Afrihost fails to deliver after three weeks of hell

On 11 May 2018 I purchased a Xiaomi Redmi Note 5A smartphone on the Afrihost website. I wanted to purchase it a week before, but had to wait for Afrihost to fix their website which was claimed that the SIM cards were out of stock, even though the support staff assured me there was stock.

When I submitted my payment, my card limit was set too low and the payment bounced. However I fixed the problem and settled my account that same day - 11 May 2018.

On 17 May 2018 (5 working days later) I had not been contacted about the delivery, so I contacted the Whatsapp support. The next day they told me that "it takes 7-10 working days after the payment, to complete the order". By my calculations, this meant that I could expect the delivery on 25 May 2018 latest.

At around 16:00 on 25 May I had still received no communication about the delivery of my order, so I contacted support again. They told me there appeared to be a problem with my account, and said I need to speak to the Accounts department. Being the end of day on a Friday, I had no choice but to wait until Monday 28 May to contact the accounts department.

On 28 May 2018 I contacted the accounts department. The representative told me she would have to check the status of the order with the warehouse, and that she would call me back. After 2 hours I still had not received a call back, so I phoned the support line again. The representative I spoke to also noticed the accounts error, and assured me that he would rectify it and I could expect my device "within 72 hours", ie. 31 May 2018.

On 31 May 2018 I contacted the support department again regarding my order. Again the representative found that the payment for my order had not been registered on Afrihost's system (even though the Billing tab in my Clientzone had shown that my account was fully settled since 11 May). Again I was told that the problem had been fixed, and that the device had been scheduled for dispatch. When asked how long it would take until I received the device, I was told 5 working days, which is unacceptable considering that the device was already a week late. I told the representative that unless I received the device by the end of the next day (1 June 2018), I would start seeking a refund.

On 1 June 2018 I had still not received the device. When I contacted the support team to start cancelling the order, I asked to be put through to the accounts department so that I could get my money back. I was put in the callback queue at around 14:30, and was assured that I would I would receive a call between 15:00 and 15:30 that day. I was never called back.

On Monday 4 June I called the support line again and managed to cancel my order, with an assurance that I would receive my money back in 7-10 working days.

Throughout this whole process Afrihost has given me many apologies, but at no time did they attempt to remedy the situation they had caused. One would think that, upon realising that they had done nothing while I waited for my order for 3 weeks, they would make some effort to expedite the delivery of my device, or at least make some other concession. One agent did offer me 1GB free for 3 months, but frankly I find that insulting at best.

I have been a loyal Afrihost supporter for many years, often recommending them to friends and family. After this experience, I can only warn people again using this company.