Takealot's service has become absolutely shocking

I placed an order and received two incomplete items.

A toddler ladder arrived sealed from the manufacturer missing 1 of its 6 *****s - I understand Takealot could not have checked that. But a double pack of kids toothpaste arrived with one tube missing. The toothpaste was not in sealed packaging. It had a piece of paper around it. There is no excuse for that. Someone at that warehouse packed one tube and sent it out. That is Takealot's failure, not the manufacturer's.

Now I have to waste my personal time driving to a depot to return both items. Time I do not have.

To make matters worse, there is absolutely no way to speak to a real person. You are forced to navigate their website, follow ridiculous prompts, and log separate queries for each issue. It is designed to frustrate you into giving up. When I tried to leave honest reviews about my experience, Takealot rejected them because they mentioned delivery. A delivery failure is part of the product experience. Rejecting reviews that reflect poorly on their service is not quality control, it is suppressing honest customer feedback.

And then there is the packaging. Every single item arrives in its own separate box. Not only is this an enormous waste, it is not environmentally responsible, and the cost of all that unnecessary packaging is clearly being passed on to the consumer. It is not hard to see why prices keep going up.

Takealot has grown into a business that has forgotten who keeps it alive. As Amazon and other competitors enter South Africa, Takealot would do well to remember that customers have a choice. Right now, they are making it very easy to choose someone else.