Hippo Stores Technology Pvt Ltd - Deceptive Marketing Practices by Hippo Stores Smart TV Incident

I had gone to Hippo Stores, Noida to buy sanitary items / fittings for my two bathrooms under renovation. I was given to understand that if I bought items worth more than Rs.*.** lakh then one amongst the three items shall be given as a complimentary gift. I bought sanitary fittings worth Rs.*,**,***.** on **.**.**** and preferred **” Kodak Smart TV, after re-confirming that it was a Smart TV, as a complimentary gift. My wife and I are singers and therefore, opted for Smart TV presuming that it would have all basic features like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Remote with Voice assistant etc., which would help us attach our sound system with TV through Bluetooth and assist in changing Karaoke of songs with ease. However, when the service engineer came on **.**.**** for installation and opened the box it was found that there was no Wall Mount Stand for the TV. After talking to Hippo Stores, `I requested the service engineer to buy from the local market and spent Rs.***/- on this. However, when the TV was installed I was terribly shocked and disappointed to find that the TV didn’t have the basic features of a Smart TV. There was no *G Wi-Fi facility but had only *G connection. Besides, the TV didn’t have Bluetooth and voice assistant features. The very purpose of my opting for Kodak Smart TV got defeated. I felt cheated as I was not informed of deficiencies of this so called Smart TV. I immediately took up the matter with Mr. Kshitij Bhatnagar, a high ranking official of Hippo Stores, Noida. Initially, he took my calls and responded to whatsapp messages but later stopped responding. My wife and I then personally visited Hippo Stores, Noida on **.**.**** and spoke to the Stores head Mr. Tarun Arora. We apprised him of the short comings of the Kodak Smart TV and requested that either the desired features should be incorporated in the given Kodak Smart TV or a new **” Kodak Smart TV with requisite features be provided to us in exchange and that we were ready to bear the price difference. Mr. Tarun Arora listened to us patiently and promised for all help in the matter. However, later he showed his inability to help stating that Kodak Smart TV was a Promotional Gift. This was not expected from a reputed store. This implies that Hippo Stores is fooling customers in the name of promotional gift and luring them to make hefty amount purchases from the store. This is deceptive market practice and not judicious on the part of Hippo Stores. The store belongs to a reputed Dalmia group and such cheatings are not expected from them. I, therefore, advice everyone not to get tempted by promotional gifts offered by Hippo Stores as this is only a ploy to trap you in making hefty amount purchases. You will end up feel cheated through inferior promotional complimentary gifts, as I felt.