Active since Dec 2018
I bought a Defy tumble dryer 2 years ago. The heating element on it has gone out twice - most recently in early February this year. It is mid-April, and I have been unable to get a service technician to come to my house despite over a dozen phone calls. Yesterday, at long last, I received a call from the Defy Service Centre telling me that a service representative would be over before noon today, and that I would be charged R690 for the service call, which I must pay in CASH. It is now 1:30 pm. and the service rep has not shown up. During my several calls to the service center today I have (1) been promised a return call from the service tech, (2) been promised that the service tech is coming; (3) been told that I did not actually receive the call I definitely received yesterday; (4) been told that I would have to wait 3-5 days for a service call; and, (5) been put on hold and hung up on 3 times without ever speaking to anyone. None of these calls has provided me with the information I have requested, which is an estimate of when to expect the service tech to arrive. Bottom line, I can't get my appliance fixed, and Defy obviously could not care less.
The worst restaurant experience I've ever had in my 70+ years. Made reservations for 6 for lunch. Our table was set for 8, so they had to move us TWICE. Being seated beneath a loudspeaker blaring bad music; made conversation almost impossible. Four requests to turn the speaker down/off went ignored. We finally pulled the wire out of it so we could talk. Lunch took almost 4 hours - because there was only one waiter working numerous tables (including serving drinks and bussing dishes). To add insult to injury, the cost was almost twice what we spent for lunch the day before at a beautiful winery in Stellenbosch, which had far better food, service, and ambience.
Their website is a disaster. It promises free delivery. Their online sales rep also promised free delivery. The website automatically added a delivery charge (30% of the purchase price). The customer service lied and said there is a charge for deliveries more than 100 km from the nearest warehouse. (That is not stated anywhere.) I am a102 km from the nearest warehouse and they refused to waive the charge. I will not do business with unscrupulous companies like this.
An utter nightmare. The office in Durban (where everything comes into port) is run by habitual liars and scammers, and they found me (a single woman moving to South Africa) an easy target. Fortunately, the South African Police and the US Consulate are pursuing the matter, but I may have lost some or all of my shipment to theft. Here's the e-mail I wrote to these crooks after a nightmare of a day (yesterday) trying to retrieve my container contents (oh, and I later found out they emptied the container at the sketchy warehouse described below, which is closed until January 2 - meaning that my stuff has probably been looted ): Each of you has lied to me repeatedly about my shipment, and caused me enormous expense, inconvenience, and risk to my personal safety. I now understand what has been going and, and I have fled a police report and am claiming fraud for storage charges I paid which you never incurred. > > Spencer and Jennifer have been lying to me all day today, telling me that my container was at Cargoform. I came down to Durban from Howick (a 90 minute drive) based on Jennifer's assurance it was there and ready to be picked up. When I got there, nobody knew anything about my container. I was also struck by the fact that it looked more like a lumber yard, and nothing like a container storage facility. I called Jennifer and Spencer and was lied to again about how the container was on its way and that I should just wait around. I don't think any of you really believe any woman would wait alone in that area of town for any reason, so I left in the Uber that brought me, and went back to Durban. For the next several hours, I continued to call and you continued to assure me that the shipment was still being driving from the container yard to the warehouse (a 20-30 minute trip). Spencer and Jennifer also lied to Sandra and said that they had warned me not to come to Durban that day because the container hadn't been delivered to the warehouse yet! (I would not have made the trip and turned in my rental car if that were true.) > > When nobody at Calthol could tell me where my container was, and that they could notcontact the driver of the truck carrying the container, I became alarmed. Strangely, everyone at Calthol kept telling me there was no problem, that the container was on its way, and to just wait (alone in a dangerous area of town). A missing container and you were not concerned? > > So I went to the police. > > We discovered the trucking company is Calthol. You were completely in control of the movement of the container, never made arrangements to move it, and lied repeatedly about it in order to delay delivery for a second long holiday weekend. > > I found out from Ashley, the manager at DCP, that you were not charged for any storage of my container there. He said that DCP has no business relationship with you whatsoever, and only deals with the shipper. Yet you pocketed R24,000 which I paid you yesterday for storing the container at another company's facilities last week. (Your charges have now about equaled what I paid for the shipment itself.) > > I now find it odd that you were inexplicably unable to let me take possession week ago, when delivery was originally promised (Eddie blamed it on SARS). The reason for this suspicion is that I(1) your storage charges were fraudulent; and (2) today was an exact repeat of last week, when, on a Friday before a long holiday weekend you are inexplicably unable to deliver the container as promised, and then you lie about it. I suspect (as do the police) that you intended to charge me another R24,000 to get my shipment sometime next week. > > With the help of the police, we found out that the container had never left DCP, and the sergeant called your offices and presented you with that knowledge (at about 5 pm). Amazingly, Spencer was able to immediately dispatch a Calthol-owned truck to pick up the container at DCP. (We know that because we were on the phone with DCP when it arrived at about 5:45 pm, and we ran a vehicle check on the plates.) The sergeant also spoke to your truck driver who told him he was taking the container over to CargoForm tonight. (Unwilling to travel back to that part of Durban after dark, I drove home to Howick.) > > So here is what needs to happen: > > I WILL BE AT THE WAREHOUSE TOMORROW (Saturday, December 29, 2018) BY 10:00 a.m.. NO ONE IS TO OPEN THE CONTAINER UNTIL I ARRIVE AND WITNESS THE BREAKING OF THE SEAL THAT WAS PLACED ON IT BY THE CUSTOMS INSPECTOR. I EXPECT SOMEONE THERE TO HELP ME GET THE CAR SAFELY OUT OF THE CONTAINER AND STARTED (it has been in the container for 3 months and likely will not start without a jump). > > Please be advised that, unless I receive a full refund of all storage charges which you wrongfully charged me, I will not only press criminal charges, I will sue you for these funds, plus rental car expenses, travel expenses and other costs associated with your mishandling of my shipment and fraudulent invoicing. As Jennifer an Eddie knew before I even left Howick this morning, I turned in my rental car before coming to your offices today. I was almost stranded in Durban with no vehicle and no place to stay on a busy holiday weekend as a result of your greed and deception. (And don't forget that you left me stranded alone in a bad section of Durban when you directed me to go DCP at 7:00 am. on December 20 and sent no one to meet me until after 10.) What a disturbingly vile and despicable thing to do to a customer (a 65 year old woman, traveling alone, at that). Not just once but multiple times. > > This had better resolve to my satisfaction tomorrow.
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