Vijay Sethupathi promoted Mandee App crashes before opening, people's money at stake

Film actor Vijay Sethupathi, belonging to the 'woke class of Kollywood actors' who cares about humanity and people coming to the rescue of people, finds himself responsible for sending thousands of people to the streets jobless.

Last year, an app named Mandee was launched which was advertised by Vijay Sethupathi. These ads with Vijay Sethupathi's photo were found everywhere - bus shelters, Facebook, TV, etc. When news about this app started spreading, small scale businesses and traders protested against it as it put their livelihoods under threat. The Tamil Nadu All Traders Union condemned the actor for his endorsement of the app. In November 2019, close to 600 small and large scale traders protested outside the office of Vijay Sethupathi, against his endorsement of the Mandee app.

Now, millions of people who have invested millions across the state of Tamil Nadu, are expected to become bankrupt. It is told that the Mandee App is about to be shut down and the money invested in the company has gone down the drains.

"We invested in Mandee App based on the advertisement of Vijay Sethupathi. In this business, a supplier partner is to deposit an amount ranging from 2-5 lakhs and also make arrangements for a godown, transport and other logistical requirements which would cost around 10-15 lakhs. Thereafter, Mandee sends us the inventory and we have to supply the good to the customers. We don't have to look for customers as Madee takes care of it which has employed hundreds across the state to do the job. I've spent around 11 lakhs till now and I'm at the risk of losing all of it now!" says a person who on-boarded the app and requested not to be identified.

What is the issue now?

Business should have rolled out by December 2019. People had already taken the plunge by building or renting godowns, transport and also hiring people. However, business has not begun to this day. People who on-boarded the app find themselves in dire straits as they stand to lose lakhs.

In a mail sent by the company to all its Service Partners which has been accessed by Kathir Times details what went wrong and the future course of action to be taken. The company blames the Service Partners saying that the "Goods Receipt Note" generated by Service Partners had errors and that offline sales by some Service Partners were not recorded in the system. They have also said that reinvestment from Service Partners for fresh supplies have not happened in a timely manner. The company has said that 'as a show of good faith they would be releasing payments for November and December soon.'