Last week Wednesday I came across an awesome deal from the guys at Incredible Connection, where they had a 3TB external hard drive on special for just over R1000. As I had been looking for something along these lines, for a while I decided to grab the opportunity and purchase one through their online store.
I have admit though, I am a bit of a skeptic when it comes to e-commerce in South Africa. I honestly don’t think there is anything wrong with the actual system, but our biggest problem is the logistics and the delivery of goods. (That said, I have to exclude Takealot from this generalization, who have delivery nailed) In this case, Incredible Connection were offering 3-5 day shipping for free on the day (normal price R55) and overnight shipping for R45. Being the gadget junkie that I am, I needed it now, so I selected the overnight option.
Bad Mistake.
Assuming because I placed the Order after 12pm, I thought I would it give it a day when it didn’t arrive on Thursday. By Friday lunch time I still hadn’t heard anything and sent the Incredible Connection twitter account a message, asking if they could find out what was happening. I gave them the required details, and waited in anticipation. Nothing :(
It seems that nothing happens over the weekends, So on Monday I made a bit more noise on Twitter, and *eventually* I got a phone call & email from the Online Manager, Jean, humbly apologizing for their mistake. Granted, it wasn’t his fault, but I just wasn’t happy, so I just asked that they reverse the order. Once again, Jean tried his best to rectify it, and ensured I would have it in my hands by Tuesday morning.
A few minutes later, I got a call from Shane, who is the KZN Ops Manager, apologizing for what could only, what seems to be, an honest mistake. He offered to have someone drive out to my house, and deliver the drive to me personally and offered to give me the drive for Free ! I was amazed. An hour later (at about 5pm) , Mike, who is the Branch Manager at Incredible Connection in Springfield Park, personally delivered the external drive in my hands. I was seriously impressed with the action taken, and how everything just happened.
Yes, E-Commerce in South Africa has a long way to go, and at the best of times, and I absolutely hate using twitter as a soapbox to moan. But I saw yesterday that some brands in SA are taking their customer service very seriously, and are willing to ensure their customers are happy all the time. So a big thanks to everyone at Incredible Connection for making what could have been a horrible situation, into a happy experience, ensuring I will be a return customer.
Now to fill up that hard drive…