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Marion D
Active since Feb 2017
12
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12 reviews5 months ago
Albany & Tiger ride roughshod over customers and stockists
Albany, owned by Tiger Brands, has just discontinued the only kilojoule-controlled brown bread on the market - and it has done so without even informing the stores that stock Albany breads. Albany Ultima was a fantastic product for anyone who is being careful about their diet, and it tasted very nice as well. Suddenly, it became impossible to find. I tried all the big chains, and nobody knew what was going on. I spoke to store managers, who did not know what was going on. They thought it might have been related to the current big push with Albany specials on its standard white and brown breads, but had no idea if and when Ultimate might return. I have just spoken to the Tiger customer line, and been informed that it has been discontinued! I am appalled that a major South African company does not know when it has a superb product on its hands. It could have - should have - marketed Ultima properly. Even without that, it was an incredibly popular product. So what is the excuse for discontinuation? And how can a Tiger company discontinue a major product without informing stores? This is yet another example of shocking South African so-called business practice, and of lack of understanding (or caring about) customers.
0 replies
20 months ago
CHECKERS BETA APP LOSES ME MONEY WHILE SIXTY60 CAN'T FIX IT
For two weeks, I have been struggling to get Checkers Sixty60 to fix my Beta app, which is refusing to load any products. I have called the helpline seven times, and sent half a dozen mails. Earlier today (Monday, September 2) I called again and held on for 15 minutes before someone answered; I gave her my reference number, she asked me to hold on and disappeared. When she didn’t come back for another five minutes, I rang off. This is so disappointing. My husband and I have been happy and prolific Sixty60 customers since shortly after the app was launched. The service has been marvellous – so good, in fact, that I immediately signed on to the Xtra Savings option. Then I was asked to trial the Beta app, which was an improved version of the original app. I was delighted with it – until suddenly, on August 21, it refused to load. My screen said: “We had an issue loading your products. We’re sorry about that. For now you can access your profile and personalise your Xtra Savings.” It’s still saying it. And I can’t personalise my profile because it won’t let me. I called the Sixty60 helpline on the morning of August 21 and explained the problem. I was given a reference number and asked to mail a screenshot of the “issue loading” message, which I eventually managed to do. The following morning, having heard nothing back, I thought I’d try the classic IT fix-it method and deleted the app, then reloaded it. Same problem. So I tried loading the old app again, but the system prevented me from logging in. I reported both issues in an e-mail. Three minutes later I received an automated response to the wrong name, giving me another reference number and telling me to “not hesitate to contact us if you have any further queries”. Some hours later I received an e-mail telling me that “the app has been rectified”. I was instructed to delete my delivery address from the profile menu and reload it, then close the app and re-open it. I tried. Every time I tapped on “Saved Addresses” in the profile menu, the app shut down. After four tries, my phone helpfully informed me that “the Checkers app keeps closing down”. The next morning I sent another mail, setting out the problems in detail. I also explained that I was losing patience, and losing money: we were using the old app on my husband’s phone, but since he was not signed on to Xtra Savings we were having to pay the R35 delivery fee. By then, I had paid R70, which I would not have paid had I been able to use my phone and my app. I then heard nothing, so I called the helpline the following day. I explained the situation – again – and was told that the agent with whom I had been dealing was not at work. I asked if this meant the entire process came to a halt, and was basically told Yes. I was upset, and said so. I was told there had been problems with the app, but they had all been resolved. I was an exception. I was promised the matter had been escalated to “ the tech team”. Oh and by the way, the old app won't work on my phone because I have the Beta app! I gave it a couple of days, then called back and complained – again. I told my story – again. I was told it had been escalated – again. By now it was August 29. This had been going on for eight days. Then, joy! An e-mail landed which said: “We are happy to confirm that your profile details on your Sixty60 profile has [sic] been corrected. We apologise for your experience and thank you for your feedback and patience. Please log into your Sixty60 app to check if the matter has been resolved. If the issue persists, please delete and reset your delivery address via the profile menu on the App.” The matter had not been resolved, and when I tried to reset the address, the app informed me that Checkers “does not have a service in my area as yet”. It will let me know when a service becomes available! I sent another e-mail. I received a response: “Thank you for reaching out to us. Please be advised that our polygon for drivers to deliver is within a 5km radius of the store. It could be that your address does not fall within this polygon. However, we are expanding our business. Please keep an eye on your app for any changes.” Never mind the reference