Another dismal delivery failure by Speed Services

On Thursday, 7 June 2007, my mom handed my newly acquired HTC P4350 in at the Florida Post Office to be sent to the Musgrave Post Office using Speed Services overnight delivery. She was not informed about getting insurance on the phone, and as she was not aware of the option being available never asked. The phone was packaged and scanned for collection. She was informed that the phone will be placed on the 14:30 flight from JHB and will be available at the Musgrave Post Office in the morning. She received the tracking number (TC02820XXXXZA) and the receipt.

On Friday, 8 June 2007, I went to the Musgrave Post Office with the tracking number to collect the delivery. To my surprise Lenny at the Musgrave informed me that the item was still in transit after making a phone call to Speed Services. I returned home and used the online tracking system to determine where the item is, as I was prepared to collect it wherever it was. The system simply showed that the item was scanned as collected at the Florida Post Office, however it was never placed in a bin or even received at the Jet Park Depot. I immediately contacted my mom, who phoned the Florida Post Office and confirmed that the item had in fact been collected from their premises by a driver.

I called Speed Services Head Office, since previous dealing with the Call Centre has always been a frustrating experience, especially when dealing with rude consultants, including a gentleman by the name of Eddy, who previously had me swearing because of his lack of manners. After 3 attempts at using the call system, I eventually at 09:10am got through to Hope, the PA to the MD. I informed her of the missing item and she took all the relevant details and assured me someone will get back to me within 10 - 15 minutes. I needed to return to a client in Port Shepstone and therefore started on the 300km round trip.

At 10:00am I received a phone call from Prince, the head of the call centre, who informed me that he has contacted the Florida Post Office for all the documentation regarding all deliveries from them, as it seems that the whole bag had gone missing. He did however insist that this is impossible and will get back to me as soon as he received and reviewed all documentation. At the same time my mom had gotten a hold of the Post Office, and they lodged a complaint with Speed Services regarding the missing item.

At 11:30am I had still not received any calls from Price, and attempted to contact Hope. After 2 voicemail messages I received a phone call from Prince at 11:45am informing me that he has contacted Operations and they are trying to track the vehicle and the driver that collected the package, as the bag never reached Jet Park. He assured me again that they will be able to confirm by the end of the day where the item is. Hope returned my call and informed me that they have been able to locate the registration number of the vehicle that collected the bag from Florida.

I finished in Post Shepstone at 14:30 and started the return trip to Durban. I returned to the Musgrave Post Office at 04:00pm, asking them to check if the package is maybe not in the store room. They contacted Speed Services again and informed me that the bag is still missing. My mom contacted me and informed me that Prince had located the driver, however he is a nightshift worker and they will only be able to contact him after 07:00pm. He assured her that they will contact her as soon as they locate the bag, irrelevant of the time of night. We decided to allow this, however I attempted to contact Hope again, who was no longer available.

At 08:30pm Jet Park contacted my mom to inform her that they received a whole batch of bags and will be scanning them to find the missing item. They will again contact her irrelevant of the time of night if the item is found. They indicated that the missing bag is part of this batch.

On Saturday, 9 June 2007, we received a call from Jet Park informing us that the package is still missing, and they are unable to locate it. We have also had no luck getting a hold of either Hope or Prince, as neither works weekends. After a plea to a receptionist at Head Office, she contacted Prince, who informed her that it is in the hands of Operations and nothing can be done regarding this package, and as it was not insured not a priority for them to locate this item until Monday. They are however not willing to say if the bag is misplaced or has been stolen, but it has not come up in any scans to date.

As they have dismally failed to provide a service, in which an expensive item had gotten lost, we have no other choice but to open a case of theft again Speed Services. The case number will be presented to Vodacom to block the new phone on the network. In hindsight, we are at fault for not having taken insurance on this item, however as it was never offered as an option to my mom, who was unaware of this, the service they were meant to offer, which was the overnight delivery of a parcel to Durban, also never occurred.

Speed Services has proved to me that the no liability disclaimer they have, as well as the people they employee, allows them to not provide any service whatsoever, however they can be paid for not providing these services. I have come to the conclusion that the missing item will not be recovered, however I am writing this in an attempt to make the public aware of the miserable service this company does offer. I will be sending this letter to every major newspaper and radio station, as service like this should not be accepted in South Africa. Apart from my item, various people have now fallen victim to missing items through Speed Services. All of the above leads to me to believe that this company also has a thief in it's midst, and through their actions in this matter and liability disclaimers endorse hiring criminals as employees, allowing them to work, earn a living and get rich of the items they steal.