My unavoidable refund drama & Tebogo

I had a terribly frustrating experience with Coricraft. What happened was, I purchased a rug online- as the Coricraft website said there were 50 items in stock. The next day I received an email to say my order will take 4 weeks to be dispatched as it is being made. I was not happy with this as the website said they were in stock and I wanted it for my home, now not in 4 weeks.

The very same day I got the email my husband happened to drive past a Coricraft store that had 1 in stock, so he purchased it and brought it home.

I then called to advise I want a refund as we purchased in store. Apparently that email stating 4 weeks was inaccurate and I could get it the following week from CT, in which I denied as my husband had already bought it- I was then told to send a copy of my ID and fill out a refund form and the refund will be processed in 7-14 days. I was also told from the day I email it takes up to 48 hours for my email to be allocated to someone to action.

I emailed what they requested immediately and asked for receipt/ acknowledgment that they’ve received my email but didn’t receive anything but cold air after submitting the docs for almost 2 weeks. I phoned and asked for the status of my refund and when it will be processed as I know once processed It takes up to 14 days as they told me. Literally what I wanted to know was when is this going to be allocated so it can be resolved. It was almost 2 weeks and still sitting in their emails unallocated and nobody wanted to help, when I phoned I was constantly just transferred around by staff members that said I need to speak to someone else, sometimes they hung up on me. This was beginning to get very frustrating as I needed my money refunded and nobody, I mean not one of them followed up or bothered to help. Passing the buck or transferring me randomly or hanging up is what i went through… until I called one day and spoke to Tebogo Legodi.

Now you may think it weird, why 5 stars and this is a complaint of terrible customer service for a reputable (and not cheap) company…

But this is where the story changed, my experience went from something to expect from a lower end company with no escalation process, no care about customer service and conflict resolution- to a 5 star brilliant, solution focused, approachable and communicative experience, all due to Tebogo.

I phoned she answered, immediately apologized for my terrible experience even though I wasn’t the nicest person at that stage due to now expressing my anger, annoyance and frustration to her at the lack of professionalism and putrid customer service in her workplace.

She immediately escalated the matter to her supervisor for assistance. She put me on hold while she did so. After which she promised me she would take action and contact me every step of the way until the refund was issued.

And she did just that. Phoned me at each action made over multiple days to notify me of what was happening, until the last step when the refund was approved. She even sent me an email with proof of the refund so I could see it in writing for peace of mind.

Now that’s customer service. Brilliant, patient, knowledgeable, empathetic, friendly and solution focused. Making promises and keeping them. Trying your utmost to help. To be honest I’ve had such bad experiences in South Africa in this sector as I truly believe staff either are not trained properly or they are lazy and don’t care, so take you for a ride and waste your time instead of actually doing their job and helping customers. I grew up in Australia and can see the huge difference in customer service which makes me less tolerant as I know it’s possible to receive great customer service from an employee that is wonderful, helpful and wants to help because they love their job and helping people hence being in the customer service field.

Well Tebogo was that person for me here in South Africa and my experience with her will forever remained etched in my mind & heart- as she went above and beyond and created that trust not just in her abilities but the trust I lost in the company before she happened to answer the phone that day.

Hope she gets recognized as the asset she is to this company- for if it weren’t for her this would be a 1 star rating filled with negativity.

Instead Coricraft should step up their game and hire more people that echo Tebogos sense of commitment and job pride. Manage workloads, up skill staff- for there is clearly a flaw in the functionality that needs to be addressed.

Tebogo is a great representation of a customer service super star and raised the bar for your other staff, by doing the company a solid with her exceptional handling of my matter, actually making me go back to purchase more from Coricraft when I wouldn’t have supported this company again as experience actually weighs more than a product which can be bought at numerous companies in the same field.

Wouldn’t usually spend so much time writing something like this but this was well deserved. Her help meant a lot to me not just on a professional level, but on a human level too. Gold!

Tebogo with your friendly, and lovely disposition along with your willingness to get the job done so accurately and thoroughly- the sky is the limit for you. All the best :)

Thanks, Iman