DJ
Des J
Active since Aug 2016
13
Reviews
0
Industries
Reviews
13 reviews20 months ago
REACHING A DEAD END AT GOODALL & BOURNE!
Required some assistance and advice regarding the simple matter of funereal processing and paperwork in CT. Found the person I managed to contact dismissive and disinterested. Ignored my queries. Not helpful at all. Certainly not the sort of difficulty one wishes to encounter when one is wrapping up a loved ones affairs! Perhaps if an accountable and helpful member of management would take the trouble to respond and contact me, perhaps we could sort this issue out and I could be persuaded to pen a more positive rating?
0 replies
27 months ago
WOODEN HEADS WITH WOODEN RESPONSES RUN LOCAL TIMBER SUPPLY MERCHANT!
I cannot quite understand why a business can actually descouraqe client contact like TIMBACORE! Firstly, I don't want to phone them however many phone numbers they offer. I like comms in writing and at the convenience of both parties. Secondly, their contact form includes an invitation to participate in visual calisthenics that only an eagle can accomplish. Their published [email protected] has been disconnected. Their FaceBook page is guarded by artificial intelligence that cannot accept an enquiry nor offer any interaction. The proffered email address [email protected] also remains inert! What follows is my efforts to make contact over a week plus: "... TIMBACORE 1K people like this Lumber Yard Des Fri, Mar 22, 11:16 AM (4 days ago) hi. need some replacement timber for shelving and slat supports. NO PRESSED BOARD, THANK YOU! measurments as follows: SLATS: Quantity - 8 X 1.250mm (length) x (18 to 20mm (thick) X 100 to 150mm (wide) or 4 X 1.250mm (length) X 18 to 20mm (thick) X 250mm to 300mm wide) SHELF: Quantity -1 X 1.810mm (length) X mm 18 to 20mm (thick) X +-330 mm (wide). Delivery to Protea Valley? Thx! Des TIMBACORE Hi, thank you for your enquiry. We would love to supply you with our price and product info, please contact us on our WhatsApp number +27 71 602 5939 Des Sent you an enquiry almost FOUR days ago!!! Does it take that long to assess and respond????? . TIMBACORE Hi Des, We apologize that you haven’t received a response. Our system indicates that we have not received your initial inquiry. Please try again, or feel free to reach out to one of our sales consultants directly via WhatsApp at 067 404 5793, or you can email [email protected] Des Fri, Mar 22, 11:16 AM (4 days ago). I need some replacement timber for shelving and slat supports. NO PRESSED BOARD, THANK YOU! measurments as follows: SLATS: Quantity - 8 X 1.250mm (length) x (18 to 20mm (thick) X 100 to 150mm (wide) or 4 X 1.250mm (length) X 18 to 20mm (thick) X 250mm to 300mm wide) SHELF: Quantity -1 X 1.810mm (length) X mm 18 to 20mm (thick) X +-330 mm (wide). Delivery to Protea Valley? Thx! Des Des How many more times must i send this enquiry?????? Look above and you'll see it TWICE!!! TIMBACORE I apologize for any inconvenience. Could you please provide us with your contact details? We’ll ensure that one of our sales consultants reaches out to you promptly. Thank you for your patience and understanding. Des ONE email and THREE Fb messages!. That's on top of a on-site enquiry form that plays games with you and that makes contact impossible. I reckon that for my trouble and inconvenience you should supply the order - gratis!!! ??????? What a shower!" Clearly, not all the wood resides in the plantation!
0 replies
46 months ago
VODACOM – DOING ITS BEST TO KEEP ITS CLIENTS ALIENATED AND DISCONNECTED!
