More Like: We Take, Whatever We Want

Amazon has decided to stop shipping orders to South Africa through the South African Post Office, because too many of their orders have been going missing. They’ll now be sending books through a courier service, which is significantly more expensive for South Africans.

This is really frustrating news, and irritating timing for us here at the QuirkStation. On the 25th of March this year I placed a fairly large order ($1335.85 worth of Design/Copy/Java/Marketing books) with Amazon.com. These are books that are important reading for a company like ours, and Amazon is the best way to get hold of them.

We initially thought we might have to wait for the order for months, but they estimated that the delivery would reach us as soon as April. So we waited eagerly for this ‘gold’ to arrive.

It wasn't until I received a link to a news piece in Die Burger a few days ago that I got a little nervous about our order, and started thinking that maybe I should enquire about our books.

Enquiring meant making tons of phonecalls, and being sent back and forth between departments, with no one wanting to take responsibility. I eventually reached a lovely lady (pity there was just the one) who gave me the tracking number I needed.

So, after another phonecall to the Woodstock Post Office, I discovered that our books had sat at the post office for quite a while before actually BEING SHIPPED BACK OVERSEAS. According to them they only receive the packages, and the notifications that should have let us know the books are there come from the main Post Office in Cape Town.

This explanation is a little bizarre, as we've received notifications for other packages regularly and without a problem.

When I emailed Amazon to explain what had happened, and that we would still really like the books, they responded almost immediately that they would refund us for the missing books (which they did this morning). They also said that we can then make a new order; one we'll now have to make through a private courier.

So, I can say with first hand experience that Amazon's claims aren't unfounded. BizCommunity reported that sites like Have2Have can step in as middle men, diminishing the shipping costs somewhat. While local industry growth is never a bad thing, it doesn't quite make up for being let down by our own Post Office. (Who incidentally, also suffer from LAS).

…and what does the main Post Office have to say in their own defence?  I heard nothing but a busy tone.