Dukaan's new service fee, AI chatbot spark backlash on X, founder has a sarcastic response

Dukaan, a DIY platform for setting up online stores, faced backlash for introducing a service fee on X, leaving users questioning its commitment to affordability. The heated discussion on the social media platform unfolded after a user's post drew attention to Dukaan's newly implemented service charge.

An X user posted, "Dukaan has started charging a service fee per order. This fee wasn't there before and has been levied from 10th October 2023. This effectively makes Dukaan expensive now. Their initial promise of a low-cost e-commerce platform is vanishing away." The tweet quickly gained traction, with numerous users expressing their concerns about the added cost.

Shantanu Goel, who sells 3D prints and is an engineer, chimed in, stating, "Damn! Glad I didn't go with them. Service fee as high as 5% on top of gateway charges."

Damn! Glad I didn't go with them. Services fee as high as 5% on top of gateway charges :o

— Shantanu Goel (@shantanugoel) October 16, 2023

Dukaan, however, couldn't resist the urge to respond, leading to a rather peculiar exchange. Their tweet read, "Well. No wonder why you don't have to worry about your transaction fees :) 'Cannot set properties of undefined (setting 'cart').'" This cryptic response was accompanied by a screengrab of their website.

Goel, unimpressed by Dukaan's response, reposted their tweet, sarcastically stating, "Ladies and gentlemen, this is Dukaan's great 'AI' customer service trying to be cheap Wendy's. No wonder they need to cut costs everywhere, all their customers probably already left."

Then, in a surprising twist, Suumit Shah, the founder of Dukaan, entered the fray by unveiling a new logo for Goel that sarcastically acknowledged the turmoil. The logo featured the words "something went wrong," poking fun at the situation and he wrote: “Here's new logo for you - OF COURSE designed by AI.”

Here's new logo for you - OF COURSE designed by AI ;) pic.twitter.com/AA2BMta3Lo

— Suumit Shah (@suumitshah) October 16, 2023

One user, commenting on the situation, expressed skepticism, stating, "I’m pretty sure this is directly from ‘them’ and not AI. Only ‘they’ have the audacity to do this." Goel responded, sarcastically poking fun at the notion of AI involvement, "Yeah. I was joking about the AI. It's their CEO handling their Twitter account."

This Twitter exchange marks the latest controversy for Dukaan, a company that previously garnered attention when it laid off 90% of its support staff due to the introduction of an AI chatbot for customer support. The move was intended to expedite response times, but it came with its own set of challenges.

Suumit Shah had previously justified these layoffs, explaining that resolution time had dramatically decreased with the AI assistant's introduction, and was slammed for his lack of empathy as he fired so many people.

He said the company had long been struggling with customer support and the AI revolution seemed to him like an opportunity to fix the issue. The idea was to come up with “Dukaan's own AI assistant, which would answer customer queries instantly and precisely, anywhere,” he had written without answering questions about the layoffs.