number. Never mind that we had been using Sixty60 since it started. I called the helpline – again. I went through the whole sorry story and explained that I was not only angry, I was now R140 out, even though I was paying R99/month for Xtra Savings. The young lady was very sympathetic. She said she would look into transferring my Xtra Savings to my husband’s phone until mine was fixed, and she said she would escalate the matter to the tech team. Nothing happened. It is now September 2, two weeks later. The app still will not load product. It is still telling me we that my address falls outside the delivery radius. And when I tried calling – again – I was on the phone for 20 minutes without any response other than “hold on”. I am tired of holding on. I am sad, because until this happened, I thought Checkers was providing an exceptional service. It isn’t. And for the record, the app is still refusing to load my products.
0 replies
29 months ago
A level of quality & excellence you never thought you'd experience again
We encountered Jacko Projects under the worst possible circumstances, when our geyser burst and filthy water was streaming through our pressed ceiling into our library. Our insurer (Discovery) was very quick off the mark, and we had a new geyser by the end of the same day. Then Discovery sent an assessor to check the damage and recommend restoration and repairs. It was Jonathan from Jacko Projects, who was superbly professional and knowledgeable as well as honest and sympathetic. He told us what would happen and how we had to prepare (moving furniture away from walls, for instance). The painting team from Jacko was on-site as soon as we were ready for them. They repaired and painted two pressed ceilings and the walls in two adjoining rooms, and they were so committed to excellence and detail that it took our breath away. The finished job was superb. We were so impressed that we engaged them privately to paint our entrance, kitchen and corridor (ceilings and walls) and the ceilings in our two bathrooms. They also spray-painted the metal cupboard handles in the kitchen for us - all 31 of them! Again, the experience was wonderful and the result magnificent. The quality of their work is amazing; they cover the floors and any furniture in plastic to keep everything safe and clean, they repair all cracks or holes before painting, they insist on two coats to ensure the best possible finish, they make absolutely sure they use the right paint for the application, and they don't leave until their work has been checked and passed by a supervisor and they've cleaned everything up behind them. In today's world of bad service and surly workmen, it was a revelation to deal with a group of genuine professionals who took pride in what they did and who produced work of the highest standard. We recommend Jacko Projects without hesitation.
129 replies
34 months ago
BEWARE THE LANCET LABORATORIES ACCOUNTS DEPARTMENT: IT'S DANGEROUS
In 2021, Lancet's pecu**** accounting procedures plundered my medical savings account and messed up my medical aid so badly - they mixed up not only doctors but also procedures - that it took over a year to sort out and required my personally visiting the Lancet Head Office twice. And truth to tell, my medical aid is still not really right. Now they're at it again. I received a Tax Invoice/Statement dated June 26, attached to an e-mail, which showed that the "Amount due by Patient/Member" was R50.72. This was confirmed in the e-mail. When I tried to pay (yesterday - June 28), I realised that the OTP was being sent to my husband's mobile phone, which was with him in hospital. So I called Lancet's Accounts Receivable Department to confirm the company's banking details so I could EFT the payment. That's when I was told that the amount owing was wrong. I really owed R446.90. I must ignore the documentation and pay the different amount. The credits showing on the Statement, I was told, were actually overpayments by my medical aid which were not applicable to me or to the amount I owed. I pointed out that the credits dated back to October 2021 and May 2022. Had Lancet suddenly realised, between Monday and Wednesday, that it owed my medical aid money it had been hanging on to for a couple of years? No no, I was told, the medical aid must reverse the payments. No no, I said. Lancet had the money. It had had the money for over a year, actually for nearly two years in one case. It was up to Lancet to pay the money back to Discovery. Discovery did not have to do anything at all. And, I said, I wanted a revised accurate Tax Invoice/Statement showing the true figures and with the correct amount outstanding before I would pay anything. Hang on, said the Accounts Department. We'll send an updated Statement. More updated than June 26? I asked. Yes. So I hung on. And hung on. And hung on. When the Accounts Department came back on the line I was told the Statement would take a few days. Make a note, I said, that I would not pay a cent without accurate documentation. And so the situation stands. I have not yet received any further communication from Lancet. Anyone dealing with Lancet should be warned: the Accounts Department is lethal. You must check your documentation very carefully indeed. Check that the name of the doctor is correct, and check that the procedure and the coding is right. With me, they combined different blood tests taken on different days for different doctors into one procedure for the wrong doctor on the wrong diagnostic code. It meant a lot was thrown out by my medical aid, and tests that should have been paid for from Oncology were paid from my medical savings. It became a twisted mess. Here we go again . . .
