On 17 September, my urgent tender document, marked EXPRESS was collected by the UTI courier at 16h30, and I was assured it would arrive at my associate, Pieter's, Rietfontein premises by no later than 10h30 the following morning.
At 10h35 the next day, when Pieter had not received the parcel, I was told it would only arrive at 13h00 as Rietfontein is on the outskirts of Pretoria.
At 13h05 I again contacted UTI who logged a call to locate the parcel.
At 14h00, UTI phoned and said the vehicle carrying my parcel had returned to the UTI head office in Centurion as it had no lock. Delivery would be made the following day (We would miss our deadline!)
I phoned Pieter and asked him to drop everything, drive to Centurion & collect the parcel. I contacted UTI's Griffith to locate the parcel. Pieter collected it at 15h35, and raced through to submit before close-off time.
Two hours later I received an account from UTI for the delivery they had never made. On challenging this, I was told the situation had been beyond their control as their drivers were on strike, so no-one could deliver my parcel.
UTI has confirmed that I am liable for the payment of a service they never delivered!
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