Unhappy Valentine's Day

I ordered a parcel from Fresh Fragrances in JHB on Monday 8th February. As the shipping time is 2-4 days (as advertised on the website), I knew that I would receive the parcel before Valentines Day.

With comfortable relief, I received my tracking number from FastWay (10/02/2021 Your parcel was picked up 15:23:30). On Thursday however, the parcel was still on-route, no change.

On Friday morning, I naturally got a little concerned…the parcel was still “currently in transit between our Johannesburg and Cape Town depots” (10/02/2021 17:24:41) But there were so many ‘contact us’ opportunities to put my concerns at ease that I relaxed a little. It was probably just a small hiccup somewhere and I could get this sorted. I started to try and locate my parcel. Initially, I tried the Whatsapp method which I realized was totally automated and after trying all the options possible, I was still no further.

I started to get a little nervous. It was now Friday afternoon, post 2pm. I checked the website again, to do the automated tracking. There was still no change. I then contacted the JHB depot. A lovely young man answered but couldn’t tell me more than what I had just seen on the website tracker. He gave me the CT depot details and said I should give them a call, as the parcel should be there by now.

So, I then called Cape Town. A friendly lady answered. She was horrified that the parcel was still not delivered. She promised to call the Cape Town driver immediately and revert on his delivery schedule. As lovely as she was, I am still waiting on her call-back.

After just short of an hour of radio silence, I proceeded to call again. Another Lady answered the phone and after getting a little flustered because she was seeing no more than what I was seeing, put me through to Customer Services, who I believe she hoped would now attempt to calm me down. I watched the minutes tick past while I waited for someone to answer. Just after 13 minutes, the phone went dead, and I was left with a dulling tone.

I tried again to contact the Customer Services department directly, using the number on the website and after at least 4 additional attempts, I eventually decided to call it quits. I surrendered to the fact that I would not have a Valentine’s Day gift for Sunday. Over the weekend, my empathetic Hubby and I made a pact that we would rather celebrate Valentine’s on Monday evening, after work.

I sent Fresh Fragrances a mail shortly after 4pm on Friday alluding to my disappointment. I have not heard back from them yet either.

It is now Monday afternoon. It is almost 2pm. I am still gift-less. The website has the same information that it did all day Thursday and Friday. My parcel is still “currently in transit from JHB to Cape Town”.

Fastway, I can see that you have tried to implement every possible technical advancement, but I just want my parcel delivered. The courier was apparently in Stellenbosch this morning but I’m not holding my breath that the afternoon slot indicated on the website is now the truth....especially considering that my parcel is *still* in transit....