Not so express shipping

<p>Last Wednesday morning, I ordered something from the Mr Price Home online store. I wanted it quite urgently as it was a gift so I paid extra for "Express Shipping" (1 - 3 working days). Later that same day, the status of my order was listed as "Ready to ship", so I was quite excited. If the order is ready to be shipped on the Wednesday, I will probably get it before the weekend! Hooray!<br /> Friday afternoon: The order is STILL listed as ready to ship.<br /> I email customer service asking why, if it is has been ready to ship for 2 days, has it not been shipped?<br /> Customer service: "It takes 1 - 3 working days."<br /> I explain to them that I understand that, but it is 4pm on the Friday afternoon and it has not even shipped yet, so it is unlikely that it will arrive by Monday morning, the extreme outer limit of the "1-3 working days".<br /> Customer service: "Today is the second day. Monday is the third day."<br /> I write them off as being rude and go about my weekend.</p> <p>Monday morning, the order status is still "Ready to ship" so I register a new complaint, e-mail the former rude/ daft agent, and post on the Mr Price Home Facebook page.<br /> They reply to my Facebook post saying they will refer this to the agent that I was previously dealing with (even though I mentioned in my post that they were unhelpful and rude). Great.<br /> Customer Service: The courier has been contacted. You should receive it latest tomorrow.<br /> I thank them and ask them if they will be giving me a refund for the extra "Express shipping" charge, since this no longer falls within the time-frame I paid for. No response.<br /> A few hours later I mail again and ask once more about the refund.<br /> At 4:30pm, my parcel is finally shipped and I receive a R30 Mr Price voucher as my refund.</p> <p>I mail customer service again, explaining that a voucher IS NOT A REFUND, since they still have my money and I will now no doubt have to spend even MORE money at their store because what costs R30? So I would be rewarding them for their incompetence and I would actually just like my money back, as is my consumer right since they did not deliver on the service.<br /> Customer Service: Please be advised that we can do the Deposit of R30 but you will be liable for the bank charges.</p> <p>I think it is completely ludicrous that I am required to pay the bank charges if I wish to be refunded for a service that was never rendered (and that Mr Price did not offer to refund me at all, I had to ask more than once).<br />Also, during this entire exchange, not once were the words "We apologise for the inconvenience" uttered in any shape or form.</p>