Appalling Customer Service!!!

I would like to highlight the utter lack of professionalism and appalling customer service provided by DHL.

I live in the UK and was on holiday in South Africa last October. I left my phone in a restaurant in Cape Town and only realised later on, whilst already on my way to Johannesburg. Upon realisation, I called DHL and ordered express delivery from Cape Town to Johannesburg on 29 October. The customer service specialist advised me I should send a bank transfer, after which I would receive a form to indicate the final delivery address. I made the payment immediately and emailed proof of payment to DHL, but received no feedback or form to fill in. I had explained that the order was time-sensitive, as I was only in South Africa on holiday and was departing soon. For the following few days, I called DHL every day to check on the status of my order. I was given new instructions or new information every time I called. In the end, DHL were not able to fulfil my order in time and I departed from South Africa.

Once I was back in the UK, I spoke to another advisor from the South Africa office to try and resolve the issue. They advised I should book an international transfer from Cape Town to London, and they would refund the original booking. At this point I was so fed up with dealing with DHL that I agreed to pay the higher price for the international transfer. All of that went OK but the promised refund never materialised. They sent me refund forms to fill in on 8 November, which I returned immediately. Since then, I have followed up multiple times but the refund has not yet been processed.

I am shocked that a supposedly renowned international company can operate so unprofessionally and inefficiently. I will avoid using DHL in the future.