It's new business we're after

We have been using the services of Courier Guy a minimum of twice a week so decided to open an account with them. In due time, a sales rep came around. Instead of having an account the rep suggested that we opt for a Prepaid Account whereby we would deposit a minimum of R1150.00 and a deduction gets made against that amount until a balance of R115.00 remains. The account should then be topped up so that we can continue.

The application procedure is as tight as if one is seeking to open an a 30-day or 60-day account with just about all intimate details as they can get out of you. We duly completed all the required details with the lady even asking us to append our signature to the rates sheet that Courier Guy uses as that was not signed when our application was submitted. We made more than the minimum required payment as courier services are a means of getting our goods to our clients.

Accepting that our banks may differ, we allowed a period of 4 days for our account to be opened. Nothing of that sort. Telephoning the rep did not help – she was on voice mail. Sending her an e-mail simply yielded a reply “Hi - This auto-reply is just to let you know that I’m out seeing clients but will get back to you as soon as I can. Please expect a delay in response. “ Three times!

It seems that once they have your business, you can wait. The rep is not interested in you anymore – she’s after new business! Likewise, their accounts department can’t tie up our application and our deposit as they were submitted a day apart. In the meantime, we had clients stewing as we had made bookings for collections that would not happen as our payment ahs not been allocated.

We had to ‘phone their Head Office to find out why the delay in approving before there was light at the end of the tunnel….at the end of the fifth day!