VODACOM – DOING ITS BEST TO KEEP ITS CLIENTS ALIENATED AND DISCONNECTED! Recently, Vodacom randomly and without rhyme, reason or warning, removed my cell phone from their cell phone network! At this point it’s worth noting that I have been a faithful client of Vodacom’s for around 25 years. My instrument is a legally purchased cellphone with no hacks or modifications since year one. I operate on a ‘pay-as-you-go’ option and therefore owe Vodacom nor have ever owed them, a cent. I have never before had any issues whatsoever with Vodacom nor have I ever indulged in any questionable or criminal activity on my phone. So why, in a competitive market like communication, would Vodacom ‘eliminate’, discard’ or deliberately ‘lose’ a client??? The story began about three months ago when I discovered that I could not make any calls from my cell phone. Upon examination I discovered that my SIMcard had been disconnected / removed from the network. This was frustratingly inconvenient as it was two weeks before I could manage to make my way to the local Vodacom franchise outlet to enquire as to why this had happened and to demand to be re-connected. At the store, things were anything but clear. After investigating the issue, a so-called customer service technician announced that he could not supply a reason for the disconnection, nor could he do anything about it! He insisted that only Vodacom Head Office could rectify the matter and re-connect me. I then had to ask for before I was reluctantly given a 082-152 number to call. (Customer care clearly doesn’t carry a commission) Since then I have endured weeks of frustration trying to commence the process to re-establish my channel of communication, but without success. The customer service contact number I was given doesn’t work. Landline calls are repeatedly engaged or not answered. Repeated emails elicit a similar result - acknowledgement of receipt but are not responded to. (Kind of ironic for a major ‘blue-chip’ company that claims to provide telephonic communications, not so?) So, without any input from Vodacom, a deliberately elusive major national service provider, I raise the following complaint(s) / accusations; 1. Vodacom, you have deprived of my constitutional right of access as well as human right to communicate a legal telephonic device by removing me without permission, notice nor any other valid reason from your network. 2. You have cut me off and made me unreachable by friends, family, neighbours, service providers and business associates. 3. In an emergency I am now deprived of a personal or convenient device in an emergency. I cannot summon help, call a doctor, ambulance nor in the event of a crime, alert police or law-enforcement officials. 4. It is my understanding that as part of your licencing agreement with government, you have undertaken to provide clients with easy channels and access to sufficient competent and well-trained staff in order to resolve any enquiries, complaints or customer service issues a client might wish to address. (Is this true? Because if so, Vodacom is blatantly and deliberately in breach of at least one of the conditions under which it operates. Further, when a client is forced to correct out an issue that is not of the client's making and is given the run-around, he/she has very good reason to feel dissatisfied). 5. Finally, to add a further embellishment to Vodacom’s poor client care practices, like a thief in the night you have even quietly stolen/confiscated/absorbed the purchased airtime in my account! So, there you have my outrage, my complaint! Vodacom, it’s over to you! (Should there be a valid and ICASA-approved reason for this outrageous and high-handed action an explanation from Vodacom, it would be appreciated as none of the other network representatives that i have consulted are aware of it). PS: Please be sure not to try and contact me on my cell phone, as it has been disconnected and will not work!!!
3 replies
53 months ago
DOES STANDARD BANK REALLY CARE ABOUT PROTECTING THEIR CUSTOMERS FROM BANKING FRAUD, OR ARE THEIR BOLD STATEMENTS JUST AN EMPTY PR EXERCISE???
DOES STANDARD BANK REALLY CARE ABOUT PROTECTING THEIR CUSTOMERS FROM BANKING FRAUD, OR ARE THEIR BOLD STATEMENTS JUST AN EMPTY PR EXERCISE??? Some six months ago I began receiving a series of emails from “Standard Bank” informing me that I had a quantity of ‘UCount points’ with a considerable R value to redeem. I was immediately suspicious of the notifications for several reasons; I was not addressed personally; I had not registered for such a program with such a bank; no name, account or participant number was listed and the values of the promised balances varied between notifications. To date I have received more than a hundred of these suspicious phishing expedition emails. Being reasonably ‘tech savvy’ and aware of how dangerous these solicitations can be, I made sure that I did not open the emails and also refrained from opening the attached files as urged by the sender. After some months, I decided to do a little investigating myself and checked on the source of this spam. I was surprised indeed to discover that the emails came from a range of what appeared to be legitimate Standard Bank email accounts. Believing that the bank needed to know about these activities, I called in at the local Standard Bank branch to verify the legitimacy of both content and source. The consultant duly confirmed that I was indeed not registered on what was a real and legitimate Standard Bank loyalty program and confirmed that the headings in the emails was not to Standard Bank protocol. “These are fraudulent.” He stated emphatically. I then asked him the million-dollar question: Why then are the emails emanating from Standard Bank