who wanted me to have a ‘nice’ day after all this. Then stepped out to find a local tempo and labours at nearby market. By 7 PM we had moved all the luggage in the same amount that I were to pay no broker initially.

I was told that I would receive the refund within 7 days but to my surprise, even after 12 days I did not see it coming. Called the helpdesk again and to my surprise, they had cancelled the refund saying my inventory was more so they couldn’t provide service. I tried to connect with their grievance officer but to my surprise, they have mentioned their regular helpdesk contact number and email address along with name of their vertical head on the website. There is no escalation matrix and no way to escalate an issue other than connecting with the helpdesk who keeps telling you to write an email to their general email address.

I am still waiting for my refund.