dipen tewari – The Metrognome

With a credit card and access to the right websites, online shopping is the smartest way to save time, effort.

by Dipen Tewari

What would you rather do – make your tired way to the shopping mall to pick out a dress by a reputed brand, or save time and pick the same dress online? As our spending power increases and more and more people get connected to e-commerce, shopping online for a variety of products is becoming the norm, rather than an exception.

Earlier, people were cautious about sharing their credit or debit card information on the Internet. However, with sites enhancing their payment gateway security, shoppers slowly started buying such items as books, perfumes and movies online. Slowly, as sites started offering photographic views of such categories like clothes, shoes and bags, people ventured into buying even these items online. Now we have reached a stage where shoppers are buying expensive diamond jewellery, home appliances, and even furniture online.

If you’re still one of those people who are not shopping online, here’s why you need to check out this option:

Save time. Let’s face it, most of us really don’t have the time to trudge to the nearest mall or department store to check out the sale for a brand that’s been advertising in the papers. We can’t say when we will be done with work, and after facing the long day in the office, how many of us are really in the mood to shop? Instead of checking out products in a physical store, we can save a lot of time by checking out the same merchandise online, comparing the best prices and placing our orders. It’s often that simple, and you save yourself a lot of precious time.

Save the effort. Bibliophiles buy books by the dozen at times, and after browsing for the correct titles and buying the books, they have to cart the heavy purchases home by themselves. Or, there may be people who are scouting for an attractive dining table and who are haggling with the store owner over the transportation costs of their new furniture. Both these categories of shoppers can benefit from shopping online. Not only do many e-commerce portals offer different views of such product categories as clothes, shoes, bags, furniture, even crockery and household utensil sets, they also ship the merchandise to your doorstep for free. It’s really not worth the effort to go to the shops to buy what is so easily available for sale on the Internet.

Save money. Shopping sites like Flipkart have regular discount days every week, if not finite sale periods where customers get very heavy discounts on products. By merely sitting at your workstation or scrolling on your mobile, you can shop on the go for a wide range of needs, compare your spends and make the best purchases. Most reputed portals these days also have tie-ups with banks for cash back offers on selected categories and brands, or on all purchases. Ultimately, you end up saving quite a lot of money with no extra associated costs of travel borne by you.

Change what you don’t like sitting at home. Most e-commerce sites in India offer a ’30-day return’ option for purchases, even for such items as clothing and bags that you may have used during this time. As long as the product is not being returned to the company in a mangled condition, it is taken back with either a full or partial refund (depending on company policy on returns, condition of the product and reasons for returning). This normally happens with categories such as shoes and clothes, where people can mistakenly pick the wrong size or colour; however, jewellery companies such as Caratlane also take back sold merchandise. The best part is, just as the product is delivered to your doorstep, so is it picked up from your home, thus making the entire process convenient for you.

The entire shopping universe at one go. Sure, a mall offers you the widest possible range of products in one spot, but no mall in the world can stock all the brands and services that you require. This is where online shopping portals do the trick – on one gadget, you can access every possible product category, the corresponding brand selling the product, the price range for it and the delivery system. What’s more, these days there are sites that even compare the prices and products across a spectrum of other e-commerce sites, so the shopper is not confused by the wide array of options.

(Picture courtesy www.kgns.tv. Image is used for representational purpose only)

Works your building society must carry out

There is no excuse to not carry out regular repair works – insist that your building society carries them out.

by Dipen Tewari

The building you stay in collects monthly dues from you in lieu of maintenance charges, lift charges, parking fees, open space maintenance, amenity maintenance etc. This money collected goes into the society’s coffers, and is to be used in times of repair work and painting and plastering jobs.

However, many buildings default on carrying out these repair works. As such, they do not have the option of not conducting safety and structural audits (especially for old buildings) and getting the premises repaired every five years, since they are legally mandated to do so. Many buildings even fail to furnish receipts of the collected money, and do not even hold obligatory general body meetings to discuss the need to increase charges and other matters of common interest.

Apart from these, building society managing committees also have other important obligations:

Intervene in disputes. If a house is affected by leakage from the house above, and the second party refuses to carry out repairs and painting to provide relief to the first, the managing committee must intervene in the matter. They can call for a special meeting for members to air their grievances face to face, and ask the offending parties to rectify the situation. The committee performs an important arbitrator’s role in this way.

Stop unauthorised repairs. Some members may decide to knock off important construction elements like columns in their houses. This is the number one reason for building collapses. As such, members are required to inform the committee of the nature and extent of repair work they are about to undertake, and the committee is legally bound to object if the proposed work will endanger the overall structure.

Conduct regular repairs. As buildings age and face wear and tear, it is necessary to optimise their overall life by carrying out periodic repairs. These may be as simple as re-plastering and repainting the external walls, or as tedious as replacing crumbling water lines and sewage systems for the entire building. The building is duty-bound to conduct necessary repairs, spanning from rebuilding broken compound walls to replacing old tube lights in the premises, to getting the water tanks thoroughly cleaned at least once a year.

Initiate action against defaulters. Some members of the society regularly default on their monthly dues to the building, for various reasons. The committee is fully empowered to initiate proceedings against such errant members if they do not respond to written intimations or pay up the dues within 30 days of being informed to do so. The committee can approach the Registrar of Societies for redressal in the matter.

Maintain essential services for the building. It is the managing committee’s job to ensure that water and electricity are being provided to the society without interruption, that garbage collectors go to all the flats in the building and dispose off the trash safely, lifts are running smoothly, the swimming pools are cleaned periodically, that gardens and potted plants in the premises are being trimmed regularly, and that no stagnant water is collected in the building’s open spaces, among other duties. The committee must maintain a log book of all service staff such as the building watchman, garbage collectors, plumbers, electricians, construction and repair staff, etc.

Cannot take decisions without members’ consent. The managing committee cannot take financial and other decisions for the building premises on behalf of the members and without consulting with them via general body meetings. Similarly, the managing committee must change every year via a fair election process. Some societies levy arbitrary charges for parking, or increase maintenance charges without adequate reason or notice. Members can refuse to comply with any diktats that have not been arrived at after proper consultation with all residents.

(Pictures courtesy www.indiamart.com. Image is used for representational purpose only)