Makro your "Sorry for the inconvenience" is actually a middle finger to the customer!!!!

I think that I am not over exaggerating when I say that my for far too long fellow South Africans myself included have had to deal with poor customer services from corporate giants who hide behind T & C's and weak apologies. Beyond that there are no further repercussions, no grand gestures to show appreciation for choosing their service to spend our hard earned money. I get it, they really don't give a damn about the fact that from our end additional time and money was spent in order for our grievances to be heard and hopefully resolved.

Today my issue is with Makro SA

Within the last 3 - 4 months this is the 3rd issue I have had when it comes to the delivery of my on-line order.

1. November I placed and order for a toy, when the package arrived it was the wrong character from that range and I would've accepted it as is had the box not been completely damaged, and as this was meant to be a gift I had to request a return. After I got no response, I had to go through to their Strubensvalley branch, wait in the long returns cue and get the correct item.

2. I placed an order for 5 drones along with few other items. I was aware that the items would be delivered in batches and that was no issue at all, because as per their site items would be delivered in 2-5 working days. Once a week had gone by I started to panic, those items were presents (Not Christmas) nieces and nephews which I was taking with me down to KZN and hand them over before my husband and I headed for our holiday destination. After numerous calls and follow up and promises the items were delivered on the 23rd of December, the order was placed on the 9th and 10th December, I was meant to leave Johannesburg on the 20th and had I left on the 20th there would be no-one available to receive the order on my behalf. No solutions were given, i was told to be patient and the phrase that now makes my blood boil "Sorry for the inconvenience."

You'd think I would've leant my lesson but clearly not, I needed one more shot of poor service delivery in order to fully accept that this is a norm and I am to blame for placing my trust in an organization that sees me as disposable and no real impact will be felt from me taking my business else where.

3. I placed an order 6th of Feb. A couple of days later I logged on line to see when delivery was being made only to see that my order is still in progress, on the 12th I called the call center and after being on hold for over 25 minutes the call cut. I tried again and when I eventually got through I was told that the order is approved but it hasn't been actioned yet and of course the call center agent promised to get back to me by end of business with feedback. Not surprisingly promise was not kept and the following morning I emailed her, she still hasn't responded - must be server issues. On Sunday 16th I decided to decided to try and see if I would get a response on twitter. Besides providing them with details of my issue, I posed a question to Makro asking them to justify why should continue doing business with them. Monday morning, Makro_SA responded with yet another "Sorry for the inconvenience" insult and requested that I DM them the details of my order. Which I did and they informed me their brilliant solution to my - "We have contacted our call center and they will follow up with the supplier and get back to you." Wow, that's some incredible customer service, I had no idea why I didn't think of this myself. Today is the 19th, I have had no further communication from Makro and I don't expect I will unless once again I spend my money and time doing their job of once again trying to find out if or when my item will be delivered.

From November till end of Jan I have spent close to 40K at their stores, peanuts I'm sure for most but for me its a chunk of change, at this moment I wish I had rather set the money of fire rather than spent a single cent at Makro.