BB
Brian B
Active since Mar 2012
18
Reviews
0
Industries
Reviews
18 reviews7 months ago
First Exchange - great service
My wife and I have been with First Exchange for over 12 years now and cannot complain about their service as it has been wonderful. For the past while now we have built up a relationship with Simone van Schaeffer and receive outstanding assistance and service from her as well as advice about our bookings, so much so that we now deal directly with her for all our bookings where possible. So, thank you First Exchange for all you enable us to enjoy and for team members like Simone who are customer focused and not just earning a salary. Kind regards, Brian Bailie
53 replies
11 months ago
Home Affairs inefficiency and Incompetence
On 23 April 2025 my wife and I went to The Pavilion, KZN home Affairs to get our biometrics, photo done for passports and my wife's Smart ID as we had completed the application online. This was done and we moved to the cashier to pay which was done on two separate payments but with the same debit card. All seemed well and after we left my wife received two SMSs and emails acknowledging her application which I did not receive for myself. I waited a few days in case the notifications were delayed only to receive an email on 26 April stating my application was on hold waiting for payment and I had 45 days to pay. Of cause, I was not amused and tried to phone the contact number provided on the email which, not surprisingly, is impossible to get through on. I then emailed Home Affairs on the "Contact Us" email address and also not surprisingly to date there has been no acknowledgment of the emailed never mind no response. On 7 May 2025 I drove back to the Pavilion Office and reported what had happened, and was told they would email Head Office and I must check with them again in two weeks time. When discussing this with the same cashier, we were told my wife's application was "lucky" to have been accepted, really; hit and miss ? When we initially went in for biometrics and photos, the lady doing these functions was on a video call to a friend while attending to us and when we went to the cashier to pay, she had her cell phone propped up in front of her watching a TikTok type video while processing our payments; great customer interface and no wonder things go wrong ? I saw recently on the news, the minister over Home Affairs making promises of addressing inefficiencies and service; what a joke, there seems nothing like any effort being app**** to this department of government service. Incompetence and "no care" attitude is still very much alive !! and worst still the public have no way of holding these departments accountable because the rot is at the top !
0 replies
19 months ago
Ethekwini capture of reading portal delinquent
Ethekwini have a portal to capture water meter readings but what is the use if they do not function ? This is not the first time I have tried to capture readings in vain. The system just hangs with no response. And why do we have to capture readings ? because the service we pay for to have them read regularly is delinquent and not happening. So now we have a double whammy, don't have readings being done and cannot capture them. I cannot believe there is such incompetence in our municipal services departments.
0 replies
27 months ago
Watch your money when dealing with Turfmaster
It saddens me to report on lack of customer support and focus as it seems to be a growing problem in our country in these times. I purchased two small items at Turfmaster Pinetown on Tuesday, 16 January 2023, served by David at the counter and all was well etc. During the process I was caught up in a discussion with Rose (another employee) and paid via debit card and left. Later in the day I noticed on my cell that the amount entered on the speedpoint was R8933.70 instead of R893.37 and we immediately contacted the shop and was told if I get back to the shop in the same day before the bank batching takes place it can be reversed via the speedpoint which I did. Well, it is now Friday, 19 January 2023, and I have still not received my credit; the correct debit of R893.37 which was made at the time of the so called credit was done has gone through my bank but no credit. I have made numerous calls to the Pinetown branch and even tried the head office at Nigel (spoke to Adrie and some others who initially were pretty concerned and stated how wrong this was and needs to be sorted out), but to no avail. Nigel now just refers me back to the Pinetown branch manager (Lee) which is obviously fruitless. So the product at Turfmaster was slightly cheaper than other companies, was it worth it; absolutely not considering the the frustration, me being out of pocket and cost of calls made trying to resolve this. Agreed, mistakes happen but sort them out quickly and efficiently; had the mistake been other way, I wonder how efficiently they would have chased up to resolve it. I tried to speak to the CEO Ruben Smant, but guess what, not in and only back on Monday. The reason given for the credit not being processed is apparently the bank has to go through the process of authorizing the credit transaction; I have never heard of a bank second guessing a companies banking transaction ?? Would I use them again; only as a very last emergency option.
