Picture this, a very Sunny day, you happen to walk by a glass showcase of sunglasses and you see a pair you have admired for quite sometime. You walk in, pick the pair, in this case the Jupiters by Oakley.

You then proceed to pay for them and you walk out a more or less satisfied customer. Cut to 5 days later, you havent worn the sunglasses at all, why? because it has not been quite sunny enough. So, the fifth day is Sunny and you walk out and notice scratches on the lenses.

Where did they come from? Couldnt be me because havent even removed them from the box much less wear them.

So what do i do?

I take them to the place you bought it, assuming they would a) understand b) have this under warranty.

And this is where my ordeal begins.

First off, the lady at the shop (Ground Floor, Atria, Worli) does what she is probably trained to do. Lie and Deny.
Then on explaining to her that its been five days and the glasses have not been worn etc etc.. she seems to understand and agrees to sort it out. She takes the sunglasses and gives me the most amazing piece of acknowledgement in the retail world. Look at the image below and says it would take about 4 weeks to sort out.

This store has outlets across Bombay (5) and also in Indore & Ahmedabad. However, they have no other method of sending out acknowledgements. So, i guess when they say Pay Less Optics, they really MEAN Pay Less Optics.. what they dont tell you is that when you Pay Less, you also get a LOT LESS.

What i also realised then is that my previous pair of sunglasses the Oakley Oil Drum (infact between the wife and kid brother and i we own about 8 pairs of Oakleys's) came with a warranty and a booklet which i did not recieve with this one. All i got was a brown box with a sticker on it. check out the image below. So it sent alarm bells rining as to whether they even sell authentic merchandise.


Anyway, cut to one day before the 4 weeks are to end. I called the store and Manasi, the lady who had sold me the sunglasses and given me the apology of an acknowledgement, said to call her back AFTER 4 weeks, the day before was simply not good enough. Apparently they have really high standards when it comes to things like this and boy do they KNOW how to count.

I was leaving for a week in Singapore the next morning and continued on my way without my pair. On returning from SGP i called them again and was told that the sunglasses had returned.. (OH ODE TO JOY) BUT they nothing had been done.

Also, to be noted, i was told these sunglasses were sent to Oakley, so all of this is basically Oakley's fault. They couldnt do anything about it and wanted to keep them for another month. Stupid idiot that i am.. i didnt catch on to any of this and said yes sure. its fine. Ill wait another month. Asking for a refund didnt occur to me because like other fools i believe in the goodness of people and when they say something i believe it.

Anyway, another month goes by and i get a call from Manasi, saying the sunglasses will take another ONE MONTH, so this time i decided to go down to the store and have a word. Once i get there i have a long drawn out chat with another lady, who as low budget staff do, find someone else to talk to.

I am put forward to Mohsin, who claimed to be the manager.. he said that its no problem and the scratches were due to SUN DAMAGE whatever the F*** that means.
Sunglasses getting Sun Damage.. i would have laughed if i wasnt being raped by these people.

So this one says he will have them out to me within a fortnight. If not i can have a new pair or a replacement pair.

Great, i said. Now we are getting somewhere. I ask for it in writing. Sure.. he says. Barks his orders and i get this. Another beauty...

I also bet the wife 50 bucks that they wouldnt not be ready within the fortnight (ill ruin the suspense, i won)

For those cant read the text it says : If u wont get ur oakley jupiter model u can buy another brand within the price or we will refund your money by 7-7-2010, this was on the 22nd of June.


On the 7th of July, i head on down to the store and i am told that they cant sort it out and i should pick out a new pair from one of their other outlets. Since i am near one of their other outlets, i called Mohsin and he said to pick out a pair and have the store manager call him.

After doing the needful, the store manager says he will not be giving me the sunglasses. WHAT THE F*** i thought.

So i called Mohsin and he says there is nothing he can do and like all brave men he hangs up and does not answer the phone again.

I tried calling Luxottica, the importers on their number in RAJASTHAN of all the places on earth and couldnt get anyone to answer the phone.

So any ideas ? what should an idiot like me do? As of now, i am down the money i paid for the glasses, i am down the glasses, i do have two visiting cards with writing on them.. which wouldnt help much in sunglight..