Horrifically bad service from Makro Online

We are on a farm near Sutherland. I have tried online shopping with Makro since 2017 and almost every order has been terrible. The last one, however, was (is) a nightmare!! We use a business address in Milnerton, Cape Town as a delivery address and then we try and arrange a lift/follow-on courier to Sutherland from there. This is the only way to try and manage the courier cost to Sutherland. I placed an order with Makro Online on 09 December 2019. Order number: MAK ***. Knowing that it was the festive season, I shopped around on the Makro shop 'bases', until I found a store where all the items in my order showed as available. The order was confirmed and payment was made. An e-mail was received from Makro to confirm this. Promise of delivery was 7 - 10 days. I traced the order diligently on the online tracker and noted that it did not move after it showed "Packed, 18 Dec". I started phoning almost daily to find out what was happening, as the Milnerton delivery address is a Business and it would close on 22 December for the festive season. I was told on 18 Dec that the order was on hold and awaiting a manager's decision, as three items were no longer available. I asked why no one had contacted me about this in the 10 days since my order was confirmed. I was told it was because it was awaiting action from a manager. I asked that the unavailable items be cancelled and that the order be completed as soon as possible, due to the urgency regarding the delivery address closing. Later on 18 Dec, I received a mail confirming the cancellation of 1 item. (ADDIS sponge scourers to the value of R195.00) Miraculously the other 2 previously out-of-stock items were now available again. I received an Invoice on 19 Dec, showing an EFT payment of R6411,79, which was actually incorrect, as the payment which I made on 9 Dec, was R6589,80. The invoice did not indicate any refund due to the client. On 19 Dec, I received an e-mail from EFT Refunds (Anthony Vermeulen), stating that a refund was due to me (no amount indicated) and that I needed to confirm whether I wanted an sms voucher or a payment. I responded immediately that I preferred the refund payment and I provided the other information requested.(ID number, banking details and Proof of payment for the order...really, you don't have proof that I fully paid for this order, but you've just acknowledged that you owe me a refund?!) I heard nothing from Anthony again and no refund was paid. I kept following up on the delivery of the remainder of my order. Makro kept apologising and kept saying they would escalate the query. At one stage they said the order was with the couriers and would be delivered the next day, in time to meet the last day of the deadline...then the next day when I followed up, they said the couriers would not be able to deliver, as they did not have my delivery on their 'daily planned list' and it was not priority for the day's deliveries Needless to say...the deadline for the Milnerton delivery point was missed. Numerous promises that they would phone back and that escalation was made were broken ...no-one ever phoned back and no resolution occurred. In some instances I held on for a consultant for 25 minutes, only to be cut-off in the end. Having heard NOTHING from Makro after they missed the delivery deadline, I phoned again on 3 Jan to try and ensure that this got back on track. I was promised that the order would be delivered on either 6 or 7 Jan, as the Milnerton business was due to re-open for the new year on 6 Jan. On 8 Jan, having heard nothing again and seeing no movement on the online order tracking programme, I phoned again and was told that the order had been delivered. No further details could be given by Makro. When, where, who accepted the order??? I started inquiring and found out that a delivery was made to the Milnerton business address on SATURDAY, 4 Jan. I had previously told them multiple times that this was a business address, which would not be open over weekends. The courier was extremely lucky to have found the owner there, when he went in to work in his office. Unfortunately, upon investigation, it was found that only part of the order was delivered. The washing machine and further items (probably another box), were still missing. I did not receive ANY notification or explanation, or suggestion of how to deal with this, from Makro. I phoned Makro on 8 Jan and was told to speak to Dale Lakay, and was given a number ***....I phoned....and phoned....held on for 7 minutes...line goes dead...phone again....he is not available...phoned again...hold on for 10 minutes...sorry, no-one is available to assist... Eventually I was told that 'Sindy' would call me back. When Sindy eventually calls back, I'm told that 'Sorry, the washing machine is no longer available, as it was a Black Friday special and is no longer in stock...they would have to refund me. I lost it! and demanded that they find and give me the specific item