TAKEALOT service delivery at a downward spiral

<p>I have been without a doubt a loyal customer and promoter of Takealot. I have spent as little as R250 to as much as R7500 per order while convincing friends and family to purchase online from Takealot. My motivation being convenience, service that is world class and their fantastic prices. I have experienced all of the above until recently. Aside from being addressed as just another customer who is being parroted Takealot's processes when I call in regarding a query I have also been told that I have to be treated exactly the same as any other customer. Clearly I was naïve all this time to think that Takealot actually did consider me as a valuable customer and would do what it takes to make it work. On the evening on 09 March I purchased a Doki watch for my daughter for approximately R2900 using my eBucks. The next morning the price had been reduced to R1999. I called Takealot and advise that I would like pay the new price for the watch using the eBuck that I had just spent for the watch at the old price. After spending close to 50 minutes on the phone with them 3 things became evident:</p> <p> The Takealot teams work in silo’s. To elaborate on that, the department I spoke to escalated, no sorry, the repeated to me that the will make an “exception” not an escalation in order to resolve one element of the process over and above the allotted time. However, that would have been irrelevant as the rest of the process within the logistics/warehouse team would still take a week and all that would be required is for the logistics/warehouse team to put an item back into stock and then credit that item. Given that the department that I spoke were going out of their way to make an “exception” within their team, they felt that they were doing everything that they possibly could. Anything out of their scope of work is out of their control. They do not represent Takealot as a whole but rather only a little element in the value chain.<br />They do not feel the need to go the extra mile under the assumption that they are the e-commerce market leaders without any serious competition in South Africa, therefore they can continually focus on day to day operations with the customers experience being immaterial. <br />Takealot’s service is sub-standard compared to Dion Wired, Oneday Only, Runway Sale and other online retailers. When I had experienced this very same query with One Day Only they made a real exception.<br />To sum up this review: My last few interactions with Takealot has been unfavourable to the point of me telling my friends and family and it is very likely that I will not buy anything from them again.</p> <p> </p>