Pune: Residents relying on quick commerce platforms for everyday essentials are increasingly complaining about receiving poor quality or spoiled products, including bread with mould, rotten vegetables and melted ice creams.“There have been many instances when I have received rotten vegetables and poor quality of fruits. Once I got tomatoes nibbled by some insect. Quick commerce may be convenient, but at what cost?” said Rupal S, a resident of NIBM.FDA officials are acting based on grievances filed by consumers. Joint commissioner of FDA Pune Digambar Bhogawade said, “We are conducting a comprehensive drive with respect to quick commerce dark houses. We have found some lapses in certain areas, the details of which we will reveal in a few days, and other aspects are also under investigation.”Residents are also raising concerns about how quick commerce players are handling perishable items, “We ordered ice-cream cones recently via quick commerce and it came to us totally melted. The ice-cream was leaking from some of the packets. I wonder what kind of cold storage there is in the local warehousing,” said Sumit Nair, a resident of Hadapsar.While quick commerce players are also quick to refund consumers for poor quality products, residents are now raising questions on the storage conditions and its impact on the quality of food.“It’s not about getting the refund, the concern is about how the food is stored. Even if it’s a packaged product, there needs to be a certain storage environment like cleanliness, the space should not be infested by pests, etc. This is impossible to gauge when ordering from a dark room,” said Ajay Agarwal, a resident of Baner.Recently, in an inspection by Maharashtra FDA, a quick commerce dark store in Malad west (in Mumbai) was found to have serious hygiene violations, including cockroach infestation and unsanitary conditions.Meanwhile, many residents are even boycotting quick commerce and going back to kirana stores and supermarkets. “At least there is visibility on how the food is stored in a supermarket. The hygiene and cleanliness of the place is a big factor for me. I’m so put off by quick commerce as last week I got bread covered in mould,” said Naziya Khan, a resident of Kharadi.“There need to be some product quality checks before items are handed over to delivery boys. Expired products, damaged packaging and rotten vegetables should be tackled by those managing the dark houses,” said a resident of Pashan.Delivery agents are also facing challenges during deliveries. “If the consumer checks the product at the time of delivery and finds an issue, they tell us to replace it. There is no mechanism of replacements offline, consumers need to file complaints online. We have to bear the brunt of their anger,” said a delivery executive.