53 replies
39 months ago
Vodacom will not let us move to another supplier
We have been a customer of Vodacom since our fibre was installed in 2019. We opted for uncapped 20 mbps, and we have maybe received that for 10% of the time. Since we stream our TV, we got fed up with the breaks in service due to insufficient broadband speed. We finally had enough, and decided to move to another supplier. We notified Vodacom on December 16, 2022, that we were terminating our relationship with them. They e-mailed us, and it was agreed that Vodacom service would cease as of the end of January, 2023. Our new supplier has been communicating regularly with us, confirming that they would kick in on February 1, 2023. Then suddenly, late on January 30, our new supplier notified us that they would only start providing service on February 26 because Vodacom had notified them that was the date of their withdrawal. We spent most of January 31 on the telephone with Vodacom trying to find out what was going on, since the service request SR221216-6317721 had been issued for February 1. We were informed telephonically that Vodacom would cut off on February 1. It is now February 2, and we are STILL waiting for Vodacom to stop our fibre so we can move to the new supplier. This morning, Vodacom confirmed over the phone that "all the paperwork has been done" and that they would "escalate the issue", but still we wait. Is it so very hard to pull the plug on a customer? They can do it fast enough if someone doesn't pay. And by the way, we have never missed a single payment to Vodacom and do not owe any money whatsoever. So why will they not go away and let us move? We can think of only a couple of reasons: they do not have sufficient staff to undertake the technical necessities; they are trying to force another month's money out of us (which is not going to happen); or they are just plain useless and incompetent. We vote for the latter.
133 replies
51 months ago
Oh Wow, Hello Peter!!
For the second time in three months, Hello Peter has achieved what nothing else could: co-operative action from the corporate world. I am impressed beyond words at the fact that a review published on Hello Peter resulted in action that five months of telephone calls, e-mails and website complaints could not. Thank you, Hello Peter, very much indeed.
