Their Fault WILL become your problem

I have ordered a COD order from takealot. Everythings seemed to be going quite smootly. The courier was initiated, the delivery was scheduled. Then on May 7th, Takealot notified me by email that THEY have made a mistake in sending the parcel to the wrong facility. From here a coupe of things happened: 1. I was requested to make (and subsequently made, the same day) an EFT payment as the alternative courier that they would be employing cannot make COD deliveries. 2. They put a clock on the transaction by May 8th ( Voting day, if you remember) of 24 hours. They did not contact me telephonically, or by SMS etc, obviously expecting me to watch my email on an ongoing basis, and subsequently cancelled the order the next day. When I contacted them, after receiving the email, albeit late, they basically told me that their mistake has now become my problem, and I will be credited (once they take the time to find the payment) and then will have to reorder, waiting another couple of weeks for a new order to be processed. I have been dealing with them for more that 10 years now, and I have definitely seen a marked decline in their level of service. Smooth transactions tend to go very smooth, but any hiccup will forever cause you pain. I know that losing my business probably will not even feature on their bottom line, but I can warn prospective users: "caveat emptor", beware the buyer. I will mention that I have come across a very helpful young lady in their call centre that will hopefully help me to sort this out, but I will not mention her name, as she will most probably harassed for not toeing the company line. She has earned an extra star on my review, though.