What is wrong with SA businesses?

Zoomzoom

Zoomzoom

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After several weeks of searching online for stuff relating to renovating a house I can state unequivocally and without fear of contradiction that South African businesses are in the dark ages.

1. IF <and that is a giant big IF> they even have a website - they don't have any prices. Newsflash IF someone is comparison shopping online (which people in this here 21st century actually do) we need prices to compare to.

2. IF they have a website and lo and behold there are no prices you are given a choice of calling ... no-one answers the phone ... or sending an email .... weeks later I'm still waiting for a reply .... of filling in a contact form ... auto-response 'please click here to go to our website' ... you moron I filled in the contact form ON YOUR WEBSITE. If the website answered my question (which it doesn't because you didn't a. supply any information b. have any prices) I wouldn't be trying to contact you.

3. The website is out of date - case in point solar geyser websites who failed to notice that it has been more than 6 months since the government (forget how long its been since Eskom stopped handling the rebates) stopped all rebates on solar geysers.

4. There is a dearth of in-depth information. Yes thanks for the small, grainy, useless, can't see a thing picture, but I also need INFORMATION. You know like - how big it is, what it does, what its applications are, how much it is, when/where can I get it, can I order it online ... you know useful stuff like that.

SA businesses need to get out the dark ages and embrace technology because the lack of even basic functional websites is appalling.
 
Zoomzoom said:
2. IF they have a website and lo and behold there are no prices you are given a choice of calling ... no-one answers the phone ... or sending an email ....
Click to expand...
Also when they don't list their contact details on the website. Only a contact form.
Meh.
 
It is even worse than just embracing technology; it seems like most of the time businesses don't even want your money.

You can beg and plead with them to give you quotes/samples but they will never follow up on it. You would think that in this economy businesses would be doing the utmost to get as much revenue as possible but then they can't even give you a quote after a detailed request.

For example I have been trying to organise some name badges for the company I work for (in Durban). First company I contacted (was the top result on Google) didn't respond to my initial email so I followed up with a call which was just overlooked because apparently the person who deals with sales wasn't there. (How the hell do you run a business like that?)

So I ditched them and went with someone else and managed to get a quote out of them but my manager wanted a sample to check the quality. Its been over a month now and I'm still waiting for it.

Honestly this is the sort of thing that could have been done in a week, but no.

Clearly business is good for the printing industry...
 
I buy and sell all day. Have done for 40 years. The sad fact is no bosses ever bother to phone their own companies and find out how shocking their first line of contact really is!!!
 
themba990 said:
It's almost like they don't want any of your money... lol
Click to expand...

This is the conclusion I have come to. It's so bad that when OH MY GOD CAN I ACTUALLY BELIEVE IT someone contacts you, you are tempted to give them the business regardless of how expensive they are just because they did.
 
FoXtroT said:
It is even worse than just embracing technology; it seems like most of the time businesses don't even want your money.

You can beg and plead with them to give you quotes/samples but they will never follow up on it. You would think that in this economy businesses would be doing the utmost to get as much revenue as possible but then they can't even give you a quote after a detailed request.

For example I have been trying to organise some name badges for the company I work for (in Durban). First company I contacted (was the top result on Google) didn't respond to my initial email so I followed up with a call which was just overlooked because apparently the person who deals with sales wasn't there. (How the hell do you run a business like that?)

So I ditched them and went with someone else and managed to get a quote out of them but my manager wanted a sample to check the quality. Its been over a month now and I'm still waiting for it.

Honestly this is the sort of thing that could have been done in a week, but no.

Clearly business is good for the printing industry...
Click to expand...

A quote? What is that? I'm still waiting for the guy to call me back ...
 
Oh I forgot where they do get in touch, you ask a bunch of questions they can't answer so they will 'get back to you' and never do.
 
Zoomzoom said:
This is the conclusion I have come to. It's so bad that when OH MY GOD CAN I ACTUALLY BELIEVE IT someone contacts you, you are tempted to give them the business regardless of how expensive they are just because they did.
Click to expand...

That's service in general. It's not always the cheapest that wins. Anybody can sell, not everybody can deliver a service. If somebody is half-baked in the communications, how will things end up if there's a problem with installation/warranty? That's a BIG PASS signal.
 
Perhaps the building trade at retail level is unresponsive. But I do think it's an unfair generalisation to extend that criticism to "SA businesses". I have pretty high expectations when it comes to service, and on the whole I find our first-world businesses pretty good, responsive, and professional. Especially B2B.



/prepares to get blasted
 
I fully agree with this thread, I can't count the number of times I've said "it's like they don't want to make money from me". Even in private sales people don't reply to questions until you call them. How do you expect to sell your product if you can't reply to a simple email.

I recently emailed a company asking for a sample video from a dashcam I wanted, a week later I get a reply asking if I still want the footage.. chances were high that I'd of bought it from them but I left it on principle.
 
