Makro or Wackro?

Makro. The big retail/wholesaler in SA. If you're South African, it's your go to store. You can't be local if you haven't been there.

So I had to buy my first product from Makro today. I was given the chance to initiate myself in the ritual that is consuming goods from them. It's every citizen's rite of passage.

I generally tend to find what I need online, and proceed to a store that has stock to buy my various redundant items. It makes the buying process and my life easier. I ended up signing up online for an "mCard" (an online /electronic version of the Makro card, you can't purchase goods from Makro without one).

However, you need to use the Makro app on Android or iOS , to access the card. I enrolled online, so I proceeded to download the app and log in... but it refused to connect. The app kept throwing some "not found" error at me. I wasn't written in code, so I don't catch errors lightly.

I had a card number generated online, which I presumed would be the same as my mCard withing the app, and proceeded to the store to waste my hard earned cash like every other individual after pay day. It's the norm.. right?

So I drive to the store. Park and go inside. The Springfield branch by the way. It takes me 10min to grab what I came for, only 3 items at that, and I proceed to the till.

I show the cashier my card number on the Makro website, so she tells me to go to customer services and they'll help me out . So I left my goods and did. The kind lady gives me a tem porary access card (with the exact same card number as mine, mind you), and I return to the cashier who was busy with another customer.

They sent me to another till. The guy punches in my card number, but the till says "card not found", for the next 3 loops his brain iterates through as well. So he tells me to go back to customer services, which I did.

I went back to the kind lady and she says their system is offline, so she takes my details down and hands me a new card with a new number. I proceed back to my goods and the last till I was at.

He was busy with another customer, so I moved on to the next till. THis was the last straw. I would've walked out then and there if the card did not work. But lo and behold, to my amazement, it did. I left with a bitter taste in my mouth.

I spent 15min getting my redundant goods and an hour battling with customer services. "Customer services" . That's no service. That's a waste of time. Get your act together Makro.