BevQ app starts on the wrong foot in Kerala, draws sarcastic reviews

A large number of disgruntled users displayed their displeasure by giving it a low rating in Google Play Store

Liquor, beer and wine sales reopened in Kerala after a gap of two months on Thursday with a mobile application BevQ allotting a 15-window of time and shop location to the buyers to avoid crowding of the shops. A scene in a shop in Kadavanthara on Thursday as sales reopened.

BevQ, Kerala’s much-anticipated virtual queue management app paving way for the reopening of liquor outlets after more than two months on Thursday, seems to have got off to a disastrous start with a large number of disgruntled users displaying their displeasure by giving it a low rating in Google Play Store.

The app had an overall rating of just 2.5 after majority of the 12,000 users had given one-star ratings and the reviews posted alongside the rating varied from angry rantings to outright sarcastic.

“Usually a good app is supposed to have a rating of four or above. An app similar in feature to Bev Q is rated 4.3 in Google Play Store,” said Akash K, a lucky user who managed to book a slot.

The app, though live in Google Play Store, was still not available through direct search, which Faircode Technologies Private Limited, the startup that developed it, attributed to the time taken to index the app by Google. Instead, users were asked to try searching the app through the link 'pub.Kerala State Beverages Corporation’.

A statement issued by Naveen George, CFO of Faircode Technologies, in the morning said 2.35 lakh people had downloaded the Android app and nearly 1.82 lakh registered between 10 p.m. and midnight on Wednesday and nearly 50,000 registered between 2 a.m. and 6.30 a.m. on Thursday.

OTP failure

However, the customer feedback in general painted a very different picture. The most prevalent complaint was about the non-receipt of the One Time Password (OTP) for verification, an essential prerequisite before the user is allotted a slot. “Though I managed to download the app and register, the OTP never came,” said Bhuvanesh, a youngster.

In their reviews of the app, many users complained that though they received the message that the OTP had been successfully sent to their mobile, they never received it.

“I got the verification code and submitted it only to receive the message that slots can only be booked from 12.05 a.m. to 9 a.m, which is very odd considering that the allotted time for booking is between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m,” said Eldhose, another user.

In their statement, Faircode Technologies said that token booking for Thursday was extended till 9 a.m. probably because the app came quite late in the night on Wednesday. However, Mr. George was not available for comment.

Earlier, the tipplers had their patience running thin on Wednesday when their wait for the app got prolonged and they vented their frustration by bombarding the Facebook page of the startup.