Going for Gold

This my friends is a quick reminder to all of you out there who are gonna be doing loads of Shopping this Festive season!! I did intend to make this post solely about Gold and how to avoid a particular type of billing scam, but, I suppose this could easily be applied to any kind of purchase, but would bite you more if it happened while buying a high value item. And what can get more high value then gold, given the fact that it is a significant investment that will only appreciate in value over a longer period of time.

So, here’s the deal, when you decide to make a purchase, please please please ensure, you completely understand the scheme that is being offered by the store and check your bill twice to ensure the final price is calculated to reflect the right per unit rate and not something you did not agree on previously!

My very recent experience in this matter has been a rather nasty one. One mistake made here was, the final bill prepared, had not been scrutinized well enough to realize that, what was being projected as a “this plus this” sort of discount offer, was in fact only a “this or this” discount offer. And this meant that I was really not getting any discount at all!!

It was ridiculously funny when we realized how we had been billed, but we just couldn’t laugh it off for the simple fact that we had already paid for the jewelry!

So here’s the sales pitch they give you right….

We sell you the gold at London Gold rate, and not Mumbai gold rate. And we sell you the jewelry at ‘C’ making charge. The London gold rate is lower than the Mumbai gold rate so you save there and the making charge is quiet low as well so you get twice the advantage.

This is the sole reason for you to shop from them despite the limited variety of designs available and the shop being located in a mall in far out Vashi ( I live in south Mumbai)!

But, when they bill you, they switch the “AND” in their sales pitch to an “OR”!!!

You get either the London gold rate and a bomb of a making charge cooked up god knows how, OR, you get the Mumbai gold rate and the promised making charge. Meaning you eventually end up paying more then you expected.

Now here’s the funny part.

The Mumbai gold rate they offer is not a 22 carat gold rate, but a 24 carat rate. But the jewelry you are buying is 22 carat, which means you are again paying more for less gold!

So to say the least it was an absolutely terrible experience at this particular jewelers but the good part was we were able to get them to give us a full refund for the items we had purchased, but only after several threats to go to the press with the low down on this scheme/scam ( a press photographer from HT had been in the store earlier that day and had clicked several pics of gold being bought in the store and I was in at that time!), and also a threat to inform all customers present about the incorrect gold rate being offered there.

if you feel you have been duped like this ever, make sure to go back and demand rectification of the problem. Be firm on your stand, do not let them demean you or insult you in any way by laughing off your complaint. This is the easiest way to demoralize a customer looking for a problem rectification after making a purchase. Be very stern, look ‘em in the eye and tell ‘em to shut the hell up and fix this problem ASAP! I know this worked for me yesterday. Every time I caught one of their employees standing around us smiling about our problem and talking in his mother tongue, I made it a point to remind him nothing funny was going on here so he could stop smiling now! All in all, the entire drama cost us a good 2 hrs to sort the matter out, but we finally got them to implicitly admit their fault because they cancelled the purchase and returned our entire amount.

After this entire drama, I can make a few suggestions on how you could avoid falling into this kind of a situation.

One easy way to avoid this is to shop from reputed brands/stores who are very clear and upfront about all the charges and take the time to explain to you everything no matter how many questions you may have.

Hope this piece of information is helpful to you all out there planning to shop tomorrow, gold or otherwise and I wish a Happy Shopping spree to all!

The cheap shopper’s guide to Mumbai

Good! So you’ve survived the streets of south Mumbai and are ready for more bargain hunting! Like scarves, there are a variety of accessories that you can just throw on to jazz up any outfit to suit any occasion. Some accessories, you would do good to have a bunch of, others, a few good pieces would suffice for most purposes. One item that falls under this category, are watches! Now, if brands are your thing, it’s no worry at all, but! If you don’t mind wearing a rip-off of the latest Guess or Tag Heuer every now and then, you are bound to love my next shopping destination!

Welcome to Manish Market, CST.

Located close to CST, or the formerly VT station, this market has been around for quite some time and popular for all the Chinese goods you can get here. Now, to be very honest, I had found entering this place quite intimidating, for the simple reason that bargaining with the shop keepers here, had been a rather difficult task. Any attempt on my part to bargain, had only brought on some very derisive responses from the shop keepers. This I say, not to intimidate you before hand, but just as a helpful pointer how to overcome this marketing trick of theirs.

You see, the shops here, overprice their goods a good deal above the actual price of the product! So say, if you liked a watch out here, a rip-off of the latest designer watch of course, it would be safe to assume, the price quoted would be around 700-1000 bucks. Now, this is one direction, in which the conversation could possibly go…

Shopkeeper says,… this one… original Guess.. Rs. 850…

You say… oh.. very nice.. but its kinda beyond my budget… thanks… .. I’ll go see something else..

Wait wait… at least name your price..

Nah… it’s ok… your original offer is way too high

Come on… at least name your price..

