South African poor Service levels extend to the Web too.

One of the reasons that I was most keen to adopt Online shopping was that I would not have to deal with the typically pathetic service levels that we South Africans have come to expect as the norm. Whether its the company tuck shop or the post-office, we all know the frustration experienced while staring at the totally unenthusiastic person behind the counter, as she avoids looking at you, clicks on her chewing gum, has a conversation with her co-workers and decides to have an impromptu tea break when you finally get to the front of the queue. Have you seen the look on the faces of foreigners when they 1st encounter our sales people?

Anyway, I’ve made a few purchases online from various providers including Amazon, eBay etc. and have had nothing but good experiences, until now…

If I had to choose which of the outlets in South Africa have the worst service and have the people with the worst attitude, there would be many contenders, but one clear winner: The South Africa Post Office. And, much to my dismay, I’ve discovered that they’ve tried so hard to be bad, that they’ve actually provided the same disservice via the Internet too!

Long story short, I ordered an item from the online store eXpansys South Africa. The item had an estimated shipping time of 7-10 days, which I confirmed telephonically (the agent confirmed that they had stock). 2 Weeks later and all I had was email confirmation of the order and payment, even after asking for information via their email based tracking system. 13 days later after, I received a Speed Services Courier (powered by non other than South African Post Office) tracking code. And then, nothing.

The tracking system on the Speed Services Courier website showed that the item was received and nothing else, till today, almost a month later.

After several calls to eXpansys and SAPO, I’ve discovered that the item was stolen and that an enquiry will have to be initiated by eXpansys.

So, that’s the last time I order anything from eXpansys or anyone that uses Speed Services Courier to deliver items. Even though the theft is probably SAPO’s issue, eXpansys could have handled it much better by actually replying to emails to their tracking system and informing me of what was going on. Naughty eXpansys, naughty.