Stay away from Next UK as a South African consumer

Dear South African consumers,

I am writing to inform you of a recent experience I had with Next UK, an online clothing retailer. I purchased three items of girls' clothing from the same range for R 878. However, I was subsequently charged two separate customs taxes as two separate packages were sent out, totaling R129.65 and R585.74. This amount is nearly the cost of the items themselves!

I contacted Skynet Courier, the delivery company, and was advised to contact the sender. When I reached out to Next, they directed me to contact the South African government. I find this situation quite unreasonable, as I frequently make purchases from other countries and have never encountered such an issue before.

I believe there are two main problems here. First, sending out two packages for a single order unnecessarily increases the cost. Second, Skynet is charging excessive service fees for each parcel and failing to code the parcels correctly, resulting in the consumer bearing the brunt of these additional charges.

Given these circumstances, I strongly recommend that South African consumers avoid doing business with Next UK. Their lack of support in resolving these issues makes it financially unviable and impractical for South Africans to purchase from them.

Sincerely,

Venisha Jagjewan