Aramex South Africa: High Hopes to Deep Disappointment

So I purchased some things online from Pretoria to be delivered to me. The store was very transparent and I had multiple interactions with them at multiple stages. Then they passed my items on to Aramex and all of a sudden everything changed.

I received a tracking number and a link that took me to Aramex's site where I have only ever received 2 updates. The first being that they received my parcel from the store and the second being that it was in the JHB "origin sorting facility".

Each of these updates came a day and a few hours late after each activity took place. (I know this because I have been frantically checking my parcel's updates everyday multiple times a day since it was passed onto Aramex)

There's been absolutely no transparency. They don't even have a way for you to reach them at customer service. No email. No telephone. Instead you have to fill out a form for them to contact you, not that they have gotten back to me. I don't understand why they would make communication so elaborate, essentially I have to tell them that I'm a customer and I want to know where my parcel is and why it's taking longer than it should.

It's very disappointing because I am someone who loves supporting everything local and I give even smaller businesses a good benefit of the doubt until I feel my trust is truly betrayed. This along with the other massive collection of reviews on hellopeter and other sites don't give me confidence in a future with Aramex. The only thing that gives me a sense of optimism is that they seem to tend to resolve the issues and deliver once someone leaves a review.