Please bear with me while I tell you a story... On 22 June, I placed an order with a delivery date of 24 June (bear in mind this is a Thursday). 24 June 06:35: I receive an SMS informing me my order is out for delivery 24 June 08:12: I receive another SMS saying that you tried to deliver but couldn't. I checked the app which informed me that I refused delivery. I had not received ANY communication or a knock on the door. Bear in mind, I had arranged to be home for the entire day in order to accept the delivery. 24 June 08:14: Two minutes later, I call the delivery team and speak with Kieran P who informs me that the order was never even close to my location meaning the driver or someone in the warehouse set the status to "customer refused delivery", placing the blame on me. The agent assures me they will contact your Parow branch and rectify the issue. I remind him that there is liquor in the order and it would need to be delivered before the end of the day (I placed this order in anticipation of another liquor ban). Again, they reassure me that the issue will be sorted out. Shortly thereafter I receive an email saying that they had received my call. 24 June 11:17: No communication. I call back (also bear in mind that I need to stay on hold for 5 - 7 minutes each time). Again, I am told that they would contact the Parow branch to rectify the situation. At this stage, I dread the words "we'll call the Parow branch" because I know that's code for "I'm probably not going to do anything about this" (this isn't the first order that's gone wrong recently). 24 June 12:59: I respond to the email requesting an update. No response 24 June 15:20: I call for the third time informing them that I have received no information. I am told that they would contact the Parow branch (the dreaded words) and call me back. I again explain that the order includes liquor that must be delivered by 17:00 according to legislation. This time I receive no email record of the conversation 24 June 16:06: I receive a call back to say that they have tried calling the Parow branch on three different numbers but there has been no answer. I am dumbfounded that there is no direct line of communication between your delivery team and your drivers. I am, however, informed that effort would be put into rectifying the situation. 24 June 16:15: I again respond to Kieran P.'s email to inform him that there are 45 minutes left in which the delivery can legally occur. No response. 24 June 16:39: I call back AGAIN. I inform the agent that there are 16 minutes left to deliver (remember that I have to wait on hold for at least 5 minutes per call). He sounds despondent but tries to reassure me. At this stage, it is becoming less of a practical issue and more of a principled issue. He promises to get back to me. Of course, that didn't happen. I call it a day, horribly disappointed in the experience. 25 June 06:32: I receive an SMS saying that the delivery has been rescheduled and would arrive by 17:00. Now I know that delivery of the liquor is not permitted, but I hang onto hope. What a silly thing to do. 25 June 11:15: Usually my orders are delivered early in the morning given I live close to Parow. I realise that there's probably another problem but I hadn't received a SMS. I go into the app and see that the order has now been damaged and will be rescheduled. At this stage, I'm angry, but hardly surprised. 25 June 11:17: I call the delivery line AGAIN and, admittedly, get quite worked up (I'm sure you would too). I expressed my discontent at the broken procedures and communication lines within Takealot but assure the agent that my anger is directed at the company and not at him (I feel bad for agents who receive angry calls who had nothing to do with the mishap). He proceeds to explain that the elusive Parow branch probably damaged the order and proceeded to blame it on me by marking the delivery as refused. I can't make this stuff up. Nonetheless, I request that the undamaged items be delivered and the damaged items replaced and delivered later. He promises to get back to me. At this stage, I know that a Takealot promise is an empty one. I accept that the problem won't be resolved and move on with my day. Of course, that's exactly what happened. Nothing. 28 June 07:00: I receive a generic email from Takelot saying that my order will be delayed due to the newly imposed liquor ban (remember that is what I anticipated and specifically placed this order for). Had the delivery be made on time and blame not cast on me, all would have been well. Now I presume that the entire order will be delayed due to the liquor ban instead of splitting it up and delivering those goods that can be delivered. Again, I remind you that this all could have been avoided very easily. Gosh, if your employees could just communicate honestly and openly, and manage expectations, this whole experience would have been better. Now, I'd like to come back to the "we'll call the Parow branch" line again. This isn't the first time. In an almost comical way, the same thing happened with my last order (88189955). I would love for you to check that one too. Takealot used to be my go-to e-commerce site, but I'm afraid you have become complacent and used to substandard service delivery. Your discounts are inflated and you are starting to resemble a Onedayonly/Daddy's Deals type business. It's disappointing. I receive better on time and in full service from Amazon, shipping from the other side of the earth, with orders requiring customs clearance. Takealot isn't able to get this right when delivering goods that are in stock from a warehouse barely 15km from my house.