email accounts?” I handed him a long list of the sources email addresses and asked him to check them. Expecting them to be bogus, I then received an unexpected shock. He informed me that more than one of the email addresses were indeed real and indeed operative, while the rest were either obsolete destinations, cancelled ones or not listed. He then quickly removed himself from the process by handing back the list and giving me the email address of the Standard Bank division / department dealing with these matters ([email protected]). He then suggested that I refer the matter over to them. That was almost two months ago. I have since tried to make contact with Standard Bank’s ‘phishing police’ on three occasions and received not the courtesy of a reply or even an acknowledgement of receipt to my emails. Which brings me to the essence of my complaint; If this is how Standard Bank ignore client concerns in the fight against criminality, phishing scams and banking fraud, are they not supporting a practice that threatens all South Africans? Making ‘tough’ but empty anti-fraud and corruption statements and appearing to be committed, without commitment to follow-up or remedial action is surely dereliction of their duty? I cannot understand their lack of the most rudimentary interest when a customer comes forward offering detailed information to help fight a rampant fraud with suspicious overtones! If the sources of these criminal attempts do indeed originate from within Standard Bank itself, (as the evidence indicates), suspicions of our banking system and the implications for the bank’s customers is chilling indeed!!! Banks are traditionally held to the highest of standards in honesty and security, but how can one have confidence in such circumstances? Nevertheless, given the above, I believe that one is entitled to deduce that: a. Despite official statements to the contrary, Standard Bank does not consider attempted fraud a serious criminal offence, but will ‘make the right noises’ and announcements to placate concerned clients. b. Standard Bank is having its communication channels hijacked / compromised in some way and is unsafe. c. Standard Bank is not interested in responding or attending to client alerts and rectifying such matters. d. (Dare we suspect?), that someone at Standard Bank could be either engaged, complicit or condoning such criminal activity through its continued lack of response? Whatever the case, Standard Bank is seriously hollow in its publicly stated intention to stand against all forms of banking fraud and specifically the prevention of 'phishing' schemes. Should we treat other assurances they might offer in a similar light? But perhaps, given the state of our country, we should not expect any better?
5 replies
54 months ago
POOR QUALITY CONTROL MANAGEMENT STICKS IN MY THROAT…
Browsing through Nature’s Garden reviews before penning this review, it’s worrying to see that if one aggregates my complaint with the other’s, Nature’s Garden has some potentially serious quality control issues. We bought and prepared a bag of Nature’s Garden Frozen Stir Fry for dinner and during the meal I discovered a hard object in my mouth. At first glance, it looked like a piece of plastic from a production machine. On closer examination it resembled a machine warning light lens. The next day I made contact with the company by the number on the packet and after discussing the problem, they finally arranged for their representative to collect both the packet along with the foreign object. I had explained to the person taking my complaint that the object discovered was a serious threat to life and limb and not a minor issue. I could easily have choked to death, broken teeth or suffered a serious medical emergency. What might have happened had I swallowed the plastic fragment, been rushed to emergency and required hospital treatment along with all the associated pain and suffering…? … Death, of course, didn’t even bear discussion! Three weeks later I received a long email explaining the technical extent of the advanced machinery they employ to prevent this very possibility occurring and the steps they go to ensure that no foreign material ends up in their products. Amongst the jargon was the admission that the object ‘might’ have eluded these stringent processes and ended up in the bag. Well, if that was meant to reassure me that Nature’s Garden were a brand I could confidently buy and that their processes, quality controls and management were beyond approach - It didn’t! I responded with a return email telling them just that. Their infra-red and x-ray assurances along with apparent highly technical elimination processes had ultimately failed. Laxness on the floor; ‘short-staffing problems’ or that the machines they boasted might have for a short time been unattended, broken, being serviced, not in operation, defective, switched off or ‘off-line’ for any reason during a production run were all possibilities that were not even mentioned. Blaming the machine, unfortunately remains a very convenient scapegoat when the human element fails! I added that their bland ‘cut-and-paste’ explanation in response to my complaint was clearly not the way to deal with a serious breach in their quality control processes. Ultimately, it exposed customers to the fatal consequences of that negligence. As it has now been over three weeks and because Nature’s Garden have ignored my concerns, I believe that one that meets basic customer satisfaction standards is not going to be forthcoming. I will therefore hope to alert the retail chain where I bought the product in the event that similar incidents arise and will post this review to warn and caution others to be wary when buying Nature’s Garden products!
