So I was reading a novel recently. I don’t remember what the book was called, but one of the statements in it really struck out to me. If something is too good to be true, its probably not true. The above appears to be a perfect fit for Ringing Bells, the Indian tech firm that saw a meteoritic rise to fame after offering $4 smartphones to the masses.
Mohit Goel, the founder of the tech firm, was arrested on Thursday after a handset dealer (Ghaziabad based Ayam Enterprises) accused the company of defaulting on its promises and failing to refund him for an unfulfilled order.
You probably remember Goel from last year, after his firm made headlines when it offered to sell smartphones for merely 251 rupees. The device expected to pack a camera, bluetooth, WiFi and everything that makes a smartphone, smart. As can be expected, the price conscious Indian market took him up for his word and demand for the smartphone that was supposed to cost the same as the eating out at an average restaurant, reached huge proportions.
Everything was in place and all that remained was for the company to deliver on its promise and make a name for itself among the country’s biggest smartphone makers. However, selling a phone — a smartphone nevertheless — for the same price as a couple of KGs of Apple was a tall claim, and one that Ringing Bells was apparently unable to make good upon.
Trouble had started early on after complaints from angry customers who had registered themselves on the company’s website and paid the cost of the smartphone failed to receive the handsets. However, things reached a head after a handset dealer accused the firm of defaulting.
As per Reuters, the dealer said that he had paid INR 3 million for an order of Ringing Bells handsets. However, not only did he not receive the full consignment, but some of the devices received were defective as well. The allegations and the subsequent detainment come a couple of months after Ringing Bells MD Mohit Goel claimed to have delivered 70000 phones and promised to deliver the remaining soon.
The dealer, who hails from Ghaziabad in the state of Uttar Pradesh, apparently received merely 1.4 million rupees worth of goods and cash out of the 3 million he had paid to Ringing Bells for its smartphones. What’s more, he also accused Mohit Goel and other executives at the mobile maker, of threatening him.
Ah well, between Reliance Jio and Ringing Bells, we could have seen the digital India dream come true. However, while Jio managed to deliver, Ringing Bell appears to have made claims without first verifying whether it could actually fulfill them. That or the company’s business model had some gaping flaws that the executives either foolishly or over-optimistically ignored.
It might interest you to know that according to Wikipedia, the Freedom 251 device is the most searched mobile device in the history of Google, exceeding even the iPhone 7. Well, let’s hope the company manages to get itself out of the trouble it has landed itself in.
