Horrible experience. Parcel lost in transit to SA - Rose Wholesale not taking full responsibility!

I made an online purchase with Rose Wholesale on the 23rd of June 2017. They responded to say they received the payment (approximately R1100 including shipping fee) and that my order has been shipped out . They then provided me with an order number (HH ********** ********** 01) and tracking number(Tracking no: RS ********** 85NL). The company that they appointed for the shipping is Netherlands Post Registered also known as PostNL.

As weeks went by I kept checking back on the PostNL website to track my delivery status. The last day there was any update was the 1st of July and it read "Parcel on its way to delivery country-South Africa".

Week after week I kept checking and it still had the same status. I decided to write a message to the Rose Wholesale support center and I was assisted by a lady called Abigail. I raised my concern to her and alerted her that my parcel has not been delivered. She asked me to verify my name and shipping details and I did so. She assured me that the parcel is still on its way and they ship to SA on a regular basis so I should not worry. She also told me it takes 25 working days for the parcel to be delivered and that the delivery deadline is on the 22nd of August. I asked her to personally contact the shipping company to find out why it has taken so long. Relaxed as she was because she had nothing to lose, she came back to quote the same message I had been seeing everyday while tracking my order, "Parcel on its way to delivery country-South Africa".

I felt like she wasn't doing enough to assist track my order since I didn't have the actual contact details of this shipping company and since they hired this company they should be able to give me the full information.

She asked me to wait till the delivery deadline - 22 August and then contact them again. On the 21st August I went back to the PostNL website to track my order and guess what? No new update still on its way to delivery country. This left me frustrated and I knew my parcel wouldn't reach me by the next day so I contacted them again and expressed my disappointment especially because I had asked her about 2 weeks earlier to personally find out where my parcel is.

She responds to say "After reviewing your order in detail, we have found that you haven't purchased any insurance during the check-out. Please understand that in such case we can only compensate you partially. The shipping company is actually responsible for this loss which is sadly beyond our control." This is after I practically begged for assistance, she finally checks 'into detail' because delivery deadline is here. And now she's talking about a loss like it has been communicated before, something that she could've picked up had she followed up when I asked her to. I was not impressed at all, I could've been told 2 weeks ago or even earlier that my parcel is lost.

To top it off they wont give me a full refund because I did not pay for insurance( Its ok because its in black and white that they adviced customers to pay insurance to ensure a smooth delivery). I feel like Rose Wholesale don't take care of their customers.

To them its money first or nothing. I have lost close to R900 because they are only offering to pay me R200, this is not even half of what I paid. What I want to know is how do they calculate how much a client must be reimbursed in such a case? Why not half of the paid amount? What is their criteria and where in black and white on their website does it say they will pay only 20 percent if no insurance was attached? And also, how does a parcel get lost if you hire a reliable shipping company? And what are the chances that this was a 'coincidence' since they knew my parcel was not insured? I honestly don't believe my parcel got lost, it was ****** because they know it was not insured but Rose Wholesale wont take responsibility of the shipping company they hired. I need a fair resolution to this matter if they really care about their image as a service provider and care about their clients!

These people are not to be trusted and they have lost a client from me. Never again.