The website of the company also crashed during two-day sale due to the huge response from prospective buyers. The company claimed that around 30,000 customers had booked the phone in the first batch despite the glitch. The company, however, withdrew the product and refunded the payments to customers following a close scrutiny by government agencies. The company had said about 30,000 people paid for booking the phone and over 7 crore people registered for it.
“We will start shipment of Freedom 251 from June 28 to customers who paid for it earlier on COD (cash-on-delivery) basis,” Managing Director Mohit Goel told Press Trust of India. He also said that Ringing Bells has a foolproof plan to support the price but did not disclose it.
Ringing Bells President Ashok Chaddha had explained earlier that the manufacturing cost of the phone was about Rs. 2,500, which had to be recovered through a series of measures like economies of scale, innovative marketing, reduction in duties and creating an e-commerce marketplace. He had said that the company would make phones in India that would lead to 13.8% savings on duties and further save on cost by selling it online.