Knowler — Knight late delivery (News24)

News24, 27 September 2024 · Wendy Knowler

Why the site cites this

Two threads:

1. Late delivery + ECT s 46 (Clause 14). Knight’s order was promised by 30 August, undelivered by 16 September (more than two weeks past); calls and emails were ignored. After Knowler’s media query, delivered the next day.
2. Courier-claims-delivered-without-evidence (Clause 18). An earlier case in Knowler’s column documents Takealot’s framing of GPS coordinates as “delivery proof” with no signature.

Verbatim extracts (fair-dealing quotations)

Knowler’s broader observation

“I get a huge number of complaints from readers about online orders not being delivered, and in most cases the lack of delivery is compounded by a lack of communication about the service lapse. Double whammy.”

The Knight case

“Margaret Knight of Plettenberg Bay placed a R3 700 order with Takealot on 17 August, with a promised delivery date of 30 August. When the goods hadn’t been delivered by 16 September - more than two weeks later - and she’d called and emailed the company more than once to no avail, she contacted me for help.”

“One of the items she ordered was an R800 bottle of non-alcoholic gin.”

The earlier whisky case

“About six months ago I took up the case of a Joburg man whose R600 bottle of whisky wasn’t delivered as a gift to his friend, and when he reported this, he was told that it was indeed delivered and signed for, and that the delivery driver’s GPS coordinates matched the delivery address.”

“Yet, no delivery signature could be produced.”

Takealot’s response after Knowler’s intervention

“We can confirm that the order was delivered on Tuesday [the day after the media query was sent].”

“We are very unhappy about the service our customer has received for this order. Delivery was fulfilled by a third-party delivery service. Their communication regarding the delayed delivery was poor and we are investigating what happened. It is not the norm.”

Takealot’s stats framing

“Instances of missing alcohol orders are infrequent and can be considered isolated events.”

“There is no data indicating that alcohol is more susceptible to being lost in transit when compared to other product categories.”

Site reliance

• Clause 14 (Order Cancellation): ECT s 46 gives the consumer a 7-day-notice cancellation right after a missed delivery deadline (s 46(1) sets 30 days; s 46(2) the cancellation right; s 46(3) the 30-day refund window after notification of unavailability). Knight’s case demonstrates the pattern: 17 days past promised date, ignored contacts, only resolved on third-party intervention.
• Clause 18 (Mis-Returned Items) / general delivery-deflection angle: “GPS coordinates matched” is not equivalent to “consumer received the goods.” A signed proof-of-delivery (or a clear no-signature delivery confirmation acknowledged by the consumer) is the relevant evidence. The earlier whisky case is documented as an analogue.
• Third-party courier deflection: Takealot framing the delay as the third-party courier’s communication failure does not relieve the platform of its delivery obligations to the consumer (the contract is with Takealot).

Wayback / archive status

No Wayback snapshot at retrieval time. Verbatim text from authenticated subscription capture, 2026-05-07.