CRIME in SA: FedEx SA no longer accept cash (or other payments)

[PeterCH]

A sign of the levels of crime or perhaps level of dishonesty among some drivers?

I purchased Adobe Photoshop CS4 for the Mac Retail from Toolfarm on Tuesday. Coincidentally the price with courier and customs is R3000 less than the cheapest price I could find in SA. The item was despatched and arrived in Johannesburg clearing customs by 3:15pm on Thursday. Online tracking hadn't been updated by this morning so I called FedEx who told me that I had to EFT them the customs charge of R400 odd because their drivers no longer accepted cash, CC or cheque payments - danger of hijacking. I was told someone had tried to phone me since Wednesday but no-one in fact had, for no-one here got a call from FedEx. Anyway I managed to convince FedEx SA to deliver the box
COD at the end. They did get defensive when I told them that the Priority Service was '3 business days time guaranteed' (FedEx Economy is 5-7 days).

Anyway the morale of the story is that crime in SA is of such high proportions that FedEx and it's 300 odd vehicles no longer accept payments of any sort on delivery, you have to pay by EFT first. Crime is either of genuinely high proportions and their couriers get hijacked or there is rampant theft among the drivers. Anyhow the other morale is that you can never trust a local subsidiary of a major company. There was no mention of this new practice which I was told started in June 2008 on their website and the online tracking service did not mention any hiccups - I asked them on the phone to tell the customer to "call FedEx" but that recommendation will no doubt remain with the operator. Thankfully a couple friendly people at FedEx SA did help me out at the end to get the item on time today.

 

[bigicy]

Sigh a sad reality of South Africa...

 

[bwana]

Even Sahara wont accept cash payments over r200 anymore.

 

[PeterCH]

Even Sahara wont accept cash payments over r200 anymore.

Sahara the computer parts wholesaler?

 

[bigicy]

Damn...

I didn't know that....

 

[bwana]

Sahara the computer parts wholesaler?

Yes.

 

[PeterCH]

Yes.

Oh nasty. Still what is curious is that the FedEx guys aren't even allowed to accept cheques (bank certified) either. Just EFT which is bogus, as that takes time to clear and adds to the delay. Stupid.

Coincidentally the Post Office EMS drivers accept cheques and cash.

 

[marine1]

Even Sahara wont accept cash payments over r200 anymore.

 

[LazyLion]

Most couriers don't even trust their own drivers anymore. I sent my cellphone in for repair and a Siyaya courier stole it. The box was empty when I got it back (it was in a blank courier bag). The repair center had to absorb the loss and send me a new cellphone.

 

[PeterCH]

Most couriers don't even trust their own drivers anymore. I sent my cellphone in for repair and a Siyaya courier stole it. The box was empty when I got it back (it was in a blank courier bag). The repair center had to absorb the loss and send me a new cellphone.

Quite possible. Although with a crossed cheque made out to the company
(eg FedEx or MyExpress) that shouldn't be an issue. Still in that case,
maybe the couriers don't trust the recipient.

It would be interesting to see where else FedEx only does EFT
payments for customs fees.

 

[Frankie]

I could only justify the purchase of CS4 once I've mastered CS3 - that is one expensive piece of software.

I was under the impression that software was not subject to duty and VAT.

I notice that all SA's online shops only accept EFT, which means I don't shop online in SA because I've enjoyed the extra protection the Credit Card purchase has built-in and wont risk in in SA.

I just had custom made safety gates and Trellidor's installed - Trellidor wanted 50% up front and the other place 70% - I wasn't keen on this because it meant I carried all the risk if they didn't deliver on time or the product was unacceptable.

 

[Gomario]

Huh, not long ago, I had the exact same issue with FedEx as the original porter had. What a f***up. Sad What's the story about Amazon not shipping to SA because of fraud/theft?

 

[stoke]

Nothing wrong with EFT, and the "takes time to clear" complaint is absolute BS.

The person you're paying must just have an account at every bank or use one of those service providers that do the same thing.

Saves me the ATM ripoff fee's.

 

[R13...]

drivers can't be trusted

let's just say i heard of a case where a driver sold a ups van with everything in it & disappeared... it's like there's something in the water that makes these guys just want to do crime.

it's not even poverty, the guy wanted to buy a car & couldn't save to do so he decided his best chance was to sell the van with stock in it. truck drivers are on a similar trip btw, goods, fuel, etc. they sell the thing & claim a hijacking. portug. shop owners get their stock that way (the crooked ones that is).

 

[lived666]

I had to EFT them the customs charge of R400 odd because their drivers no longer accepted cash .

Only R400 duties on a product that costs over $600? Doesn't compute, vat and clearing on that value should be over R1000, you got off lightly.

I just tell Fedex to deliver to their closet depot to me and I go collect, but yeh damn annoying that they also don't take cheques, and I have a local account with them, go figure......

Still better than DHL - took them a month - ok not a month -29 days to clear a package for me...useless mofo's

 

[d0b33]

I don't blame them, cheques are really easy to fake and once you have the package they can't get it back, I'm ok with EFT.

 

[killadoob]

I paid sahara 3.5k cash this week. Strange bwana. what branch is that?

Why would they not accept cash?

 

[PeterCH]

I don't blame them, cheques are really easy to fake and once you have the package they can't get it back, I'm ok with EFT.

I'm not ok with it. EFT takes at least an extra day to reflect. Then I'm not sure if they don't want you to fax the proof - extra hassle and cost.
Plus you don't know till they call you - which looking at FedEx South Africa -- their efficiency like all the local courier subsidiaries is poor. They may call or not call
you and when they do they won't deliver the Priority package the same day - EFT takes 24 hrs plus at least.

LOL my parcel made it from San Francisco to Memphis to Paris to JHB in under 2 days. It took over a day to process the last step - FedEx Cape Town to my address. When I pointed that out they became defensive - on the FedEx.com
website it actually states International Priority (only shipping Toolfarm offers and it's flatrate) is "3 business days time definitive" while Economy is 5 days time def. She started talking about company policies and cut off times, anyway she fixed it for me at the end but I've found the local companies - FedEx (best out of all of them), DHL and UPS to have sloppy service locally.
Amazon actually refunded a UPS shipment fee once when I complaind about the UPS Cape Town Airport's staff attitude - they couldn't care less and were adamant that I should wait another 24 hours for a package which at their depot that morning.

 

[Phenom]

Not only FedEx, many other businesses too.

Tried to order a phone from Expansys, they too don't accept any SA orders.

 

[noxibox]

I've never had to wait for an EFT to reflect. Make payment, e-mail the details or give them over the phone. Much less hassle than cash.

I don't know about the others, but I hear about sloppy service from DHL all over the world.

Tried to order a phone from Expansys, they too don't accept any SA orders.

So what?

4.1 Some postal addresses in Northern Ireland, some offshore islands and some remote areas of Great Britain may not be covered by our delivery services

Must be the high crime rate in those areas.