Tech glitch for Scorpio-N bookings leaves buyers in the lurch

Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) dealers' worst fears of the Scorpio-N booking site crashing came true as many customers who were waiting to book the SUV from 10.30 am were unable to do so at introductory prices at the commencement of the booking time at 11am.

Expressing his ire on Twitter, one wrote to  @anandmahindra Sir, I was going to buy Scorpio-N today, I sat 15 mint B4 with good internet but when at 11Am I clicked on Book Now, within 5Sec all bookings were filled, there is no way possible 25k people can book a car in 5secs, even the online payment takes time too. I stopped buying creta to get this but I didn't expect this to be happen.

Another user said: “Sharp at 11AM today when the booking opened for Scorpio-N, the introductory price was already over? How can 25k people just book within no time? And the payment page isn't even working @anandmahindra digitization has a long way to go it seems.

M&M, in a statement, said the bookings for the Scorpio-N were the fastest bookings they have ever got. “Mahindra & Mahindra recorded 25,000 bookings in less than 1 minute and 1,00,000 bookings for  the Scorpio-N within 30 minutes of the booking commencement at 11:00 am today, translating into an ex-showroom value of Rs18,000 crores / USD 2.3 billion”

Anand Mahindra in a tweet said “From our press release. And I add my reassurance: There was a brief glitch with the payment gateway provider. We assure all customers that their time stamp prior to payment is duly recorded, so each customer will have their rightful place in the order sequence…

Responding to customer frustration, M&M said, “The booking website handled the huge rush of orders well, but there was a brief glitch with the payment gateway provider. Mahindra would like to assure the customers that their time stamp prior to payment is duly recorded on the booking platform, so each customer will have their rightful place in the order sequence and accordingly the first 25,000 will be considered for introductory prices based on this sequence”

The company also said that subsequent bookings will be as per the prices prevalent at the time of delivery. M&M will continue to take the bookings for the models online and at dealerships.

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