DB
Deon B
Active since Nov 2022
11
Reviews
0
Industries
Reviews
11 reviews17 months ago
Impressed with Takealot service after seven orders in 2024 and 2025
I've been buying from Takealot since July 2024 and see that I've placed seven orders. I returned one product which didn't work as expected, and the response from their returns department was quick and there were no hassles to get a credit to my account (they also asked if I'd prefer a refund). On another occasion, I did a multi-item order and after paying, decided I didn't want one of the items. I cancelled it and within minutes got a call back from a friendly person who said it was no problem at all, and the value was refunded on the same day. Very impressed with Takealot so far. Kudos to all involved.
0 replies
17 months ago
Useless, ineffective online returns system at Makro
What is happening at Makro online? It seems their returns policy is to make it as difficult and frustrating as possible to return a product. I bought a mini oven, which arrived with a damaged front panel (the box was probably dropped in transit), and I reported this via email the same day, and at their request, on my Returns section on their website the next morning (8 January 2025). I chose the following Monday for collection date. I got a reply email from Karabo M promising that someone from their returns department would be in touch too. And since then, despite five or six Whatsapp chat messages from me, and new staff members starting the conversation from the "How may I help you?" stage, I've not received a call or any indication. You'd think with an expensive website that staff would be able to read previous messages and not have to ask customers for a description of their issue. Backward! Last time I buy from Makro, that's for sure.
1 reply
22 months ago
Glad for TIC travel insurance after loss in Ecuador
My wallet with cards and some cash were lost/****** while traveling in Ecuador in April 2024. It took me a while to collect all the info needed, as I was in the Americas until mid June. At times it felt like I was being asked to jump through many hoops to frustrate my progress, and I would have appreciated a more personal, human connection during this traumatic time (how about offering Whatsapp in addition to email for correspondence, TIC?), but it is what it is. Once I had submitted the claim in July, the team at TIC processed the payment around 4.5 weeks later. I'm grateful for TIC's backing because losing cards while traveling overseas is not fun.
0 replies
22 months ago
Takealot.com impressed with SUPER FAST reversal for unwanted item
I was amazed at the speed that the team at Takealot.com responded to my request to cancel an item from a 12 item order I placed at 8:25am because it appeared that the price had increased since I originally added it to my cart. Ms Marce T. called me 20 minutes after my request for that item to be removed to confirm that I did indeed want to do that, and when I confirmed this, without hesitation she said she was reversing that amount, and that the rest of my order would be delivered the next day. That is outstanding service, and I will continue to buy from Takealot rather than a non-SA company that stole its name from the world's largest forest, and pays its staff a disgraceful salary despite making massive profits.
0 replies
34 months ago
Poor workmanship and zero after-sales service from Modern Tilers
The short version: My opinion based on the non-existent action from the owner of Modern Tilers to fix hollow tiles in my home kitchen is that he runs a company that is not customer- or quality-focused, so proceed with caution. The short version: Louis Coleman seems to be a nice guy. In my two face-to-face interactions with him, he appeared to be honest and thoughtful. Unfortunately, when you commission his company Modern Tilers to tile your project, you're unlikely to have him actually tiling the job. In fact, he may now at this stage of his company's life, be overseeing jobs and perhaps may not even see your job being done, until it's done. In my case, his son was the team leader of three working on my residential kitchen re-tile. At first, when he started the job and removed the old tiles, there were no problems, but as the job progressed, I became frustrated by his clear disdain for quality standards, and his poor people skills. Is it asking too much to expect a job to be done well? Well, clearly for him it was. The first thing we butted heads over was when I saw that he was doing a single application of tile cement. I commented to him that the international best practice is to butter tiles (ie put tile cement on the floor AND the tile). This takes longer to do, but it prevents air pockets and tiles that give that horrible hollow sound when you walk on them. It also prevents tiles eventually becoming loose after months or years of the vibrations produced when we walk on them. The lazy way to do it is only to cement the floor, and drop the tile onto that, tapping it down and hoping the cement will spread evenly. That's what Louis' son was going to do, and hell be damned if I was going to change that. This guy was insistent that his way was the way and that there was no need to butter tiles and became quite shirty about this and any other quality assessment questions I had. Essentially, he was saying that highly skilled people from the US and UK, who have been tiling longer than him, and who produce world-class work with tiles that are perfectly level, are wrong. A tough situation to be in as a client, when the supplier insinuates that you're being unreasonable, stop interfering, and just leave me to do my job. So he went ahead and did the job his way. A second red flag that he did not care about quality was when he started the job by spacing the first 10 or so tiles visually – without spacers. This is