Aramex The Worst Courier Service in South Africa

My Fellow South Africans

It is not often that I experience such pathetic service that I spend my Friday evening at my laptop, but I cannot believe that in this day and age where competition is so rife in a crushing world economy that companies can be so uninterested in customer service. The Aramex commitment as it is on the product is as follows : 1. Buy a sleeve 2. Drop in a box 3. We’ll Deliver • Your package will be collected at 3pm Monday to Friday ( unless specified otherwise) and delivered the next business day , if going to a main centre. What a load of **** !!

I went into PnP Randridge Mall in Rand Park Ridge on Wednesday the 27th of May, purchased a sleeve and was advised by the cashier at the Money Counter that the courier service runs daily and my package will be delivered to Durban the next day provided that I drop of the sleeve by 3pm as that is the collection time. Off course I believed every word of the Cashier as it corelated to the commitment on the Aramex sleeve. I then proceeded to complete the required information required on the waybill and sealed the package. I was back at Pick and Pay at 2.30pm only to be told that I had just missed the collection time. I was confused at that point as according to the Cashier earlier that day as well as the information on the Aramex documents collection was at 3pm daily, none the less I assumed that the package will be collected the next day which was Thursday and delivered on Friday. To my disbelief on Friday afternoon the package was still not delivered and as I was in a full day meeting was on able to contact the call centre at 4.30pm. The contact number on the internet for “Customer Service” directed me to Cape Town. I held on for a very long time, eventually I spoke to a very friendly consultant Sunny who advised that the package was only collected from PnP Randridge Mall today the 29th of May, 2 full days after I had dropped of the parcel in the drop box. Please bear in mind that I paid for overnight delivery. When I enquired as to why this was the case Sunny was unable to advise and suggested that I contact the Johannesburg contact centre but in the interim he would request that they send the parcel tonight. That call took about 15minutes. By the time that I had dialled the JHB call centre number it was 16.45pm and it took another 5 minutes for Rochelle to answer my call. I explained my plight to her advising that the delivery was now urgent but it was like talking to a wall. When I enquired as to why it had taken 2 days to get collected I was given some incoherent story about Covid 19. If that was the case why is there no signage in Pick and Pay to advise accordingly or why was I not advised by the Cashier at the Money Counter?? How is it possible that employees can be so blasé about the fact that I as a customer had a need that I paid for yet no one can help me in an urgent situation ?? I then asked to speak to a Manager, Rochelle advised me that it is very late and she is not sure if anyone ( Thokozama the Manager ) will call me back. I mentioned that this is unacceptable and I want a call back as it was still within working office hours for Aramex. No one has called me since. To say I am disgusted by the service would be putting it mildly. It has truly been a long time since I have experience such an absolute lack of consideration for customer service and I actually was not asking for a miracle just for this company to keep up their of the commitment.

There was absolutely no recourse for the fact that Aramex did not hold up their end of the agreement.

There are 100’s of Courier Services in the country and I have used many of them and never before have I ever experienced this !!

Regards Suraiya