Flipkart's Disney+Hotstar one-year subscription offer for Rs 99 a glitch, not a scam

For one day, social media platforms and messenger applications were abuzz with chatter on Flipkart's lucrative deal on a Disney+Hotstar subscription for Rs 99 against the MRP of Rs 1,499.

With the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket tournament set to kick off on Sept. 19, the Rs 99 deal on one year Disney+Hotstar was too good an offer to miss out. It should be noted that IPL matches in India via mobile can be viewed only on the yearly subscription of either Disney+ Hotstar VIP (Rs 399) or Disney+ Hotstar Premium Rs 1,499.

Predictably, many tried to grab the offer. To their dismay, however, nobody was able to get a promotional code within a stipulated time of 24 hours and the purchase got cancelled. And there was no refund.

Also, the official Disney+Hotstar handle on Twitter has called it as an unofficial listing.

"Hi! This was not an official listing. If you have made the purchase, please contact Flipkart Support for cancellation and refund," Disney+Hostar Help support said on Twitter

Several people took to Twitter to vent their anger on the handles of Flipkart and Hotstar+Disney. DH reached out to Flipkart to check if the promotional offer was real or a scam conjured by cyber criminals. The company confirmed that the offer was indeed promoted on their e-commerce site but it was a glitch. The company gave an assurance that they would refund all the cancelled transactions soon.

"The Disney Hotstar subscription offer was due to an unexpected error. We apologise for the inconvenience. All orders cancelled will be refunded," the Flipkart spokesperson told DH.

This particular story aside, we advise our readers to be wary of what appear to be lucrative deals on e-commerce sites or jackpot money messages in your email/messenger app inbox. Do not click any website links or share any financial details to an unknown sender.

Also, always install apps from either Google Play for Android phones or the Apple App Store for iPhones and iPads. Exercise caution while visiting websites that begin with just 'http' in the URL. Make sure you do transactions with websites that begin with 'https' in the URL.

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