as ordered as that was the main item in my order of almost R7000.00. It was available at the time of my order. It was confirmed and paid for and this was well past Black Friday!! Eventually Sindy located a washing machine as per my order and it was delivered....again without the other remaining outstanding items... I follow-up again...phoned on 13 Jan...hold on...phone goes dead....phone again......and again.... I make contact with Sindy via e-mail and list the missing items. More apologies and a promise from Louis Karpas that the missing box would definitely be delivered on 14 Jan. I request that the missing box be delivered directly to Sutherland, as I had now already arranged for two separate pick-ups on this order from Milnerton to be delivered to Sutherland. It is agreed by both Sindy and Louis that the missing box would be delivered directly to Sutherland on 14 Jan. NO delivery on 14 Jan, or 15 Jan, ......or the following days... I send an e-mail to Sindy & Louis (and others copied in by them previously: Dale Lakay, Devan Pillay, Mathew von Meyer), on 22 Jan....no response from ANYONE...it seems they are all on well-deserved leave.... More e-mails to everyone, 24 Jan, 27 Jan, 29 Jan....no response.... I revert back to the dreaded Call Centre and phone them on 30 Jan. I'm told this would be escalated and I'm given a new reference number 507729 after a 13 min call. No feedback received at all after this....eventually I'm informed by the Milnerton business that the courier delivered the missing box to Milnerton and not to Sutherland as promised, somewhere in the third week of Jan. I arrange for a third 'lift' to get the last items of the order to Sutherland. I finally have the full order, minus the one cancelled item... Now I start following up on the missing refund..... I send an e-mail to Anthony Vermeulen on 3 Feb. He is now on leave...I forward the mail to his "out-of-Office" colleague, Ashley Panday....no response... I try a mail to Sindy again on 4 Feb....no response.... I send another mail to Ashley, Anthony and Sindy on 5 Feb and receive a phone call from Ashley on 5 Feb. More apologies and appalled reactions from her at the history of this order....she blames the 'shop' and thanks me for bringing this to her attention - she will definitely resolve it same day! The call is followed up with a mail from Ashley, confirming her promise that between herself and Otsiele, this would be resolved same day and I would receive the refund due. (At this stage I still do not know what the amount is of the refund is, as the paperwork is so confusing...) In a follow-up mail, I'm asked by Ashley to provide the order number again...really ??? You can't find it on your system, e-mail and order records, or recorded Customer Call Centre calls?? I provide the number. I forward my communication with Anthony, plus the documents which I supp**** to him, to Ashley, to assist in the process. On 6 Feb...still no refund payment, but I'm then asked to provide a copy of my ID and my bank branch number. Why on earth do you require a copy of my ID and proof of payment of an order for which you gladly accepted my money on 09 December, I ask! Nevertheless, I provide the ID copy and banking info and I wait.....and wait.... Early morning, 11 Feb I phone Ashley to follow up...I'm told she is not available, she is in a meeting and will phone me back when the meeting finishes..... No call-back received and at 14:22 on 11 Feb I phone again....I ask to talk to Ashley......I hold on and eventually I'm told she is unavailable, but provides a message via the consultant that I will definitely have the refund in my account by the end of the week, Friday 14 Feb.... Today is 18 Feb...more e-mails to Ashley remain unanswered... Another call to the Call Centre to ask to talk to Ashley is unsuccessful, as she is on her tea-break and therefore not able to speak to me... I'm told that the Refund has been processed, but not yet approved by Finance..... So, the saga of dreadful service and broken promises continues.

I have done a bit of research on Makro Online and sad as it may be, this horrific case is no exception....just look at their Facebook page for complaint upon complaint! Orders not arriving, cancellations, refunds never being made.... If this is the standard practice of Makro....how many people don't even follow-up on a small refund on one or two items never delivered out of their total orders....not wanting to go through the process that I've gone through....and Makro just gladly pockets the money....and continues their pathetic service. This smells like theft to me!

Another sad thing which I realised, is that there is no accountability for the poor service within Makro...the Call Centre blames the Managers...the Managers blame the branches....and all the numbers listed even on the e-mail signatures of the managers, takes you back to the (useless) Central Call-Centre.....

Makro's horrifically poor Online service should be exposed and they should be shamed!