53 replies
51 months ago
The cancer was not just inside my beloved husband: it was, and is, inside Lancet and its billing practices
Mauff AC & Partners (trading as Lancet) do not deserve any stars whatsoever, but the lowest rating I can give on this site is one star. I have been trying for months to sort out problems caused by Lancet's own billing practices, which actively prevented my medical aid (Discovery) from paying their accounts, and have not received any assistance whatsoever from Lancet. I have not even had replies to my e-mails. Lancet's accounts people combined INR tests related to Warfarin use taken on a Thursday at the Leicester Road Laboratory, with pre-chemotherapy tests taken on a Friday at the Rosebank Oncology Centre's Lancet Laboratory, then put the combined result under the name of the wrong doctor and sent the claim to Discovery, which first depleted my Medical Savings Account and then refused to pay. I worked out what had been done by studying the test details, and immediately notified Lancet. Since then I have telephoned, e-mailed, complained on the Lancet website (twice), and even - in desperation - made a personal visit to the Lancet Head Office on December 14 last year. I sat with a gentleman called Khaya and showed him what Lancet had done., He agreed with me that Lancet was in error, and I left him three pages of detailed data on the problems, which he promised to sort out. Yet again, nothing was done and I have not received any feedback whatsoever. At different stages, I was referred to the Resolutions Department, which did nothing; one Lizette Samson, who did nothing; and most recently, Mr Vincent Chow, to whom I sent all the documentation setting out the errors and who then became uncontactable. He will not even answer his telephone. Now, months down the line from my first attempt to sort things out, Lancet has handed me over to Bennett Landau debt collectors who are waging a telephone war of attrition to bully me into paying accounts that would easily have been paid if Lancet had not inexplicably combined different tests by different laboratories taken on different days for different doctors. To underline the horror of it all, there is no ombudsman to whom I can appeal. There is a medical aid ombudsman, one for doctors, one for private hospitals, one for nurses, one for brokers, one for short-term insurers and one for long-term health insurers. Clinical pathology laboratories do not fall into any of those categories. Discovery says it cannot do anything: Lancet has to correct its errors and resubmit the claims. Lancet's people keep saying to me that the doctors have to resubmit. They do not know or understand – or care – that the doctors have nothing to do with it: none of the tests was undertaken as a result of forms provided by doctors. The Warfarin tests work on the basis of a Lancet Anticoagulation Clinic booklet, issued by Lancet itself. You walk in, show the booklet, and the person behind the computer in the Lancet laboratory generates a form, which the patient then signs. With chemotherapy, you walk in and the person behind the computer prints out a form. Lancet generates the forms itself. The forms then go the accounts department, which does heaven knows what with them. I cannot begin to describe the frustration I am feeling. I do not know where to turn. Lancet has mis-invoiced over R6,000-worth of tests. It was instrumental in the premature depletion of my Discovery Medical Savings, and completely responsible for the subsequent non-payment of tests. I want my Medical Savings Account refunded, and the accounts paid from the correct source. It is hard enough having a loved one diagnosed with cancer; having to deal with determined incompetence with regard to paying cancer-related bills makes life even harder to deal with.
53 replies
52 months ago
FedEx neither delivers nor responds to complaints
My daughter couriered a parcel from London last week. Some days later I received an invoice made out to a company in George, Western Cape, for R35,067.53. I tried to report this immediately, but it was Saturday so I had to use the emergency number and was promised someone would contact me on Monday. Nobody did. I phoned Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. I was finally sent two letters to sign pledging that I would not claim back the input VAT on the invoice! I signed and sent them through on Wednesday evening. I still do not have a correct invoice. I still do not have my parcel. I have tried to use the FedEx website to lodge a complaint but it sends you round in circles, and does NOT comply with the FedEx Complaints Charter (!!!!!!) It would have been faster to post the parcel from London. The lack of service is shocking, and I am left feeling frustrated and very, very angry. FedEx is not just useless; it is positively dangerous. The invoice attached to my tracking number was for a company that is not even in the same province as the address to which the parcel was sent. If you value your sanity, and you want courier service, stay away from FedEx.
159 replies
85 months ago
When a Call Centre actually works!
I have just had a long conversation regarding the wording of our car and home insurance document with a young man called Irvine at the MiWay Call Centre. He was patient, well-informed and professional, and after a considerable conversation we were both happy with the result. This is the first time I have had a worthwhile interaction with a Call Centre, because normally the people who answer the calls are very minimally acquainted with the company, its products and its documentation (and that's putting it nicely); so full marks for Irvine, and well done MiWay. Thank you.
56 replies
104 months ago
Fantastic Service
Every time I phone them they always help me. Great service.
61 replies
Review Distribution
5 Star
5 (41.666666666666664%)
4 Star
1 (8.333333333333334%)
3 Star
0 (0%)
2 Star
0 (0%)
1 Star
6 (50%)