incredibly unprofessional. It would be forgiveable if he had a good eye for spacing, but clearly he didn't - they were looking awful. I saw that and said I'd bought tile spacers, and wanted him to use them. Imagine if I hadn't done that? The spacing would have been all over the place. And when I asked how he was ensuring the tiles were level, he said he was doing it by eye, using a mallet to tap them flush. No tile aligner. When I questioned this, he said I should have specified that in my spec, as it would have cost more. What the heck?! The job was done and I paid Louis the remainder of the invoice on the day he removed the rubble. It seemed the job had turned out well and we parted on good terms. But guess what? Some of those badly buttered tiles did have hollow spots. On 13 May 2022, just eight months later, I messaged Louis to let him know there was a hollow tile and he rep**** within a few minutes to say he'd let me know when he could make a plan to sort it out. He didn't contact me again, so I messaged him on 14 December 2022. He rep**** they had a big job and would be closing on 23 December. He didn't pick up the conversation in the first months of 2023 so I messaged him again on 13 April to remind him. Again he rep**** that he had a nother job but didn't say anything about attending to my job. I left it at that So the next week, I contacted the publisher of The G****vine, where I'd seen his ad and asked the publisher whether she'd had any complaints about his work. She said no. The next day, 19 April 2023, Louis messaged me to say he had not forgotten about me. Haha, ja, right! He said he'd come with adhesive and grout the next week. And that is the last I heard from him, despite a followup from me on 30 June.
0 replies
37 months ago
Left hand / right hand cluelessness. Broken client care system.
There was a time that I thought investing in life assurance companies like Sanlam was as good as it gets. I don't think that anymore. Returns aside, their communication is S-L-O-W, and that can cost us, the clients, dearly when we need things done. Here's my latest series of dealings with Sanlam as I finally cut my ties with them after 20+ years. On 5 April, my independent financial adviser, who deals with all of South Africa’s financial houses, sent an email to Sanlam to inform them that I wished to early retire my RA with Sanlam. 1. On 6 April Rob Smith at Sanlam rep**** and said they needed a scan of my ID and bank confirmation letter. I immediately emailed an existing bank letter but that account had been registered under a former company’s name (which had in turn been inherited from my first sole prop). Sanlam told my financial adviser they needed the letter in my personal capacity. My bank (Absa) took an unacceptable two weeks to open a new account in my name (they got a Hellopeter review for that too) and provide a confirmation letter, which was password-protected. I sent this letter to Sanlam on 18 April. 2. No contact from Sanlam until eight days later (26 April) when Asemahle Sentile rep**** and again asked for my ID and bank letter. I smiled patiently (I am dealing with Sanlam employees after all), and emailed both in PDF format. 3. No word from Sanlam for another eight days until 4 May, when Rob Smith (again) asked for these same documents! I smiled again, counted my blessings that I was ditching Sanlam for good soon, and emailed them for a third time and AGAIN added in BOLD: "NB: Please use (account number) to open the attached bank letter PDF." 4. No word for six days (10 May) when I got this (not totally unexpected) reply from Brunhilde May: "Please note that - due to internal security measures - we are unable to access your attachment because it is password protected or the format is of such a nature that we cannot open it." Included in her email was a PDF which contained internal correspondence from Pinky Maroya and directly below that, quite clear, my email which included the sentence "Please use (account number) to open the attached bank letter PDF." You can only laugh at the ineptitude of this organisation and the quality of staff they seem to employ. And yes, I sent the letter a FOURTH time in reply. I’m wondering whether someone – ANYONE – at Sanlam will figure out how to open a password-protected PDF. To be continued…
4 replies
38 months ago
Poor relationship execution from Durban SME manager
I needed to open a new current account as a sole proprietor, so I sent an email request to Vinay Serpaul, my assigned Relationship Executive for SME:Durban Central Area on 4 April 2023. I needed the new account as well as a bank confirmation letter. How difficult can that be? Well, it's now 18 April, exactly two weeks later, and there's no sign of the new account, nor a bank confirmation letter. So I sent him this email now: Yesterday afternoon when I called you, you sounded surprised that Rose hadn't sent me a confirmation letter, but I'm tired of the good cop bad cop routine. I'm really disappointed in YOU because you're meant to be my Relationship Executive, and you have executed nothing of any value to me. You have not kept me updated, you have NOT followed up on promises to get back to me when YOU made them yourself. I have NO RESULTS to show for all my emails, calls, and message requests to YOU for updates. I requested your help with a new account opened and a letter confirming this 14 days ago (4 April) and based on the no-show of the bank confirmation letter, you have got exactly diddly squat done. So, I would like to request: 1. A new Relationship Executive be assigned to me from tomorrow. Please confirm how this needs to be done. 2. That you EXECUTE the bank confirmation letter for the new current account today and ensure that letter reaches me before 3pm today. 3. That you keep your eyes open on Hellopeter for a review. There. That should do it.