@ OP

*Our staff have arrived late or not at all due to unreliable, inconsistent public transport, taxi strike, bus strike..

* Management are in a meeting about our latest office burglary, armed robbery, stolen stock..

* We are in our 14th week of waiting for Telkom to replace stolen cables.

* We are working on the backlog after losing a business day caused by a power outage.

* Our staff are in a striking/protesting/long-faced/go-slow or generally disagreeable mood.

* We have no water due to a burst pipe in the street.

* The owner is interviewing potential candidates after the last staff member left giving zero hours notice.

* Management chooses not to employ any additional staff due to unfriendly labour legislation.

WE are all systems go! but our suppliers and or service providers are experiencing one or more of the above.

This is an auto-response. Please do not reply to this message.
 
Milano said:
@ OP

*Our staff have arrived late or not at all due to unreliable, inconsistent public transport, taxi strike, bus strike..

* Management are in a meeting about our latest office burglary, armed robbery, stolen stock..

* We are in our 14th week of waiting for Telkom to replace stolen cables.

* We are working on the backlog after losing a business day caused by a power outage.

* Our staff are in a striking/protesting/long-faced/go-slow or generally disagreeable mood.

* We have no water due to a burst pipe in the street.

* The owner is interviewing potential candidates after the last staff member left giving zero hours notice.

* Management chooses not to employ any additional staff due to unfriendly labour legislation.

WE are all systems go! but our suppliers and or service providers are experiencing one or more of the above.

This is an auto-response. Please do not reply to this message.
Click to expand...

As a customer I DO NOT GIVE A **** that is YOUR problem not mine. Run your business properly despite all the problems otherwise you won't have one at all.
 
Arthur said:
Perhaps the building trade at retail level is unresponsive. But I do think it's an unfair generalisation to extend that criticism to "SA businesses". I have pretty high expectations when it comes to service, and on the whole I find our first-world businesses pretty good, responsive, and professional. Especially B2B.


/prepares to get blasted
Click to expand...

I tell you what - you find any business in SA outside of a bare handful that are responsive online and I'll give you a special Noddy badge.

I'm moaning about the building trade because that is my latest experience, but it is nothing new. Try shopping online - HA! Even if it is an online store - ridiculous (and I mean REEDICKULOUS!) delivery charges (Note if the PnP courier can find me for R100 so can you), then they won't take my credit card, and don't get me started on the complexity of trying to get the information to do an EFT. (NO the information you gave has NOT got the correct details needed).

No wait that's too easy ... find me a list of South African websites that have the following:

* Current prices (actually just prices at all would be amazing, better if they were current)

* Rapid response to online enquiries - within 24 hours would be astonishing I'd accept within 48.

* Prepared to engage in a series of enquiries via email. I don't always know enough to ask the right questions off the bat, so as I learn I sometimes find I have new questions. If by some miracle I actually do end up with a response (eventually) one email doesn't necessarily end the conversation. If you want my business, answer my questions!

* Be prepared to actually give prices. I swear ... it's bad enough that the prices aren't on the website - but at some point, if you want to sell your product you do actually have to commit to a price.
 
Zoomzoom said:
After several weeks of searching online for stuff relating to renovating a house I can state unequivocally and without fear of contradiction that South African businesses are in the dark ages.

2. IF they have a website and lo and behold there are no prices you are given a choice of calling ... no-one answers the phone ... or sending an email .... weeks later I'm still waiting for a reply .... of filling in a contact form ... auto-response 'please click here to go to our website' ... you moron I filled in the contact form ON YOUR WEBSITE. If the website answered my question (which it doesn't because you didn't a. supply any information b. have any prices) I wouldn't be trying to contact you.
Click to expand...

this is so true, I've lost count of how many business I've tried contacting via their contact form or an email address and have just never received a response and when some do, those that respond within an hour or so invariably get the business, don't bother responding to me after 48 hours
 
Presumably you don't earn a living by selling goods and/or services, zoomzooms?

If you do, please let us know, so we can include it in the list of businesses offering decent service.
 
Zooms, you must know that businesses cater to serve their largest market. And those vary greatly.

I suspect that >80% of the business done by building supplies companies is to builders and tradesmen who have accounts and phone/walk-in relationships with their suppliers. They don't do quotes and orders through the internet as that would take too long. For them, trying to manage stock and pricing on a website (with an interface to their transactional and inventory systems) would add a level of complication and cost they cannot possibly justify for a tiny fraction of their revenue. Internet-based business for most building supplies outlets in SA is minuscule, and likely to remain so for many years even if they had full online web-accessible systems.

I'm not defending rotten service, unresponsiveness, or uncompetitive pricing. Just saying that your rant against "SA business" is too sweeping and unconsidered.

Most business people I know - small and large - are pretty passionate about and focused on delivering the best value they can to their customers - in a competitive environment that's how you get to stay in business and keep an onion in the soup. And the building supplies business is very competitive, especially with customers who want to save another 1% on things like gutter brackets.
 
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