Complaint: Unfair Business Practice by Pudo

I am writing to lodge a formal complaint against Pudo, a parcel locker service which we rely on daily for our business operations.

On 1 June 2025, Pudo introduced a new policy, communicated as follows:"Customers may book and deposit parcels at any locker. If the booked locker size is unavailable, the system will automatically upgrade the parcel to the next available size at no additional cost."

On Sunday, 1 June 2025, we made 17 bookings and proceeded to deposit these parcels at the 7-Eleven Pudo locker in Polokwane. This specific locker has several compartments—particularly XSmall ones—that have been faulty for months. Despite previous reports to Pudo, these lockers remain non-functional.

When attempting to deposit 8 of our XSmall parcels, we were unable to access the corresponding XSmall compartments. The on-screen instructions prompted us to choose a different locker size, which we did. However, to our surprise, Pudo deducted the upgrade fees for all 8 parcels from our account—contrary to their advertised policy.

Upon noticing the deduction, I checked the Pudo app and saw our balance was in negative. We recorded a video showing the faulty locker not opening while attempting to deposit the final parcel. This video was submitted to Pudo Support.

Support acknowledged the one video but insisted that, without separate proof for each faulty locker, they would only credit the amount for the single parcel shown in the video. This is despite clear records from their downloadable Excel transaction reports, which show 8 locker upgrades on that day—billed to our account.

Although the disputed amount (R280) may seem minor, this issue is not about the money—it is about the principle and the integrity of the service Pudo advertises versus what they actually deliver. Customers are being misled, and many likely do not report these incidents due to the inconvenience and inefficiency of Pudo’s internal resolution process.

Furthermore, I have requested access to the CCTV footage of our parcel drop-off (which Pudo confirmed they have), as it would clearly show that our parcels were XSmall in size—contrary to Pudo’s current claim that the parcels were larger, a justification they are using to avoid refunding the full amount.

This complaint is made in the interest of transparency, fair business practice, and to protect other consumers from similar experiences.