3 replies
40 months ago
***!? Unable to track deposits?
I cannot fathom how this joke of a company with its complicated infrastructure and years of operational experience is unable to verify an annual lump sum payment of a very specific amount I've made since 2016 (made on 10 January this year), using THEIR OWN reference number, and then take 19 DAYS after I enquired to tell me they've NOT received the payment. ***? It has definitely been deducted from my account and has no doubt been with Sanlam since then. Great for them, not great for me. If this is how they bungle a simple deposit into their account, I wonder how they're performing with the remainder of my investment with them. And your investment. I'd avoid Sanlam if you can. I have investments in most of SA's financial houses and consider Sanlam a DINOSAUR of investing. I read other reviews here and there's a theme – Sanlam clients are ignored, frustrated, and taken advantage of! I conclude that Sanlam truly doesn't care, so PLEASE DO NOT INVEST A CENT WITH THEM. I'm pulling my money out soon. And good riddance.
4 replies
41 months ago
Poor attention to detail, ignores requests to complete job to acceptable standard
On 4 November 2022, JWK (based in Pinetown, Durban) installed a two-basin sink cabinet unit that he built to spec. Upon fitting, and as Jonathan and his team of two fitters were about to leave, I noticed that the gap between the base and tiles hadn't been siliconed very well, which would have meant that dirt and splashed water would have been allowed to seep in. I also noticed that the side panel gap had been fitted allowing the facing board's grain to show. Just tacky. If I hadn't pointed these two out, and had them corrected before they left, I'd have been stuck with a substandard job. But there's more. The silicone bead between the end of the countertop and the wall was not plugged with anything solid first. The result was that there was sag, and the silicone cured leaving a 1.5mm gap between the wall and the chipboard counter, a perfect combination to allow splashed water to collect and swell the chipboard. Regarding the chipboard, I had asked for splash-resistant board for the countertop. My bad, but I didn't check this while it was being installed, but when I looked after they left, it looked like regular chipboard to me. From prior experience with kitchen sink units (especially since this is for a rental), chipboard is a nightmare. I asked Jonathan about this and he said it's water-resistant (he said its green tinge distinguishes it, but to be frank I don't see a green tinge) but not waterproof, which was not what I was expecting or insinuating. I asked for the brand name twice and he ignored that request twice. I messaged him on 25 November, and showed him a pic of the gap. No response. I chased it up again on 14 December, and he replied with "Hi Deon, just out of hospital after having a Bilateral knee replacement." Not sure about you, but I feel a more professional response would be to include feedback about the business request from a client instead of just one's own situation. I wished him a speedy recovery and then asked "When are you back in the saddle Jon?". No response. I gave it some time, as we're all human, and life isn't easy for any of us. Messaged again on 30 January 2023, to which he replied with a short "Doing well thanks" and simply ignored my question about the poor silicone finish. I realise it's an easy fix for someone who enjoys DIY, but I don't have white silicone right now, and plan to move soon, so don't intend buying any. And why should a client who pays good money have to fix a job to at least the very basic quality standard? I realise this is a snapshot of one job, and JWK may have raving fans. But based on my experience with his company and his attitude to delivering work of acceptable quality, I cannot recommend him. So JWK gets a rating of 4/5 for the build, 2/5 for the install, 1/5 for caring and post-installation attitude, and for the aggravation and waste of time, an average of 2/5.
1 reply
42 months ago
The best I've found so far
I used Mailchimp for around a decade but found their pricing became prohibitive, then trialled Sendinblue, and eventually (after that wasted time), I discovered Mail Blaze around five years ago. They're based right here in good ol' South Africa. What appeals most about Mail Blaze is that the design interface feels a lot like Gutenberg, if you're familiar with WordPress website editing or design. It's really easy to move text blocks, images, and other design elements up or down. The image library is also quick and easy to navigate. They've just updated their analytics, which I'm still learning to use. It looks like a lot of new insights are now available. I've always found their support incredibly helpful, attentive, well-mannered, and knowledgeable. I think Blaze offers world-class features at affordable pricing, married to great customer service. Last, I feel a sense of national pride that a South African company can produce a platform that is easy to use, works well, and has excellent support. Well done Mail Blaze!
1 reply
Review Distribution
5 Star
3 (27.272727272727273%)
4 Star
1 (9.090909090909092%)
3 Star
0 (0%)
2 Star
1 (9.090909090909092%)
1 Star
6 (54.54545454545455%)