Dishonesty and Incompetence at PostNet and Aramex

PostNet South Africa and Aramex Customer Service have, by far, the worst customer service I have ever experienced. I experienced hours of being dismissed and **** to by PostNet and Aramex agents. The dishonesty, arrogance and incompetence of people who aren't interested in actually doing their jobs caused me a huge amount of distress, and caused my employer financial loss.

On Monday morning, a package containing important documents was sent from PostNet Shelly Beach in KZN, to Sandton, Johannesburg. It was an express delivery, and I was told that it would arrive by Tuesday afternoon *at the latest*.

On Tuesday morning, at around 7:00, I checked the shipment tracker, which said that at 6:08, the package had left the Johannesburg depot and was "Out for Delivery". At 11:07 yesterday, I called to check the ETA on my package. At this point, I was still relatively comfortable that it hadn't arrived, but was looking for assurances that it would arrive on time. I was passed around from person to person, until the last person I spoke to told me "the package is out for delivery". I said "I know that; that's what it says on the shipment tracker, but what I need is an ETA", to which he responded that PostNet is unable to track drivers, but that he would speak to someone (unclear who), and then call me back. This call did not come.

I would like to emphasise that tracking ones package is not a far-fetched ask. UberConnect is able to show you exactly where your driver is with your property. PostNet has been in South Africa since 1994. It's strange (and maybe a testament to their ineptitude) that they are supposedly "unable" to do the same. I am a paying customer. I paid for an express shipment, i.e. delivery by the next business day, and assurance that my package is going to arrive safely and on time. Instead, I got a full day of time-wasting and lies.

I called again at around 14:00, put on hold for about 10 minutes, and was told again that I would get a call back. Again, this didn't happen. My colleague then called on my behalf. After a long back-and-forth with the agent, he was told by an agent that the issue would be escalated, and my package would arrive at the delivery address by 16:00 at the latest. When this didn't happen, we called again and were told that the issue had not been escalated, but that we should call back in 5 minutes for an update, which we did, but were then put on hold until the agent eventually hung up. Between 16:00 and 17:00, we called PostNet Head Office, as well as Aramex's Customer Service line repeatedly. Each person that we spoke to was passing us from agent to agent, shifting responsibility between one another, and withholding information instead of finding my package. By 16:30, they had stopped taking our calls - either putting us on hold or not answering at all.

Given that it was approaching 17:00 and I needed the package by 18:00 at the *very* latest (which they knew because we had told them repeatedly), we roped in the manager of PostNet Shelly Beach, where the package was initially sent from. He began to make calls as well, trying to find it. He'd spoken to my colleague, and he'd spoken to my mother, so by the time I called him at 16:56, he already knew about the situation, and assured me that they would continue to work and find it.

At 17:00, the conversation was still "I need you to help me track the driver who has my express delivery" from my side, when it should've been "The package has been located; we understand the urgency of the situation, it's on its way to you" from theirs.

The team at PostNet Shelly Beach ended up being the only ones of help in the situation. At 18:10, the manager of PostNet Shelly Beach called me from his personal phone, letting me know that the night-shift driver was at depot, had my package in-hand, and was on his way to me to deliver it. Despite the message that my package was "Out for Delivery" since 6:08AM, it had not even left depot.

If the staff at PostNet Head Office and Aramex's Customer Service were actually committed to being useful at their jobs, this much could've been picked up the first few times that I called. I could've even gone to pick it up myself because the depot, as it turns out, is only a 5 minute Uber from the delivery address. I waited there until my package finally arrived at 18:45. The night-shift driver who did the handover explained to me that this is an ongoing issue at PostNet - that drivers often scan packages but don't actually take them. The daytime driver responsible must, of course, be held accountable for their carelessness. However, the Head Office and Customer Service agents' refusal to be of use is a much bigger issue.

About an hour ago, I called PostNet Head Office to tell them about my complaint. The person who picked up the phone listened to me for about 2 minutes. She then put me on hold and eventually hung up, so I've decided to come to a more public forum.