Poor Gauteng postal service halts online DVD service
Well known online DVD rental company PushPlay has recently terminated its services in Gauteng until an ongoing postal issue has been resolved. “We have temporarily suspended our service to many post codes in and around Gauteng due to continued inconsistent postal service as a result of breach of the postal procedures and contract developed for our business,” said Pushplay CEO Darren McLean.
“Firstly we deem this inconsistency to be unfair to our paying customers, but furthermore inconsistency and lack of accountability are not appropriate conditions under which to run an efficient business with a partner. We are also obviously concerned about the negative impact on our good name and Brand which prides itself on great service.”
McLean said that because of these negative factors PushPlay decided that it was better to conduct their business in regions in South Africa where the postal service is managed efficiently.
McLean further said that the breach in contract will be sooner remedied if the Post Office feels the loss of revenue as opposed to doing nothing.
PushPlay is however confident that the situation will be remedied in the coming weeks. “We do believe that it will be remedied early in the year (end Feb). The festive period is a difficult time to address postal issues as key postal personnel are unavailable. From our high level meeting on the 13th of January we will have a more accurate idea of when things will be up and running fully again in the affected regions,” said McLean.
This is not the first time South Africa’s postal service has been the cause of discontinued eCommerce services in the country. In June 2008 Amazon.com cut traditional postal shipping to South Africa due to rampant theft of packages.
At the time Post Office spokesperson Lungile Lose said that they wanted to speak to Amazon.com “that we can pick up where the root is and we will take it up with the Universal Postal Union. This [Amazon] is an important customer.”
Amazon started supporting standard post office shipments to South Africa again in 2009.
Postal problems and eCommerce in SA – comments and views
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