Joining the Takealot driver delivery program extreme incompetence Woodstock Branch Cape Town

A frustrating experience and an *********** and unprofessional management at Woodstock branch Number 10 Railway Street Unit 25 Nearby Park in Woodstock, Cape Town regarding the driver program, by name Ivan, Emily, Khadija and Tanaka, I feel like I was ****med of R80 by the staff at this branch. Why on earth do you call people to your offices as drivers when you are not ready and then waste their time? Do these people not understand that this is demotivating their drivers before they even start? At this stage I don't feel like associating myself with the Takealot driver program anymore and wish to nullify my contract.

Imagine this, you apply for the driver program, a month or so later Keegan Prins invites you for "an interview" indicating that you are to meet Ivan or Tanaka who are both not there at the prescribed time of the interview when you arrive. Very professional. Nonetheless you introduce yourself to Emily who apparently is one of the managers on duty who is totally unaware of this but gives you some documents to fill and collects personal information. You submit your car documents and you pay R80 for a ******** check and then you are told to come for training on Friday two days later. No interview at all. You go back home.

You arrive at the hub the prescribed training date on the Friday only to be told that the trainer, Tanaka, is not available because Friday is a public holiday and apparently they don't do training on a public holiday and you have come back next week because Emily made a mistake and booked the wrong date. The lack of attention to detail is ********** nonetheless you receive a rather nonchalant apology and you go back home.

When you eventually come back the next week you notice the trainer Tanaka is half ready, he has to locate the training videos. You notice the chairs in the office are broken and you get the sense that you are not really that valued as a driver which is instantly disappointing and demotivating. Most disappointingly, dead smack whilst in the middle of the training session which consists of watching out of date videos (as you are informed protocols have changed because of COVID) you are made to sign an independent contractor contract by manager Emily and other documents acknowledging that you have completed all aspects of their training schedule when in fact you have not. After completing only two out of the five training areas you are told there would be communication on further training dates which never occurs. Why they don't make you sign the contracts after completing the training, when you are concentrating and after giving you sufficient time to read the documents, and why they make you sign acknowledgement of completion of training when this is clearly not the case, and why they don't give you a copy of the contract smacks of dishonesty, nonetheless, photographs are taken and you go back back home.

A couple of weeks later you are sent a notification congratulating you of your appointment and instructing that you are to start work on this specific date. You are instructed to wear a black/blue jean and black top and black shoes, and also to bring as deposit R250 to purchase a food delivery bag. You are also instructed to contact you manager who instructs you to come to the hub office before the start date to get an app and pin so you can complete e-learning. Anyway, you rustle up some money, purchase these clothes, prepare the cash R250 cash, clean out your phone and arrive at the before the start date at the hub for the app only to be told that there is no driver app on location and that you must wait indefinitely for another driver to come by the office so that if he has one by chance he can transfer a copy of the installation package onto your phone. Why the app is not on Google Play in this day and age is beyond me and why the app was not on location at the hub and why I had to wait for another driver to share it with me is anybody's guess, but anyway you go back home after receiving an access pin to complete the e-learning.

You arrive the next day at the depot with your blue/black jean and black top and your R250 for the food, only to be told by Khadija another manager that they cannot accept your R250 because there are no food bags in stock and no uniforms and that you must call them the next day. Why they initially informed you that you needed to wear a specific type of clothing only to reveal that there was a uniform you are supposed to wear is beyond me and why they invited you to start without checking if any of these were in stock is beyond me. Now you have spent all this money but still you go back home on the day you are supposed to start work.

You call manager Khadija several times during the next three days with negative results until you suggest that they call you back instead when the uniforms and bags arrive. One week later no uniforms, you decide to call again the next week, the manager Ivan informs you manager Emily is busy you are to call back later without actually hearing who you are or what you are calling about. An hour later you call back you are informed by Ivan the manager Emily is still busy you must call back later. You call again for a third time but this time Ivan is irritated and rudely responds that Emily is busy. You finally explain your predicament and he responds abruptly "there are no food bags or uniforms in stock, what do you not understand about call back later".

This is my experience. I am therefore not surprised that Takealot drivers often appear very sullen. It looks to me like it is a company culture with the rot at the top. They emphasize punctuality and image consciousness in their driver training but cannot the apply same to their own driver contractors. This a paradox. Any company worth its salt would realize that this only translates from driver to customer when they as managers put their money where their mouth is concerning how they treat applicants for this first contact position. The managers in this whole branch should be fired as they spend most their time playing music and on their cellphones. Whoever is the very senior logistics manager at Takealot is clearly not doing their job. I managed to witness Khadija making a futile attempt to reprimand one driver who had crossed thresh hold into an area where he was not permitted and the driver simple ignored. There is obviously no managerial control or authority at all. What a shame.