Incompetence abounds at Builders Warehouse

[I am posting this complaint on behalf of my elderly parents, who experienced terrible service and relayed the story themselves, below].

To whom it may concern: Builders Warehouse

Good day

I am absolutely appalled at the management and service delivery of Builders Warehouse City in Ysterplaat!

I am currently running a small building project and required some building materials. I visited your store a few Sundays ago (19 December 2021) to make these purchases, but what ensued was a series of unfortunate events! Mishap after mishap after confusion and then even more of it! Grab your cup of tea and sit back, because this email is a lengthy one -- almost as lengthy as the distressful episode I had experienced at this store!

We arrived at the store on Sunday at approximately 12 p.m. and were assisted by Carvin in the Bathroom Department. He was extremely helpful and knowledgeable about his products and we appreciated the time and attention he gave us while we made our selections.

Once we completed and had decided on our purchases, Carvin then proceeded to draw up a quote of all of our items, of which there were a significant amount. This process took extremely long, and as you might know about your own stores, they do not provide seating during this frustratingly lengthy process, thus my husband, daughters, and I were left standing around on tired feet for a long time while the quote was being drawn up.

Finally, we proceeded to the front desk/sales point where we were hopeful to speedily pay for our purchase and leave the store. It was our thinking that, since Carvin had already rung up each item at his PC in the Bathroom Department that this document could just simply be processed at the front desk as is and then we could pay. Simple. Efficient. Sensible.

But this was not to be so. Because simple and sensible efficiency is not something synonmous with your business practice, I've come to learn. Quite the opposite.

So now, at the front desk, each item that Carvin had already entered into the system needed to be re-rung up! And there we were, my family and I, standing around, tired feet, leaning on counters yet again! Because, still, there are no seats to sit on during this unnecessarily lengthy, tedious process.

Carvin had to call out each code to the till operator/sales assistant ringing up the sale, while reading off of a PC on the opposite end of the front desk area. Clearly, this is an inefficient method which leaves room for many errors, as I witnessed the till operator incorrectly hearing and capturing the codes at least twice during this process. It isn't any wonder to me that there were so many errors found in my transaction later on.

Quite some time had passed and then the order was complete and payment was made. Now we could proceed to Dispatch to get our goods and have it loaded onto our vehicle, at which point the dispatch assistant discovered errors on the invoice document! Surprise surprise! Items were listed which were not included in our order or in our trolley, and visa versa, items in our trolley were not accounted for on the invoice.

The incorrectly billed items were as follows:

- Basin mixer incorrectly charged at R2 195 (correct price: R878)

- Geyser incorrectly charged at R6 080 (correct price: R3 833)

- Shower arm incorrectly charged x2 at R420 each, i.e. R840 (correct price: R420 x1)

Furthermore, I was due to receive a 15% discount since I was a first-time online buyer. I had purchased the geyser online and was informed by a call centre agent that I could collect it in-store along with completing the rest of my purchase, and would still receive the benefit of the online discount on my complete purchase. But instead of the 15%, I was incorrectly given an 11% discount. Thankfully, this was later amended and the 15% discount was then received.

So this chaos needed to be sorted out before we could leave, but the tellers and assistants were so confused and didn't seem to know what to do. They identified that there was a problem, yet they couldn't seem to figure out what it was exactly, much less resolve it! And they themselves are the ones who caused it. I was left wondering what knowledge they had of their own systems...?

By this time it was almost 4 p.m. (close of business) and we arrived in the store at 12 p.m.! Needless to say, we were exhausted and absolutely fed up with the incompetence of the Builders' staff. And we were STILL left standing with no seats offered in this horribly hot store on a hot day, after 4 hours!

Eventually, we called the manager, Ridhaa, to complain to him about this abhorrent service. I would have assumed that some compensation would have naturally been extended by way of apology for this ridiculous incompetence, but none was offered. Perhaps his customer service skills need some refining?

So I requested free delivery because so much of my time had already been wasted. He agreed and promised me this, which, to his credit, I duly received.

Even after seeing this big mess and that his staff were confused and greatly under-equipped to deal with it, Ridhaa left. And the situation was no closer to being resolved. After he left, we stood for a further 30 mins, at least, with no progress. I thought that by calling the manager, I'm effectively calling the 'trump card' to speed up this process. But alas, the manager proved just as clueless and unhelpful as the rest.

Eventually the Administrator/Departmental Credit Controller, Siviwe, was called upon to assist, but again, this still didn't resolve the matter. Apparently, the Builders staff did an outstanding job at creating a problem so big and complex that even they couldn't understand it.

