As many South Africans, particularly those in Gauteng, opt to order in their groceries rather than venturing into stores, the country’s supermarket groups are battling to keep to their usual delivery timelines.
They’re also being called on to up their game to respond to an avalanche of queries from unhappy customers.
“Woolworths, your online service sucks!” raged Shane (@speks_70) of Cape Town on Twitter on Monday, a week after the country moved to adjusted level 4, bringing fresh restrictions amid a surge in Covid-19 infections, mostly in Gauteng.
“My order was due for delivery yesterday and 24 hours later no response to my email from your online team,” he said.
“This is the first and the last time I order from your online store.”
Gomolemo Makhalemele also raged at the online retailer at the weekend.
“I find it ridiculous that I placed an online order scheduled to be delivered on Saturday; it’s Sunday afternoon and my food has still not been delivered. What do you propose I cook?
“Your online team also doesn’t respond to my queries, calls, emails, zero!”
Pick n Pay’s Bottles online offering has also come in for flak on social media.
On Monday “Coach Yoli!” tweeted: “I’m disappointed with your service; ordered groceries for delivery for the first time yesterday around 1pm and got a 6pm delivery slot; we went to bed with no groceries and no contact from you. Called the customer service line but it was not working.”
While Karen Breytenbach of Cape Town praised Checkers Sixty60 for delivering her order in less than half an hour, others have been disappointed that its usual within-the-hour service has been lacking in the past week.
“Checkers, I know you are busy, but it’s 14:18 and I can only get a delivery at 11am tomorrow?” tweeted Anita Moolman on Friday.
“Surely more drivers can be hired? We live 800m away, but are too sick to go to the shops.”
Mike Mortimer was similarly disappointed. “What is going wrong with Sixty60 deliveries? Last week my delivery was 24 hours late. Now the ETA is six hours after placing the order.”
As with the rest of the country, our store teams have also been impacted by Covid-19, resulting in disruption in our stores, including store closures
— Woolworths
Woolworths said there had been a significant increase in orders since the country’s move to adjusted level 4.
“As with the rest of the country, our store teams have also been impacted by Covid-19, resulting in disruption in our stores, including store closures.
“The majority of online picking stores around the country are within one to three days delivery lead times, but there are some Johannesburg stores which are very congested due to these Covid disruptions and the delivery times are a little longer.”
The retailer said its team was working around the clock to manage the demand, bringing in more staff and vehicles to get back within service levels. “We do also offer a free click-and-collect service for customers in 74 stores around South Africa, and these are all running at ‘next-day’ slot availability,” Woolworths said.
“We encourage customers to make use of click and collect — it’s a contact-free collection and very convenient.”
Shoprite said its Checkers Sixty60 service was experiencing “unprecedented” demand, with record order volumes.
“As a result the available one-hour delivery slots fill up very quickly, so customers are encouraged to place their orders early in the day.”
Pick n Pay also confirmed a spike in demand for its online delivery offering, especially in Gauteng. “In periods of unexpected high volume we sometimes do not have slots available for next day, but we have moved quickly, adding 65% more slots to make sure we can serve customers well during this time.
“Our on-demand channel ‘Bottles by Pick n Pay’ offers same-day delivery within 60 minutes of placing an order. “The service is now fully integrated and an important part of serving our customers who want to purchase their groceries online.”
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