58 replies
35 months ago
Blue Waters Hotel - Lack of customer awareness
Good day, Went to have a buffet supper with the family for a 40th birthday yesterday and got there early, so decided to have an Irish Coffee with my wife in the bar area (I think it called the Blue Dolphin Bar and Pizza) on the ground floor by the entrance. When we received the drinks we noticed the cream was sour and badly enough that I left mine after a few mouthfuls. We told the staff behind the counter (Dino and Chad) and queried why we should even pay for these drinks but they ignored us and presented the bill and we noted our dissatisfaction and paid. I then asked their names as I wanted to report the issue on a site like this and once Dino understood this he suddenly started talking about refunding our money as he was now afraid to which I rep**** it was too late and had I not mentioned it he would not have bothered. He followed us up the stairs to the dining room trying to persuade us to take a refund to which I said no, it was too late and besides it could as easily happen to another customer. He should not have presented the bill in the first place or offered a replacement with fresh cream. Very disappointing that customer service and satisfaction is not foremost but remedial action is only forthcoming when one wants to take it further; their hope is that the customer will just forget it, well how customers do they unknowingly lose. We unfortunately were committed to the buffet and did not want to upset the vibe of thee 40th birthday and spent approx R2500.00 on the evening at this venue but very possibly the last time after this experience and the shortsightedness of staff. Regards, Brian
0 replies
35 months ago
Service failure - Dekra Hillcrest
Good day, If you are thinking of taking your vehicle to Dekra Hillcrest KZN, please think twice and probably look for another test center. I took a vehicle there yesterday and once completed I was told that the certificate would be emailed to me; well this never happened. I contacted Dean in the afternoon and he apologised and said he would send it which guess what, also never happened. I then contacted him this morning at 09h00 again and he apologised again and said they were having email issues and I would have it by 10h00 and guess what, never happened. I contacted him again at around 12h00 and the usual apology and he asked if he could send it from his private email and I obviously said absolutely as I have time constraints to get this vehicle roadworthy certificate but you guessed it, never happened. I then tried to contact Dekra head office via their "contact us" webpage and after typing it all in, it just has a red "required" text with no explanation and you cannot submit the message. With all the above in mind, does not sound like a professional outfit that I would like to deal with and the next issue is either try and get a hardcopy of the certificate or a refund of the R650-00 I have been charged and as with all cases like this, there is the time an cost of chasing up *********** companies like this. Regards, Brian
106 replies
36 months ago
Tymebank app errors and lack of support
This relates to the Tymebank app; all was fine for many months and then suddenly an error E0001 started and could not sign in. Contacted the support desk who simply stated that the update had to be app**** which did not work, same error. Tried numerous times thereafter to correct the error and contacting the support desk and even uninstalled and reinstalled etc etc but to no avail, same error on login. What really then blows my mind is receiving an email on the 7th May which states "we will give you feedback on or before the 4th May" ? and then another email stating "your call has been resolved/remediated" with no follow with me to ensure all is working, which it still is not. Many of these support desks get measured by managed on number of outstanding calls and the age of the calls and therefore they close them despite them not being resolved and quite happy if you log another call as it does impact their measurement criteria with management.
53 replies
45 months ago
Fountain Civil Engineering - employee rating
Good day, It amazes me that a company can treat their employees like they do and get away with it. Fountain Civil Engineering (FCE) for a few months now have being paying their employees late, initially starting around 3rd and 4th of the month and then as time went on salaries were being paid on the 10th and 12th and even these began to be part payments with the balance being paid around the 20th of the month. Obviously this resulted in any financial commitments (e.g. mortgage, vehicle etc) to bounce and the employees had to foot the bank charges for these declines. FCE did make sure that the hourly paid staff were paid on time or as close to as they knew they would have stay-aways etc, but monthly salaried staff had no choice. What is then worse, is that the company would deduct monies for provident fund but not pay these deductions nor the company portion to the fund administrators by the required 7th of the following month, in fact right now the June 2022 provident fund monies have still not been paid to the fund administrators as at 2 August 2022. In my opinion this is theft as it is the employees money, and also the fund will not pay out the values to members that have left the company due to salary issues as the fund is not paid up. Should this be ongoing issue, the fund administrators may have to cancel the provident fund with the company, and at minimum this is reported to governing bodies of the fund administrations which would register the participating company as a risk. The HR Manager (Roseann Christoper-roseannc@fountain.co.za) )was contacted on numerous times but just refers one to the financial director, Brett van Staden (brettvs@fountain.co.za), who refuses to take any calls relating to this matter. It also amazes me that the provident fund is managed through a broker, Ray Olivier and Associates ((031 0015562) and is not it their responsibility to ensure these payments are made to the fund administrators ? I would have thought so and I wonder if their commission is also not being paid ? Helen, Ray's assistant, also refuses to discuss the issue conveniently citing confidentiality protection and Ray just will not take the call. How do you run a business with this type of employee treatment and brokers not following through in what is ethical and in the interest of all parties, which should be part and parcel of their responsibility, as opposed to just what benefits their business financially ?
0 replies
46 months ago
Ethekwini power - lack of service
In February 2022 the power cables in our street were replaced and since then we have experienced issues with one of the phases supplying power to the property. Five failure logs have been placed with Ethekwini which have resulted in the technical teams coming out four times only to climb the pole, report it as being a cable fault and will send the relevant cable technicians out to resolve which four months later has still to have them come out and resolve the issue. All calls have been logged via the Whatsapp support service as it is impossible to get through to the service agents. Yesterday my wife waited an hour and fifty minutes on the call for an agent as we really now need the service resolved. Once she got got through to the agent, the agent could not find our account number, meter number or the four calls place via Whatsapp on the system and could therefore not help us ? How is this possible; the account number is as per the invoice provided to us, the meter is on the invoice and the call numbers come them in response to the call logged. It is total incompetence and/or lack of interest which also points back to the total failure of management. So where to from here, who knows; we just have to continue logging calls in the hope that perhaps a competent technician gets assigned the call sometime as we are unable to get our own electrician to look into the problem as he is not permitted to do so, despite being competent, able and willing. In response to one of the calls, five technical staff arrived in a truck and an LDV, just for one of them to climb the later and report it is a cable fault and will send the relevant cable technicians out, which as mentioned above did not happen, but five of them being paid to ride around together resolving nothing, really ?? As someone said, we are no longer in South Africa we are now in Africa and having worked in many of the African states, it is a norm to run more on generator than local supplied power which is the way we are heading pretty fast.
0 replies
46 months ago
ACA Auto Spares
I have dealt with ACA Auto Spares, Hillcrest previously and had great service and customer friendliness, but I have had to deal with them again and thought this time I must recommend their service and positive customer interaction. I dealt with Thulani and he had to find parts for a very old vehicle I am building up and surprised me with firstly finding what I was looking for, and secondly with his constant communication informing me of status and pricing. Wonderful experience and well done to Thulani and ACA Auto Spares.
0 replies
Review Distribution
5 Star
3 (16.666666666666668%)
4 Star
0 (0%)
3 Star
0 (0%)
2 Star
2 (11.11111111111111%)
1 Star
13 (72.22222222222223%)