Really disappointed!

I ordered a gift for my mother's 70th birthday to be delivered on her birthday. I did this early because she lives in Kleinbaai, near Gansbaai. The delivery did not arrive on her birthday but only arrived the following day.

I queried this with them and the response was, "Hi Lionel, we sincerely apologize for the inconvenience and disappointment caused. Kindly note that your order has been consigned to a courier as we do not deliver to this area and they only service this area today."

If they knew this, they could have let me know so that I could manage my mother's expectations (versus her waiting at home the whole day for a delivery that didn't arrive).

I also placed the order in plenty of time (and paid a significant delivery fee) for them to be able to make the necessary arrangements for her to get her gift on her special day.

Their apology: "We are extremely sorry for ruining such an special occasion Lionel. As a gift delivery service we are entrusted with people’s expressions of love, and we take it seriously. The last thing we want to do is ruin your experience with us. This is not the service we pride ourselves with and we promise that this error will never occur."

It did occur and they are right it will never occur again, because my mother can only turn 70 once...