AWFUL ONLINE EXPERIENCE

ONLINE shopping specifically is shocking. I'm giving 2 stars only because for the most part, the staff tried their best to support a really SHOCKING online system.

I placed an order on the 11th of May for some cleaning goods (nothing heavy), which I wanted sooner rather than later, so I chose the PRIORITY delivery (i.e. 24hrs) and was greeted with a R360 delivery charge. Very steep, but I prefer to avoid being out during lockdown.

I accepted and proceeded to pay with my credit card, the bank SMS confirmed the transaction, but the Builders Online website was telling me it failed. Just before I phoned the call centre, a confirmation email from builders came through, saying the order had been placed and BUT that the order would be delivered on the 18th of May (SEVEN DAYS LATER). I had just paid R360 rand to have it delivered within 24hrs.

I then phoned the call centre, waited on hold for 7-8 minutes, then explained that it’s supposed to be a priority delivery. The support agent promised to call back. Eventually someone did, but got the problem wrong and promised to call back again. Again they did and this time promised that someone from the store would call me.

They didn't.

The next morning I call again wait 10 minutes on hold. Give up. Try again later, and manage to find to speak to someone who then in turn puts me in touch with the Branch manager. (At this point I’m feeling sorry for the support team because its clear they are powerless to help)

Says she’ll “see what she can do”, but that aside they don’t have stock of THREE of the 8 items I’ve ordered. That’s a pretty terrible inventory system.

But wait, “I’ll see what I can do”? It’s like they are now doing me a favour by delivering the goods as a priority. She explains that they have no control over the online process and so she’ll do her best. I I understand. She promises to call me back to confirm.

She doesn’t call after 4hrs have passed.

I phone the call center again, loooong wait, ask to speak to the Branch manager again. On hold again. “She’s not available”. So frustrated.

30 minutes later I get a delivery confirmation SMS. The package arrives 2hrs later. 30 minutes after it arrives, I get a an email offering me 15% off my FIRST online purchase. Just wow! So the I lost out on a 15% discount. They didn’t have stock of 30% of my shopping cart. Spent at least R50 on airtime calling their support line. Wasted 30 minutes on the phone (mostly on hold) trying to arrange delivery which I'd paid R360 for.

All because their software development team couldn’t put together a decent e-commerce website.