Scorpio Transport - *********** staff, unwilling management and all round negligence

I recently had 2 industrial sewing machines transported from Durban to Johannesburg with Scorpio Transport. Herewith my story of the shocking service and horrible experience I had with them.

After numerous attempts to recover the cost of R1995 for the motor of my industrial sewing machine that was broken while in their position (clearly indicated by the pictures received from Ravi- their depo manager) I've been left with no choice but to go to the media with my complaint and to report exceptionally poor service and negligence.

I was helped by Bethel Devraj- a highly *********** accounts clerk in their company. She sent me an email with a quote to which I agreed. Note that it was never mentioned that insurance was an option even after I mentioned the value of the goods to be transported. Throughout the process promises were made to keep me informed of where in the process my goods are but not once did the company follow up with me without me needing to call them first; i've counted 17 calls from my side to follow up with them. Also note that Ravi Moodley mentioned to me that his wife worked for Edgars and that Scorpio is therefore fully aware of the value of the machines. Ravi also highlighted that it is a constant struggle for him to get good communication from head office so clearly there are major issues between the various departments within the company...

The 4ton truck eventually picked collected my machines in Durban on the Friday for delivery in JHB on the following Monday. When I again called Bethel on that Monday to find out what time delivery would happen (note she did not deem it important to keep me in the loop from her side) she explained that the machines were never sent as they were not packaged. This was the first time i heard of the issue and as I explained countless times I would not have allowed for the machines to be collected in the first place if I knew they were not packeged appropriately. By that time I've lost a day's worth of production already.

Bethel gave me Ravi's cell number to follow up with him myself- again, shocking client management!!!! I called him and he was full of apologies for the poor communication. He assured me that the machines would be wrapped and palletised and sent me photos of the packing process which btw showed the machines undamaged at that time. It was explained that the machines would be transported to JHB over night. The next day I got a call from the security guard at my complex that the delivery truck was there for delivery. Note that Bethel never arranged a time of delivery with me so I had to scramble to get somebody to receive the machines for me and I was as a result not there to assess the condition of the machines. I called Bethel to complain about this and she again just apologised for poor communication.

When I got home from work that evening I noticed that the motor of one of the machines was snapped off. I followed this up with Scorpio Transport manager, Michelle the next day who promised to discuss it with a director and to get back to me with feedback shortly.

I again heard nothing from Michelle and had to again call them on Friday 13 October to follow up. Michelle noted that they would not cover the R1995 damages that they clearly caused as i did not take insurance (which was never offered and my company did not even know existed.)

It is with great disappointment that a company would not be willing to come to the party with such overwhelming evidence against them (recorded phone calls, before and after pictures of the goods and full email conversations) to help their customers where they were so blatantly at fault.

I herewith call on current and prospective customers to be very careful when dealing with Scorpio Transport as their staff is clearly either *********** or just not customer orientated and are willing to hang their customers out to dry.