What a shocking attitude from the Owner!

I signed up for their mailer and received a 10% discount code via the first e-mail for my first order. I decided to place an order immediately and when entering the code on checkout, it showed that it is not valid! I tried a few times, even increasing my order at some point, thinking that my order is maybe to low for the code to apply, although it was never mentioned in the e-mail at all! I then contacted them via their WhatsApp channel from their website at 12:59, the auto responder states, "We will respond as soon as possible". I waited till 14:19 (1 hour 20 minutes later) thinking that maybe they missed my message via WhatsApp and then contacted them via their Facebook messenger. I am quite excited to place the order, but still here nothing from anybody, so at 16:30 (nearly 2 hours later), I decide to respond to their latest facebook post and make them aware that there is some pending customer interaction on their other channels! I then wait patiently till 19:14 (nearly 3 hours later) and I decide to write an e-mail where I log a complaint asking whether someone mans the social lines or is this a **** business that even the voucher doesn't work?

At 20:30 (an hour later) they respond to my message on their post saying that they deal with hundreds of orders and hundreds of messages everyday and I must be patient! No apology for the delay in response or anything humble from a business that value their clients!

Was I not patient? Your auto responder says "as soon as possible", but if the norm is closer to a day or two or three then why not adjust the responder to say "we will respond within 24/48/72 hours!"? I would've gladly waited if this was the auto responder timeline indication!

Nevertheless, I responded apologizing for being part of their excessive work load and daily contacts (making me feel guilty for contacting them to support them!) and mentioned that I have still not received a response on any of the other channels regarding my actual issue!

The next day (today) at 06:58, I receive a response to my e-mail. The owner literally made her e-mail signature "The Boss Lady/CEO", that says a lot in itself! The response however says a lot more stating that they are incredibly busy and a little patience goes a long way!! Uhm I was patient! I was decent! I want to support you and was quite happy to receive any response regarding my issue! Yet, there was no apology for the delay, in fact, another message filled with attitude stating that me, the client, is the problem as they are terribly busy and I should this keep quiet and wait till they eventually decide whether I am deserving of their time!

This is textbook new south african business ethics. The person sitting at the till that barely greets you or the guy that is paid to be a salesman but sits and watches videos on his phone instead, this is the new standard. If the customer points out unacceptable service then it is either ****** or the client is wrong and should've been more understanding or patient!

Let's quickly do a timeline check, when I received this mail at 06:58 from the owner, I still didn't receive a response on my query on WhatsApp from yesterday 12:59 and the owner had the audacity to tell me that I have to send her the voucher code again, when it was sent via two other channels already, instead of her checking there to resolve the issue with some grace. I still haven't received a response on my messenger message from 14:19 yesterday. Two channels and no responses, even after responding to a facebook post and then sending an e-mail.

You "Boss Lady/CEO" had every opportunity to deal with this gracefully and with kindness, but you chose to instead attack me for asking some assistance regarding an issue with a voucher that YOU sent me!

Anyways, I responded to her very uncalled attitude filled email in this exact way:

Hi Monique

I appreciate you taking time to respond to me during your very busy schedule. I used your WhatsApp contact from your website yesterday at 12:59 and still have not had any response on there. Thinking that maybe someone missed it, I sent a message via messenger at 14:19, I still have not received any answer there. I then thought maybe if I make someone aware via a response on one of your posts, then they will check the relevant channels and respond, this was at 16:30. I then thought let me send an email and yes, a complaint, at 19:14 and at 20:30 rather than an apology, and a response via the initial two channels, I received an excuse via your facebook post, but still no response anywhere else.

However this is the second response where your attitude towards a client is quite something special, the first being on your facebook post! There is nothing wrong with my patience, I can assure you, however the last I checked, if I reach out to a business that I would like to support, I expect a timeous and reasonable response. An apology for the delay in response goes a long way and some humble appreciation for the people that support you. I know quite a few people (and businesses) that support you and I will be sharing this interaction with them as well! I am sure that I am not the only client that gets these bombastic responses from you and your business. If you are as busy and productive as you say, then I am certain the Boss Lady/CEO can afford additional social media and contact channel assistance? You have no idea who I am and my intentions behind my purchase, but you already alienated a potential relationship and oddly enough, you DEMAND patience and respect for your time, but have NO RESPECT for the clients that contact you and spend their valuable time trying to get in contact with you/your business!

The code is DEDR-V5YA-C7SI although truthfully, this entire experience has left quite a sour taste.

Have a wonderful day!

I do not think that my response was unwarranted based on the now two unprofessional and attitude filled responses I had to receive and this from a privately owned "small business" that I wanted to support! From the owner of all people as well! This is the type of response I would expect from a staff member that is fed up etc.

This was the OWNER / BOSS LADY / CEO Monique Abrams response to my mail above!

I am also the one who replies to the Whatsapp messages, so I do try my best to get to everyone as soon as I can. I do have a social media manager, but she also has other clients, so your needing an immediate response is also uncalled for. You are welcome to tell people how terrible our service is because your messages weren’t rep**** to as quick as you wanted.

To be totally honest with you, we would rather not have rude clients, so you are welcome to shop elsewhere.

Our autoresponders to all our messages say that we will get back to you as soon as we can, but clearly less than 24 hours does not suit you.

What a shocking response! I was not impatient at all! The timeline in itself speaks for that! Yes I wanted to place an order, which I will never do now and never support such a **********ly rude business owner who clearly doesn't value clients, because she has reached a level of income where she is no longer interested in handling clients with decency and respect! If your standard is to respond to people within 24 hours, then why oh why could you not change your auto responder to reflect this!!!??? Then there would've been no issue as the timeline is made clear to everyone! But soonest can be an hour, day, week, month, year...... Should clients just sit back to see which is the acceptable period based on how busy you are? No. You don't want to make a time commitment, because you want to respond when it suits you and not what is best for your client! This was made clear in your first response via email! If I had to respond to my own email that I sent asking whether someone mans the lines and whether the business and voucher is a ****, then this would've been what I would've responded!

"Good Day Sir

I am so sorry that there was a delay in response, we have been exceptionally busy and have had a bit of delay getting back to clients. I can assure you this is not the norm, which is why our auto responder states soonest, but we will always try assist as quick as possible. I can assure you that we are a legit business and the voucher you received is very real. I have already taken the opportunity to check your other messages on whatsapp and messenger and found the voucher code there. I will look into this for you and get back to you within 24 hours. Thank you for taking time to contact us, we apologize for the voucher issue and will sort it out for you!

Have a wonderful evening further!"

THIS is what a humble business response is that VALUES EACH and EVERY CLIENT!

Your attitude STINKS BOSS LADY/CEO MONIQUE ABRAMS! For those who wonders how it is possible that I can have such a complaint, I must have done something that I am not mentioning, NOPE this is exactly what happened and I have all the screenshots! Why do they only have positive reviews on facebook you ask, because I barely finished reading her last email and wanted to go to their facebook page and rate them sharing this experience and BOSS LADY already blocked me on facebook! So yes, only positive reviews because others are blocked and comments deleted.

Sadly, I wasn't joking when I said I knew plenty people and businesses that purchase from them and not only have I shared all this with them, I have shared it with family who is not blocked on their facebook page, who went and reviewed poorly and shared this outrageous experience. Let's see how long before they are blocked as well and comments deleted!

Shocking, absolutely shocking! Do better BOSS LADY CEO MONIQUE!