This is really nothing anyone is probably interested in, but I felt the need to share with you, my wider blog audience, the news of my latest DVD shipment since you were an integral part of it all.
Back in September, I placed a very very very large DVD order with one of those Indian websites. It was more than I could afford, but I figured if I just ordered everything at once instead of in little drips and drabs over the next year, I could save on shipping and be all efficient, so why not go for it?
And then two weeks later, I still had nothing. And three weeks. And four weeks. And then a couple of months. I was emailing all along to the official contact email, but no luck. FINALLY, ages later, I heard back with a very Indian-English sounding email that offered me a personal cell phone number to call.
And then I got nervous, because I knew I was suddenly out of my depth. See, every culture has the little coded language and manners and stuff around bargaining and business situations. In WASP-y American culture, I am golden! I just pretend I am talking to my grandmother, and everyone loves me. I am sweet, I am humble, I never directly ask for anything (because that would be rude!), I just say “I would really appreciate it if you could find a way to…” And then they think “oh what a nice little girl, she reminds me of my granddaughter/niece/daughter, I will give her whatever she wants!” And I end up getting a huge rent refund for my lack of floor, or donated supplies for my Sunday School class, or whatever else.
Now, picture the desi guy who runs a DVD website. Is he going to react nicely to “oh gee, I would really appreciate it if it isn’t too much trouble, please and thank you and have a nice day”? No! He’s going to ignore my emails for 4 months! And then roll right over me in a series of phone calls while I am still trying to gently lead up to asking for something without being impolite.
So, I finally got desperate and decided to play dirty. Usually when I play dirty I turn into an odd combination of my grandmother and my father, “I am very sorry but I think maybe I will have to report you to the Better Business Bureau or Small Claims Court, so sorry again, I hope I don’t have to, have a nice day.” But this is not a BBB type business and I don’t know what kind of a claim I could have filed against some India based website.
(Kind of feels like maybe this would have been the best way to solve it. But I’m much more Shirley Temple than Amitabh in my methods)
So instead, I wrote another email saying “Oh by the way, I want all these DVDs because I run a website for Indian film where I have recommended your website in the past, and hope to in the future, but if this problem with my order is not resolved, I will instead feel the need to warn my readers away and direct them to ebay or Amazon instead.” And then I added “Also, I hope you are enjoying this nice weather and have a good day and thank you so much again for all your efforts to resolve this.” Because, you know, I didn’t want to hurt his feelings or make him think I didn’t trust him! (Did I mention that the first time I went to India I paid $10 for a 15 minute rickshaw ride?)
And it worked! Apparently this is the magical trick to get people to respond to me if the big-eyed polite sucking up doesn’t work! So from now on, anytime I need anything from anyone who seems to be immune to my sweetness, I will just hold the threat of a bad blog review over their head and see what happens.
Oh, also, since they did end up sending me soooooooooooooo many DVDs, I am going to keep my promise and not bad mouth them. So you don’t get to know which website it was! I mean, look at this richness!
dontcallitbollywood 
i saw 2 of my favourites there. udayananu tharam is a gud watch 4 film lovers n aspiring film makers.thalppavu is one f d best of prithvi but very dark.
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I’m excited to start working through the pile!
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Mammootty is very fond of sunglasses.mohanlal once tried his hand in some food business but failed.keep these in mind while watching udayananu tharan.or will miss some jokes
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Will do! Thanks
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Looks like it was still worth the wait, but that’s terrible customer service! Of course, I want to know what company and I suspect it starts with a “B”. I’ve had a couple of bad experiences with that one. They’ll often only ship partial orders, charge you for the whole order, and then conveniently forget to send the backordered titles. I had to send multiple e-mails the last time it happened. I’m currently waiting for Ohm Shanthi Oshana from them and sent an e-mail this week and did get a reponse but still no DVD.
Purchasing Indian DVDs is always an adventure. I have a rule that I won’t spend more than $10 total on a DVD and I’ll try to keep it even lower than that. I order from Induna.com often in big bulk orders and I’ve been satisfied (plus they often send a Filmfare magazine for free and that’s awesome!). But that other one is obviously good for the Malayalam films and other regionals. Otherwise, Amazon is my preferred choice, too.
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Malayalam films are the only ones I really really need on DVD. Telugu and Tamil are on Netflix, and streaming, and everywhere else. Hindi, I already own everything in the world, and can just hop over to my local store if I need anything else. But Malayalam is just impossible for some reason. What I can’t understand is why the stores in Kerala don’t deal direct. Have you noticed that? There’s all kinds of ebay accounts for Hindi and even Telugu films that are clearly set up by local stores. But for the Malayalam stuff, I have to do through a 3rd party who talks to the stores in India and has them send stuff to me.
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Oh I see that you have one of my childhood favorites Gandhinagar 2nd Street.Thalappavu (Turban) based on an actual incident in the 80s.Mazhathulli kilukkam (Raindrops jingle?) -whatever made you choose that one? Spirit -lauded by everyone I know.But I couldn’t finish it.And Udyananu tharam (Udayan is the Star) which was remade in Hindi as Shortcut-the con is on with Akshaye Khanna.
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Luckily, I never saw Shortcut, so I can watch it with fresh eyes!
and this is a really random collection because I ended up just sending them my list of every Malayalam film that anyone ever recommended and telling them to just send me 20 or more of any of them.
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I hope my question isn’t too nosy. If it is, you can refuse to answer. 🙂 My question is, how much did you have to pay in customs duty for such a large order?
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Nothing. That is, it wasn’t itemized like that. I paid shipping, I assume the 3rd party dealer paid customs and folded it into the shipping cost.
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That is a thing of beauty! There is no better feeling in the world than opening up a package like that and splaying it all out! So exciting!
I haven’t been very adventurous with my orders. I only have about 45 Hindi blu-rays (plus Bangalore Days, and Eega on the way) but I’ve ordered them all through Ebay and Amazon sellers. I prefer the Amazon sellers since they tend to be so much quicker and have cheaper shipping. Even through Ebay sellers in India my longest wait has only been a month. The shipping costs can get pretty ridiculous but I figure it’s worth the extra peace of mind. I’ve had a couple bad experiences with HK bootlegs and Ebay has always refunded my money. If the Canadian dollar wasn’t so awful lately, I would probably have 100 by now!
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I prefer Amazon and ebay too. If only Malayalam stores would use them more! I can get Bangalore Days and stuff on Amazon maybe, but the older more obscure stuff is just hopeless.
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I can see Aiyya there 🙂 I was looking at Dreamum Wakeupum again – such a funny, cheeky video/song.
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I’m so happy to have Aiyya on DVD! I love the movie, but I hate certain scenes, so the ability to easily fast-forward and jump around will make it pretty much perfect.
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Am including Dreamum Wakeupum in my song clips playlist. Hope the old ladies don’t get too excited! lol
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There is a lot of malayalee association in USA you can try to contact them and get DVD from the for free
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Oh, that is an interesting idea! I may want to look into that. Or at least see if they can help me with a local source, the two Indian stores I know about are Hindi and Telugu and maybe a little Tamil. But there must be somewhere in the Chicagoland area for Malayalam DVDs. Maybe out in the suburbs somewhere?
On Mon, Mar 6, 2017 at 1:02 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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