Now it was 4 p.m. already, the store was closing and employees needed to leave. So we had to leave too, with the matter unresolved and a promise from Siviwe that she would attend to it first thing in the morning without us needing to revisit the store. She informed me that she would call me the next morning to finalise the matter. Unfortunately, however, she contacted me to inform me that she was off sick on that day and handed over the matter to Sharlene. This, however, created more confusion since Sharlene had no trace of the invoices, even though Siviwe said she sent them to her. In fact, even up until now, the invoices and reconciliation of my account at Builders remains a conundrum for the staff, and the documents issued to me do not reflect the correct calculations and values.

Additionally, I had ordered a Kwikot geyser, but upon delivery two days later (Tues, 21 Dec 2021), I had received a Builder's Pride geyser. I had to send the delivery man back with it, because this was not what I had selected. This was yet another great inconvenience because I had scheduled for my plumber to install the geyser before the holiday season began, at which point he would be on leave. To complete it before then would have been possible had Builders not messed up my order. Now, due to the mess up, I had no geyser to be installed when my plumber was scheduled to work by me. So my building development plans had to be delayed until the new year!

Nevertheless, I visited the store again on Wednesday, 22 December 2021, to follow-up and to receive the cash refund owed to me for items overcharged and incorrectly billed. And thus ensued another day of hours-long incompetence from Builders Warehouse staff.

From Day 1 (Sunday) when this matter first arose and was not resolved, until my next visit to the store on Day 4 (Wed), the problem should have been brainstormed and discussed among the necessary personnel, in expectation and preparation of my return to the store. I expected only to arrive at the store on Wed, with the chaos already resolved, receive my goods and my refund, and leave. But I was not so fortunate.

Again, an elderly couple, both over 70 years old, are expected to stand around the store for hours, with no seat offered, while store personnel continue to be dumbstruck by the problem they themselves have created!

The manager, Ridhaa, went from credit department to cashier to credit department to cashier, attempting to resolve the matter. No luck! The issued credit note could not be processed for some reason. Does he know what he is doing in his role as a manager?

Ridhaa then issued me a refund of approximately R1 440, which did not match my own calculations of the amount I was overcharged and should have been refunded -- I am a retired accountant, so I am quite confident of my ability to calculate this simple sum that your staff seem to have been struggling with for days. I was supposed to have received a refund of approximately R3 000.

The payment made to Builders on the Sunday was a huge payment, totaling at R12 649, 50, while I had only expected to pay R10 132, 50, according to the quote drawn up by Carvin, which was excluding the 15% discount. This pretty much emptied my bank account, and the amount I had in it was there for an exclusive purpose related to my building project, which I now could not use it for, because I no longer had these funds in my account.

I informed Ridhaa of the discrepancy in the refund amount, as I had done repeatedly to him and other involved staff on Sunday, but he refused to refund me the correct amount, stating that he would first need to reconcile it on his side before doing so. By all means, the responsible thing would most certainly be to do so! I would expect nothing less. But why on earth was this not done in the TWO DAYS since Sunday, so that I didn't need to wait around and have the run around yet again on Wednesday?!

Eventually, Jameela (Departmental Credit Controller) was called to assist; clearly Ridhaa and the rest of his staff were out of their depth. Upon assessment of the situation, she noticed that there was still an error in the calculations after Ridhaa's refund was issued to me, which was not previously recognised by other staff. She then refunded me an additional total of R1 662, 30, even while Ridhaa was still unhappy about this.

Funnily, a few days later, my husband was erroneously emailed someone else's invoice. We were not in the store on the date of the invoice, and the invoice details products that I did not purchase. My golly, how confused are these poor people in your stores?

The amount of time wasted on this single problem is mind-blowing. Hours of my days were squandered, with no genuine apology or effort from management or staff to assuage my frustration, or even to offer me a chair to sit on!

Instead, we received annoyed attitudes and curt, rude responses from some staff. My daughters accompanied us to the store on Sunday, assisting us in our selections, and they, too, lost hours of their Sunday afternoon, which they had not anticipated to spend in a large, hot store on a beautiful, sunny Sunday afternoon.

Then, further, my daughter took off from her work on the Wednesday that followed to again drive us to the store to finalise this matter, and lost hours yet again, while she expected that it would only be a quick in and out this time around.

I am disgusted and outraged by this grossly horrific incompetence and putrid service delivery! I often manage small to medium building and renovation projects at my home, for which materials need to be purchased. And Builders Warehouse has always been my store of choice. But after this catastrophe, you have sorely disappointed a loyal supporter and lost my patronage for good.

Kind regards Mr and Mrs Davids