Last week, Varadharajan, a resident of Mylapore, arranged a family trip to his hometown in Thanjavur for the summer. Since he planned to be away from his Chennai home for a week, he wanted that his regular milk delivery from Aavin to be paused during this period.
In the past, whenever Varadharajan was unavailable or didn’t require milk deliveries for three or more consecutive days, he would inform the local Aavin office to halt the service.
Upon visiting the office to settle his subscription bill the following month, the cost of the undelivered milk packets would be deducted, and he would pay the remaining amount.
For instance, if he was absent for a week, he would pay only 506 instead of 660 for a month’s supply of Aavin green magic (standardised) milk packets.
However, with the introduction of online milk card purchases for the 2023-24 period, the option to pause delivery for periods of absence is no longer available.
When Varadharajan reached out to the area office for assistance, he was advised to seek help from delivery agents. “Unfortunately, the agents indicated that they couldn’t redistribute the milk packets elsewhere due to the large number of families out of town for summer vacations,” he said.
Consumer rights activist T Sadagopan said delivery agents often suggest seeking assistance from neighbours or relatives. If no one is available to collect the milk, the packets pile up in the milk baskets at the doors. Sadagopan emphasized that as a major milk supplier, Aavin should have a system in place to pause deliveries for cardholders and long-term customers when they are away. He pointed out that even smaller e-retailers, which offer a wide range of products including groceries, allow customers to temporarily suspend their orders.
SA Ponnusamy, representing the milk dealers’ welfare association, mentioned that even when Aavin operated offline, the ability to pause delivery depended on the cooperation of the delivery agents. If an agent was uncooperative, consumers had no recourse. Aavin’s managing director S Vineeth said that they are planning to introduce rescheduling options soon.
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