Disappointed

BENNA BOK PRESS RELEASE

Dear valued Benna Bok client

We are aware of the long list of complaints regarding our customer service and turnaround times on various forums including Facebook, Storemory, HelloPeter and “I Know a Guy”.

Kindly note that Benna Bok has grown so exponentially that when have fallen behind by three (3) weeks with our orders. Due to our staff working tirelessly we have been able to reduce this to only three (3) weeks were it was once five (5) weeks. We offer our sincerest apologies for this. We are working around the clock to fill the orders and will be posting updates here, regularly.

Benna Bok has been inundated by calls, emails and Facebook messages with queries regarding outstanding orders and/or refunds to such an extent that we have now employed additional staff to solely focus on customer service. We can but apologise for the customer service received thus far and undertake to vastly improve this in the future.

You would note that since yesterday afternoon a banner has been placed on Franella Footwear and Karoo-Ella’s websites inviting our clients to request a refund should orders and/or refunds not have reached customers.

Unfortunately fixing the bugs in our customer service takes time. We absolutely understand your complaints and frustration, and we have been referred to as “**********”, “********” and even “a Ponzi ****/scheme” - this is simply not true. The reality of the matter being that we have spent so much time attending to queries that we simply did not have time to deliver our excellent products.

Today we noted, to our dismay, that a certain “Frank Vermeulen” made, among others, the following inflammatory allegations:

To this we would like to reply:

Frank Vermeulen seems to be a “****” profile created solely to inflame already panicked customers. It is ****ing our business and it is ****ing our dreams. This line of sabotage is unproductive and regrettable.

Yes, Benna Bok is a private company with Petro Botha as our sole director. Yes, she is married to Frank Botha, who also works for the company and yes we are a homegrown business that is growing at a rate that far exceeded our wildest expectations.

We do not deny that it has become exceedingly clear that we have a great deal to learn about business and that we have even more to learn about customer service. But this does not make us ********, ********** or even *********. It is our intention, as it has always been, to provide our customers with the leather products of their dreams.

Please bear with us. All the complaints on the various social media platforms are being attended to. We are, however, finding it difficult to reply to each of the queries due to the panic and various platforms being used.

As a gesture in good faith we will soon launch the “Track My Order” function on the Benna Bok homepage. After you input your tracking number you shall receive an email, within 24 hours, setting out how far we are in the process with your order and an estimated time of delivery for your order. We trust that this new function will ease the panic and is only the first step Benna Bok is taking in improving our customer care.

We have also employed additional production staff and purchased a third industrial sewing machine to greatly increase our production capabilities.

Once again we again we can but apologise and give our undertaking that we are doing everything humanly possible to attend to your orders.

- Benna Bok