Pathetic Online Shopping experience

I am shocked at the inconvenience that I have received from a supposed 'convenient online shopping experience'. On Tuesday the 28th of March 2023 at around 17:09 I made an online purchase for a phone valued at R6,699 from Makro Montague Gardens Online(Online order reference added as Ref Nbr on this review) using my Edgars Account Card. Upon first attempt to checkout and process payment I received a system error, then went for a second attempt and received the same system error(can't recall the specific error message). However, at this point I received an SMS stating that funds had been deducted from my Edgars account(copied - Edgars Account: thank you for your purchase at Masstores (pty) on card ... 1772 for T6699.00 on 28-03-2023 at 1709. Avail CR R***x. For queries call ***). About an hour later at 18:09 I received a call from the RCS ***** Department and they wanted to confirm if it was indeed I that was attempting to make the purchase, or if this was a *****. They did a security check and the lady on the phone confirmed that she was seeing 2 orders, and after the security check she assured that she had cancelled the one order, allocated the funds to the other order and released it, whatever that means.

By Saturday evening I had not received any notification wrt the status of my purchase so I logged back into my Online profile and noticed that the order against my profile still stated "Awaiting Payment" so I decided to go into the shop to enquire. Sunday morning I walked into the shop and was assisted by one Amore who has impeccable customer care skills but was unable to assist beyond what her dashboard was showing which is the same thing that I was getting from my side. She then referred me to contact the Makro Online support number *** for further assistance.

On Monday I called Makro Online Support (Case Ref Nbr ***) and after about 30 minutes later the support lady referred me to the RCS Group Support number ***. I called the number and the first 2 attempts I was put on the automated answering machine which dropped my call both times at about 7 minutes holding. On the third attempt I eventually got through to an agent, Lindi I believe, and after explaining my issue to the lady she said the system also showed "Awaiting payment" and wanted to refer me back to the shop. I told her that I had been to the shop, and had been to Makro online support, then to them and that they were trying to round-robin me to which the lady said she had to speak to "Merchant Services", and at about 20 minutes into the call I ran out of airtime and the call dropped. I eagerly waited on the agent to at least call me back and finish off the case, but I guess she just said "good riddance" and moved on with her life, talk of 0% customer care/ support.

After about an hour of waiting for the callback I eventually got more airtime and called again the RCS Group Support number. Obviously, a different agent picked up and we had to start all over with the long explanation, and after a while into the conversation (this was now after 18h00), the lady said she is in the system and there are notes against my order, notably: 1. They had picked the system error at around 14h00 that day and had authorized the order to be released 2. That I could into the shop again and pick up my order 3. If there were any issues at the shop to again call the RCS Group support from the shop I asked the lady about 3 times to confirm if all was sorted to which she affirmed, I then told her that I had been on the phone since around 16h00 and by then the system still showed "Awaiting payment" as it also showed after her 3 affirmations, to which she responded all was well and sorted now.

On Tuesday I went back to the shop around 15h00 and was first assisted by a gentleman at the Online desk(can't recall his name), who was also very helpful but could not assist further as the system still showed "Awaiting payment". We tried calling the RCS support center to no avail. The other lady(Amore) that had attended to me on Sunday also was called to try and assist but nothing helped. At this time it was past 16h00 and I was livid and just wanted my refund so that I could pick up the item and walk away, but then the RCS National Finance Department had just knocked off at 16h00, so the guys at the shop requested if they could follow up yesterday and resolve by EOB. However, upon checking my balance and my Online profile's order status it shows no traction, hence my venting out here.

This is by far my worst online shopping experience, and especially from as big an enterprise as RCS, I am shocked, appalled, and all the negative experiences one can think of. If you miss a payment, these guys will haunt you down and charge you for every minute they call you, every e-mail they send - but in this case who will pay for my misery: 1. Time lost 2. Fuel spent up and down to the shop 3. Airtime used trying to resolve this issue 4. Psychological stress this has mounted up on me