Takealot. Com

I have been buying from takealot.com since they were take2 and have always been impressed by their service. Never a problem and delivery always ahead of time. The goods were always of excellent quality. In short I have always been a very satisfied customer. The last purchase I made was of a 3 in one bundle Romoss power banks. The illustration shows three units. The delivery was as usual way ahead of time. I elected to collect the parcel at thier Somerset-west pickup point which was convenient for me at the time. I collected the parcel which was sealed in the normal way but upon opening I found only two units with the cellophane wrapping broken. I immediately returned this to the staff at the pickup point who argued that the contents were correct and that I should contact their customer service. This I did on 24 Feb, requesting that they supply the missing item. On 25 Feb Tershia indicated that I should return the parcel, which I wanted to do while I was at their pickup point. Now I would have to retrieve the items I had given as presents and travel to Somerset west again. Most inconvenient to say the least. On 1 March I followed up requesting that the missing item be sent and Nadia indicated that she would escalate this to the warehouse team. On 4 March I again followed up and was again told that I must return the goods for inspection by the warehouse team. At this point I decided that if this business's policies are to ***** from customers and inconvenience them also, I would take the loss rather than embarrassing myself by asking for my presents back.

I had specifically bought this 3in1 bundle in order to give 1 each to my family members (who are not resident locally but living in a rural area) and keep one for myself. I am not about to ask them for the presents to be returned, so I will suffer the loss.

So, ok, I lose R500 but they lose a customer - I will not ever buy from them again and have discussed the issue with my friends, warning them to be aware that there may be a ***** in the takealot organisation. I understand that I am being obtuse about this but they should check before dispatch.