1 reviews | Active since Jul 2011
Terrible experience with Cielo and Time Freight couriers
I ordered a bed from the Cielo Greenstone branch 2 months ago. I asked Yogesh the store manager on 3 different occasions to please organise delivery for a Friday afternoon after 5pm. The courier (Time Freight) calls me on a Wednesday early morning saying that they are on their way to my house. I call Yogesh and he assures me that the courier is incorrect and that the bed will in fact arrive on Friday late afternoon as promised. I leave for work and the couriers arrive at my house to find that I am not at home. The delivery men then proceed to verbally abuse my domestic worker and tell her that as a result of me not being home they are going to leave my furniture on the pavement. They then proceeded to tell her that they are just the couriers and it is not their job to bring the furniture into the room. They told her that it is her and my job to carry the bed into the upstairs bedroom. I arrived at home and my domestic helper informed me of the incident. I then drove to the Greenstone store and relayed the story to Yogesh who did not offer any apology and continued to put all the blame on the courier. Yogesh should not be managing that store as he has no idea how to put the customer first.
Since the incident I have not received an apology from Time Freight. I have received a small voucher from the Wheco Group and when I tried to use it for an online purchase the voucher was rejected.
Appalling service has slowly become the norm in South Africa. I think it is time that consumers fight back against this unacceptable and disgusting behaviour.
Dear Irene,
Apologies for the delay in response. We have recently signed up with Hello Peter to respond to reviews. We take every review seriously and each and every one is discussed with management. Customer service is important for us. As you can see, unlike most other furniture or other retailers, we have one of the best Hello Peter scores and it is important for us to keep it this way. Therefore we need to address complaints such as yours.
We are appalled to hear about what has transpired during delivery. We have been using Time Freight for many years and this is the first such incident. We have addressed this issue with the management of Time Freight and they have insured us that they will investigate this matter and will be taking the necessary steps to ensure this does not happen again.
We also apologise for the service you have received at the branch. We have addressed this with management overseeing the Gauteng stores as well as store manager. Your case will be used in our next Customer Service training sessions as a case study. While we do use third parties for some deliveries, we do need to take responsibility when they drop the ball.
As mentioned, a voucher was issued as a small token of saying sorry for what occurred. We are not sure why it did not work on the site as they are issued electronically. We will confirm whether this has in fact been sorted out for you.
We thank you for your valued feedback and once again apologise for what has transpired. We hope you will consider buying from us again in future.
Warm regards.
Cielo Customer Care – on behalf of Senior Management
Dear Irene,
Apologies for the delay in response. We have recently signed up with Hello Peter to respond to reviews. We take every review seriously and each and every one is discussed with management. Customer service is important for us. As you can see, unlike most other furniture or other retailers, we have one of the best Hello Peter scores and it is important for us to keep it this way. Therefore we need to address complaints such as yours.
We are appalled to hear about what has transpired during delivery. We have been using Time Freight for many years and this is the first such incident. We have addressed this issue with the management of Time Freight and they have insured us that they will investigate this matter and will be taking the necessary steps to ensure this does not happen again.
We also apologise for the service you have received at the branch. We have addressed this with management overseeing the Gauteng stores as well as store manager. Your case will be used in our next Customer Service training sessions as a case study. While we do use third parties for some deliveries, we do need to take responsibility when they drop the ball.
As mentioned, a voucher was issued as a small token of saying sorry for what occurred. We are not sure why it did not work on the site as they are issued electronically. We will confirm whether this has in fact been sorted out for you.
We thank you for your valued feedback and once again apologise for what has transpired. We hope you will consider buying from us again in future.
Warm regards.
Cielo Customer Care – on behalf of Senior Management