1 reply
64 months ago
Standard Bank gets Full Marks in the 'Phising' Fight!
Having some years ago been highly critical of Standard Bank's CRM (specifically their abysmal Insurance division), here on HelloPeter, I was treated to a welcome email recently from their banking division. "Phishing", or the process of illegally extracting ones confidential banking information is a growing financial scourge and it was really uplifting to see someone in the bank taking the issues of good CRM to heart by communicating the dangers and remedies in an intelligent and comprehensive manner to the bank's clients. Short and to-the-point, the email described the process, bank procedures, the dangers and what not to do in the event that one of these criminal devices fall into your inbox. What impressed me was the helpful screenshots of the actual offending emails detailing corporate ID errors and pointers to be on the lookout for in such illegitimate communications. To put the ‘cherry on the cake’, there was even an email address provided where one can despatch such offending communications, for the bank to follow up on and purge. Magic! This was indeed a friendly, useful and indeed practical weapon in the fight against banking fraud and theft. For the first time in a very long time, I got the feeling that Standard Bank was looking out for my best interests. Whoever came up with and executed this idea and comms memo gets my vote for a ‘Bell’s’! (I compare this event to receiving a swathe of counterfeit emails from ‘Nedbank’ (where I do not even have an account), trying a similar scam. I immediately reported the matter to Nedbank during the middle of 2020 for the attention of their fraud division, hoping that they would re enough to trace the senders and/or shut down the address. Result? No thanks. Not even an acknowledgement of receipt… and I’m still getting the 'Nedbank' spam)! Bummer! Perhaps Nedbank management need a little wake up call? But to end on a well-deserved positive note - Grand stuff, Standard Bank!
1 reply
64 months ago
Santam Suspiciously Quick to Deny Claim, Poor on Service and Negligent on Basic CRM!
I had occasion to make a claim from my insurer, Santam, for storm damage in July 2020. My claims history to date? One claim in 20 years! So, one of Santam's assessors came around to view the damage... He quickly stated that the main cause for the damage was 'poor maintenance' and advised me to expect a 'reduced settlement'. and promised a written/email report. As his declaration appeared too practiced and routine, I was suspicious. This was, after all, a major winter storm, a very convenient excuse, I'd say! I was interested in seeing what Santam would put in writing. So I waited...! That was seven months ago. I have not heard from Santam since.... No promised report. No email. Not even a 'snailmail' letter. No phone call. No SMS message... ****-poor client service and customer follow-up on my claim, I would suggest... To compound matters, no customary renewal notice with revised premium received by snail and email when the policy came up for renewal, either...! Short staffed?... blame Covid?... going out of business?... Poor client care and management... or perhaps in the event of claims, To my assessment and experience, Santam likes to just take in premiums, but prefers to ignore their business obligations!!!!!!
