Is it not unethical? Should there be a law to prevent this? Or is it just that they are incompetent in process and technology and customer care?

I could never imagine that the Tata group could do something so unethical. They published ads saying that many apple product is available while it is not the case. Are they taking the money without stock and make people wait until the last day and then don't deliver? Some people may wait indefinitely until they get the product in stock, but some people may take a refund. But what we are missing out on is the profit they will be getting for these days when they hold our money. Ideally, you should refund with interest. 

Apple released iPhones and Watches. While not even apple showrooms were having stock. Croma advertised heavily that they will deliver the product in 3-4 days. I don't think they had any plans to deliver. Or is their people/process too bad to deliver something? 

Ignorance and attitude toward customer care

I knew from day 1 that something is wrong. The order was still in the placed state all along. I asked customer care multiple times over call and email, and they said the system will show only the wrong information but actually, it is allocated and I will receive it through Bluedart on the specified date. Explanation about quality of system comes from the Tata group which has Tata Consultancy Services as part of it with a very large number of tech engineers. I think they should also focus on their issues rather than only work on client issues. 

When I asked for a bluedart reference number, they said there is no reference number for this courier in the system but blue dart will deliver on the specified data without any clue or are they taught to say so, so that they will get to keep the money for more time.

They said I will receive the product any time during the delivery date even though there was no out-of-delivery message. They made me wait the whole day and the request was still in placed mode. They said anytime it can come through blue dart.

Customer care was completely clueless. And one time they just took the call and forgot. I could hear chit-chat for some time and then I disconnected. 

All throughout the communication, they were not willing to take complaints also, and finally, when they took the complaint after they understood delivery time has passed, they are not telling that they need to analyze the issue and will need 3 days for such complaints. At the same time, they are shamelessly advertising that they will deliver the product in 2 days on their website. 

I had even tweeted to Croma retail and even Tata group, Noone cares. Never expected in from a Tata company.  
 

Why you should never buy apple products from Croma

I believe one should never pay and buy apple products from croma because:

1. Apple had the same Apple watch model available for 1-day delivery for my pin. I have taken the screenshot for that also as proof. Apple keeps their word and even share bluedart tracking details. Even if Croma gives a better date there is no chance you will receive it on that date.
2. You can't buy add ons such as Apple care as you will not reveive the EMI cashback offers from banks such as HDFC bank. Another technical issue from the groujp that owns one of the biggest tech consultancy companies in the world. Tested as of September 23, 2022 and have taken screenshots.  

I am not alone

You don't want to believe me on how unethical and unprofessional Croma is; all you have to do is to search mouthshut or any review website. 

Update: 24 September 2022

I got a mail asking for 3 days to sort out the issue while the same product is now listed on the Croma website for 1-day delivery. Very pathetic system. I was a bit confused after seeing all reviews about Croma in Mouthshut, but now I am convinced that they are all true.

What I don't understand is how a Tata company can act this badly. They even have companies like TCS that should have enough resources to fix their technical issues. And ignorance and attitude toward customer care are alarming. 

I wish Ratan Tata could see this and could direct the Tata group and Croma in the right way.

They also raised a lot of service requests (each team on social media and even the greivance team) but without anyone taking responsibility and speeding up the process: SR ID :SR24092200407, SR ID :C000131047, SR ID :C000131566, SR ID :C000131567, SR ID :C000131639, SR ID :C000130696, SR ID :C000130832, SR ID :C000124762.

Update: 24 September 2022 Afternoon

Got a call from Croma telling product is not available and they took order without checking stock. But interestingly product is still shown as available in website with a 1 day delivery. So is my guess about unethical practices right ot wrong? I will expect an answer from Tata group. Have copied Ratan Tata also in Twitter even though he is in charge.