Utterly disappointing customer service

Context: only 3 of 4 items was received on my order and a lack of service was provided by the agent who took on the incident

The following events have occured: - 09/10/2024 15h52 I collected my items from the Takealot warehouse in Richmond corner - I received 3 x boxes by the counter agent. Knowing I should have 4 x items in total, I trusted the Takealot staff and assumed perhaps 1 x box had 2 x items inside (which was not the case) - Upon arriving home to open the 3 x boxes, I found that 1 x item was missing from the order - At 17h23, due to a lack of appropriate options, I "logged a return" on the missing item and wrote in the comments section that this item was missing from my order - At 19h06 I received an email from Gillian.L #ID***9 // [66VV3M-LXML2] requesting information regarding the boxes that I had received - I responded at 19h55 with all the required details and images of everything which I received (being 3 x boxes, 1 x item per box = total 3 x items received) - On 10/10/2024 I received no feedback or an update as of yet - At 11h38 I received an automated email stating my return logged has been cancelled - At 12h11 I emailed Gillian.L requesting an update - At 15h47 I logged the item again, for "return" with the comments again reflecting the item is missing/not received in the order - At 15h54 I still have not received ANY feedback from Gillian.L, and thus requested an urgent update (additionally, I looped in the "customer care" email = *** hoping I would garner some sort of attention to get some sort of feedback) - At 15h56 I left an enquiry on the website under the "get in contact" section regarding the experience and issue - At 18h01 and 18h02 I called the customer care landline, to which there was no avail (the automated response stated that the customer care agents work 8PM-7PM, and then it simply ended call - not forwarded to an agent) - At 19h15 I received a "Please return the following items..." as per my "return logged" at 15h47 (clearly the person/system who qualifies returns had neglected the comments stating it is missing) - At 19h31, 10/10/2024, Sipenati.L responded to my enquiry via the website and requested information (where I explained the same thing I have explained to Gillian.L) - Sipenati.L promptly responded that my account will be credited with the amount of the missing product, to which I requested a full refund as I still 1. Still in need of the item I did not received 2. Will not be using Takealot.com to try and order the same item again, thus need my money back to purchase somewhere else - At 19h56 Sipenati.L provided me with the refund process on credited amounts - The issue has now been resolved by Sipenati.L (thanks Sipenati.L for your great customer service)

I am utterly disappointed in the service (lack thereof) provided by Gillian.L. As a matter of fact, had I not gone the extra mile for myself to log an additional enquiry on the website to reiterate the situation, I still would be sitting here with no update/feedback/resolution from Gillian.L.

When a customer's money is involved and the situation is prolonged without any sort of appropriate update, it starts getting very concerning. Additionally, Takealot must add an option for "Log Missing Item/Log Item Not Received", as "Log A Return" clearly seems to not bring the message across that there is no actual return but a missing item.