Clicks Online Service - one of the worst online experiences ever

The Clicks Online Division and Clicks MALL of Africa store

I am extremely disappointed with the events that led me to pen this as the worst online experience I have ever had.

I placed an order for 5 x Oral B Pro 6000 electric toothbrushes which went 40% cheaper if I purchased them online. I paid R1860 x 5 = R9300 on the 03rd August 2017. I contacted the clicks online team on the 07th August as I was anxious to find out if the goods were ready for me to pick up from the Clicks Mall of Africa. I went for the "pick up from a store" option instead of the delivery option. I was flying out on the 9th August and the pick up option was 3-5 days.

When I contacted the online call centre on the 07th August, they were confirming my details and they picked up a different cellphone number to mine. So the call centre person said that the goods are at the store and that I could go pick them up. I contacted the store and spoke to the admin manager Phylistas to confirm if I could come fetch the goods. She confirmed that it was there and that I could come fetch them as they closed at 8pm.

I was at the store just after 5pm and made arrangements to see my sister at 6pm so that I could give her 3 of the electric toothbrushes for my siblings, I just needed my dad's one and one for myself as I was flying down to KZN on the 9th August to see him.

So on the 07th August I proceeded to the Mall of Africa Clicks and I met with the manager Phylistas. She was happy to see me and she then got another manager Sabina to help me. Sabina asked me for the confirmation sms and I said I didn't get a confirmation sms as the call centre staff said they picked up a different cellphone number with my online order.

Then after Sabina escalated it to the store manager, they said they will assist me irrespective. This really delayed me getting to my sister at 6pm. They had a procedure to take the goods in and then only could they release it to me. I went shopping and came back to the store. After a long wait, I signed and received the goods. My sixth sense told me to open the box and confirm if all in order before I left the store. I opened the box only to find the incorrect items and to my horror the packaging of these boxes were heavily soiled/ damaged / torn and were very very old. The triumph Oral B 5000 x 5 units. Not something you would be proud as a big organization to sell to your customer even at 40% off in your online sale. The were the old triumph 5000 electrical brushes and different variants of this oral b 5000 toothbrushes contained in the cardboard box. The store manager Vusi / Victor was equally shocked and advised me that he will escalate this to his territory manager and he took my email and said that I must not complain but he will do it from store level and copy me in on the emails together with the pictures. Almost a month has passed and I have yet to see any email from the store manager of the Mall of Africa store complaining about this disaster to his territory manager of to the online team.

I could not accept that I had paid for something and was not going to get any of it as the order was incorrect and the boxes were soiled and damaged. I hit depression to think that I spent R9300 on damaged goods. I was helpless inside the store. I needed my toothbrushes as I had a flight out on the 9th August.

I was however relieved that I opened the boxes in front of the staff in the store. I went to the toothbrush section in the store and advised management that they had 3 of the toothbrushes that I had ordered and had to coax the store to issue me the 3 as I could do with taking my dad's present down to KZN on the 9th August and worry about the rest when I returned on the 14th August. Time went on and I had no correspondence or contact from the store. I then contacted the store on the 18th August. I spoke to Phylistas and the store manager and was advised that the store tried to contact me on the 12th August. They advised me that there was no stock from the DC and that they put an emergency order and they had to wait for the stock. The manager also advised he was trying to get the goods from other stores. 19th, 20th went by with no contact from the store.

I contacted the store again on 21st August and spoke to Phylistas who advised that they have made an emergency order. All I wanted to know was when was I going to get the other 2 toothbrushes. Phylistas advised me that Monday was a very busy day and that she was going to try her best to get me the 2 remaining toothbrushes. I said its cool I still haven't complained to anyone and that I am relying on the store to sort me out.

When I did not get any call from the store on Tuesday or Wednesday - I contacted them on Thursday, the 24th August. I spoke to Sabina. Sabina advised me that there is no stock of the toothbrushes and she didn't know when they were getting stock. She then was putting me through to Phylistas. I SNAPPED. I couldn't take this abuse any longer. I told her that this is really not on. I could hear them paging for the manager and i said dont bother. I am going to call the online call centre. All I wanted was my toothbrushes that I paid for in full on the 03rd August. I told her that I am now going to call the online call centre to complain about this entire fiasco. They advised me not to complain as the online department messed up and not the store. That I why I always went back to contacting the store instead of complaining to the online team. I thought they would help me like they did the day I discovered the order was wrong.

I called the online customer number on the 24th August and spoke to Mohamed who then contacted the store and was told the same thing. That they are awaiting stock and that there was no stock for me. Please guys this is the worst online experience ever. Maybe you should implement something like Takealot – hasslefree excellent service. I bought 5 x Skullcandy premium headphones in a flash sale (45% off) and was delivered the goods in pristine condition 3 days after my order and payment.

Clicks Online Team - you guys got everything wrong, the Mall of Africa store - you guys needs to ensure that you escalate and move heaven and earth to ensure your customer be it an online customer or someone that comes into your store, you need to meet your customers needs. Escalate to the highest level until you have answers, call your customer and advise him what's going on even if its not good news.

Finally, Mohomed from Clicks online call centre, contacted me 2 days after my initial call to him on the 24th August to get the barcode of them item. I had to call the callcentre to leave this info with someone else as he was busy with a customer.

I hadn't received a confirmation callback from Mohamed to let me know he got the barcode, my last hope in this saga.

He suggested giving me a refund. I refused as the system processed my order and payment on the 03rd August. I want my toothbrushes!! I don't want to lose out on a great deal just because of poor planning and execution of a failed delivery via the online service to a store for pick up.

I think Clicks should give me 2 x Oral B 9000 as a token of their apology and great inconvenience. You must have stock of this. Deliver it to me - heck I will still pick it up from the Mall of Africa store. Do this and redeem yourselves. Throw in a massive voucher. Do something guys - if you couldn't get it right the first time go above the call of duty and upgrade my order to a 9000 series. It's a R9300 order that still says processing on the web. It's the 27th August already.