2 replies
76 months ago
MY SHOES? THANKS TO GLOBEFLIGHT FAILURE THEY MUST BE WALKING BY NOW…
MY SHOES? THANKS TO GLOBEFLIGHT FAILURE THEY MUST BE WALKING BY NOW… Had two pairs of shoes collected from Durban on Wednesday for delivery to myself here in Cape Town. Finally got a call on Friday at 1.15pm from Globeflight’s CT despatcher. She told me that they could not deliver that morning because nobody was at my home. I told her that that explanation was nonsense of the grossest kind and her driver was a liar. I’d been expecting delivery that morning and because my lounge overlooks the driveway and the phone was by my side, I can confirm that nobody had darkened my doorway that morning. (? Silence)… I told her to deliver it that afternoon. She explained that there were no drivers to make a Friday afternoon delivery. ‘…But would Monday be allright?. (? Aha! It’s Friday and everybody at Globeflight skives off early. I’d stumbled upon Half-day Friday). So I told her that was not acceptable. (? Silence again)… ‘… How about Saturday’? I was offered. (This girl must have worked at an auction house at one time. I was in a bidding war…) ‘No thank you!’ I responded – ‘Today as arranged…- this afternoon! ‘ (More Silence)… We were wasting time. ‘Put your supervisor on the phone…’ I demanded. While I waited I got an earful of informative telephone advertising telling me how much Globeflight; valued their customers; valued my time; offered special service; complied with 90001standards and was proud of its ‘level 2 BEE’ award. Really? The clincher was ‘Globeflight - making courier dreams come true… since 1998…!’ and finally inviting me to leave a review… Right!!! All in all, probably not much good if you cannot deliver packages on time and you lie to customers! Then ‘Maja’ came to the phone. I asked whether he was the supervisor. He told me he was. I asked whether he could make thing happen. He said he could. I told him about the problem they had which was causing me a problem. He repeated the ‘no drivers’ line. I told him about the ream of telephone advertising that I’d just endured and enquired whether it was lies. (That silence again…) Then I asked him again whether he could make things happen? This time he got the message. ‘I will deliver this afternoon…!’ He assured me. ‘ Great! I’m waiting…’ I replied. So now we wind forward to Saturday. No delivery as promised. No call to even offer another excuse. A call to the CT office remains unanswered and neither Branch Manaher Devon Light nor Customer Service Manager Rafeeqah Lewis are available to answer my call. Must have had a long weekend planned. To add insult to injury, the nice virtual lady who at would have liked to take my message had to admit that the ‘mailbox’ was full and hadn’t been cleared in ages…!
1 reply
91 months ago
Pick 'n Pay - Sweet Prices Turn Bitter!
The highlight of completing the weekly shop at Tokai PnP used to be finding a spot of sweet confectionery at bread counter. A ****in, chocolate éclair or brownie made the perfect ‘sweet’ for the weekend meal. A few months ago, these little ‘luxuries’ began to increase alarmingly in price and are now almost DOUBLE what they cost a short time ago! Believing that the increases were neither justified (a wage increase to protesting cows?), nor reasonable (from R10 to R17?), I ceased my custom for confectionery there and did a little research… I found that Spar Supermarkets (upmarket to PnP, remember), sell their confectionery at very reasonable prices, with bigger portions and absolutely delish… (see photo attached). Now, in the name of fairness I like to give this supermarket a ‘heads up’ on an aberration, to buck up their pricing policies or alternatively, an opportunity to explain how this situation has been allowed to occur. So I made my way to the office... But when I raised the issue with ‘Thabo’ the Tokai manager, he told me that the ‘buyers’ are the product ‘gods’ and set the prices that he has to abide by. In short; he had nothing to do with it and could do nothing about it! Really? Since when does someone in an office in distant Jozi tell a manager at the 'coalface' with his finger on the pulse, what he must sell and at what price? The performance of the shop should be in the hands of an accountable manager who knows his market and clients, not? Anyway, whether he just could not be bothered by my complaint or wanted to get rid of me, ‘Thabo’ has absolved himself from responsibility in the matter. This message must then be directed at the faceless 'gods' up in retail heaven - the Pick ‘n Pay ‘buyers’… Buyers…? You’ve lost your franchisee a client who now delights in making a trip to his local Spar and receives DOUBLE the size éclair at almost HALF the price you are charging! You claim to offer the best produce at competitive prices? You claim to be the consumers ‘friend'? This is patently untrue. What do you have to say to that!!!!!?????
3 replies
99 months ago
Raid Insecticide is 'eau de cologne' for mosquitoes!
Wonderful, wonderful customer service!!! Complained over two months ago regarding a double pack of Raid insecticide bought at PnP Blue Route CT. Firstly, the mosquitos shrug it off when sprayed and move to the other side of the room. Is this a bug ****er or a bug underarm? I complained telephonically to a girl who claimed that she was at a call centre in Portugal (?). She made the right noises, took my details, the production numbers and told me that they would be in touch... Since then..... Nothing, nada, niks...! Why bother? DR Jennings
0 replies
Review Distribution
5 Star
1 (7.6923076923076925%)
4 Star
0 (0%)
3 Star
0 (0%)
2 Star
2 (15.384615384615385%)
1 Star
10 (76.92307692307692%)