I’d pay 100 bucks for this…. ( if you are not feeling too brave, you could start with 150 and stick to it. I start with 150. My mom picks 90)

Oh..no no… 150… u’ll not get that any where….

and so on and so forth…

No matter what.. you stick to 150. If need be, increase you offer by 5 bucks at a time. No more.

Remember, eventually, the objective, is to get the watch for 100 or 150 bucks max. remember, you show only enough interst in the watch to let em know, you like it only enough to get it for the price you want to pay,and not what he asks for!! Achiving this could involve walking away several times when you hit a deadend in the discussion. doubtlessly, they are bound to call you back and continue on talking this over… once you have them bring down the price in your comfort zone, say around 200 bucks, the rest should be easy. And if you are going with a friend, bargaining for the second watch should be easier. This one time I got one watch for 150 bucks and picked out another equally amazing for only 100 bucks.

(pictured below, the 2nd watch got for 100 bucks)

I would say.. not bad at all! If you have a bargaining story you’d like to share, you’re most welcome to post it here!!

Until the next post, So long!!

Mumbai’s Bazaar Secrets

Having lived all my life in Mumbai, in several different parts of it, one thing I have a huge appreciation of, for this mad city of mine, is the mind bogglingly huge number of small, big, large and enormous markets it has to offer for every possible kind of shopper.

When we talk of shopping in Mumbai, there are a few markets that easily come to mind. The large shopping complexes, the fashion streets of south Mumbai, Bhuleshawar, and even Chor Bazaar! But apart from these, there is this whole bunch of small and medium sized fancy markets that throw up just the most amazing surprises in terms of the merchandise they have on offer and the rock bottom prices they sell at! And whenever I think I’ve seen it all, I come across yet another market place with yet more surprising wares, without causing any damage to my not so deep pockets after yet another shopping spree.

I’ve explored and bargained and had so much fun hopping in the bazaars of Mumbai, I would love to share some of my shopping secrets with you.

Why not start with one of my favorite markets closest to my home right here in south Mumbai?

Alright! Alright! … Jumping right into the market!! Now you’ve got to watch out for yourself here!! And God help you, if you dragged along an unwilling shopper with you. This place can be seriously overwhelming for the infrequent or leisurely street shopper. This place, in my mind is chaos personified!

Welcome to the fancy cloth market at Agripada, Mumbai!

I cannot tell you much of the nomenclature of this place, but the one thing I can tell you is, I committed this name to memory for any future reference the minute I laid eyes on this amazing white scarf my mom brought back from one of her first shopping trips there and told me she actually paid 30 bucks for it. (For all future references, bucks refer to INR, unless stated otherwise). I know you are thinking, that could be possible else where’s in Mumbai too, but let me just point out, this scarf travelled with me to the US and was exceptionally well received in my opinion, and complimented by a surprisingly large number of friends and strangers alike. Yes, this scarf has IT!

(afore mentioned White scarf featured below in a picture with not as much clarity as desired)

OK! OK!! Jumping right back into the market! If you have the time, and the energy to squeeze your way through this crowded colorful circus of a place you will find loads of fabrics, dress materials, embroidered patches etc, at fairly reasonable prices. You could browse through it all for hours without tiring.

But for me, the highlights of this trip are the scarves. Now this stall is located pretty much towards the end of the narrow crowded lane, between 2 other fabric stall and you could miss it if you are not familiar with the geography of the place. But, a little patience here can be very rewarding!

And when I say scarves, I mean The- Girl- in -the -Green -Scarf-from –the- movie- Confessions- of- a Shopaholic- scarves. The original Collection18 scarves featured in the movie, for the price of a kerchief purchased on the local train!! You have to believe me; it doesn’t get any more delicious then this.

For 10, 20 or 30 bucks, you can get the kind of scarves; you would have trouble finding in the best of stores across Mumbai, for any given price.

And if you have a thing for bargaining, you could easily get 9-10 scarves for 100 bucks! Me? I bargain. A lot. And I’ve always come away happy after shopping here. Right from plain, silk, dressy to frilly and delicate to a complex combination of all of these, you could find any kind of scarf you wish for right in this one place!

A word of advice for the first time shopper here though; Go with an open mind, and be ready to dig! Do not go with a fixed design or color in mind, and you will be enormously surprised with the variety this guy sells. And this being a road show, you are had best wear comfy clothes you can kneel down in to dig through all of the stuff to get to the ones you want!

Generally milling with women on all days, Sundays can be pretty crowded out here and leave you exhausted before you can reach the scarves. Saturdays, though, are a good time to shop here. The market generally sets-up between 4 pm till around 9-10 pm 7 days a week. Elbows out, is the right way to walk here for girls if you know what I mean, and although I have not heard or experience this myself, guard your valuables against pickpockets or simply carelessness.

Arm yourself with loads of loose change to aid in the bargaining and you are all set to add some designer scarves to your collection!

Until next time, when I share some more bazaar secrets with you, Happy shopping to you!