According to Mohit Goel director Ringing Bells their servers, including the payment gateway were not able to handle the huge traffic that was anticipated. Freedom251.com website got over 6,00,000 hits per seconds.
Interestingly the company as of now is not investing anything – Ashok Chadha, president Ringing Bells, has already mentioned that money will come in form of Debt and Equity, two manufacturing plants will be setup in Noida (₹250 crore each). All depend on the number of pre-bookings they get. Total cost of Freedom 251 handset for the consumer is ₹251 + shipping (should be under ₹300).
The company is talking about some innovative marketing concept, but the fact is that they are at a loss selling the handset at such a price. Another thing to note is that the handsets will be delivered after 3 months.
Consumers if need be can ask for refund even after booking, as long as the handset is not shipped. For ₹251, I don’t think many of them will even care for.
The Freedom 251 is re-branded Adcom smartphone that is selling for approx ₹3500.
The company was not prepared, they have not invested much on their website and also using CCAvenue.com as a payment gateway, it is simply not enough to serve that kind of traffic. Also note this project is not getting any government subsidy. Ringing Bells is expecting to deliver 50,00,000 handsets by next 3 months i.e. if they get that many orders.
Since the company is in the news and government agencies are keeping a watch on them, you can order the handset, or wait and watch.