A Festive Season Fumble: Temu’s SA Shoppers Left Hanging by New Delivery Partner

For many South Africans, the post-festive season comes with the usual rituals: taking down decorations and returning unwanted gifts. But for a growing number of Temu shoppers this year, January brought a different, more frustrating tradition: desperately checking their phones for delivery updates that never came.

The source of the headache? A perfect storm involving the Chinese e-commerce giant’s new local delivery partner, a festive season rush, and a case of mistaken identity that left customers convinced they’d been scammed.

The Silent Tracking Number

The complaints, widely shared on local forums and social media, followed a familiar pattern. Shoppers would receive a tracking number from Temu, only to see their parcels vanish into a void after being handed to a company called GFS Express. For weeks, no updates. No delivery attempts. And crucially, no one answering the phones at the courier’s listed contact number.

Frustration turned to anger when some customers reported that drivers had allegedly logged false “attempted delivery” notices, claiming no one was home. With official channels silent, shoppers took to search engines, leading to the next chapter of the confusion.

A Case of Courier Confusion

In their search for answers, customers found a UK-based logistics firm also named GFS Express. The similar name and logo led to a flood of panicked calls and emails to the wrong company. The UK firm was forced to issue a public notice clarifying they had no ties to Temu or deliveries in Saudi Arabia and South Africa.

This notice, however, had an unintended consequence. Many South African shoppers read it and jumped to a worrying conclusion: the GFS Express handling their Temu orders was a fraudulent operation.

The reality was less sinister but equally problematic. The GFS Express in question is based in Saudi Arabia, a newcomer to the South African market that launched its local operations only in 2025. The mix-up was due to strikingly similar branding and web addresses, with the Saudi firm’s URL subtly omitting an ‘e’ in ‘express’.

“Insufficient” Measures and a Belated Apology

When pressed for comment, Temu itself did not apologise, instead offering a standard line about “peak season fluctuations” and working with partners to “maintain high standards.” The real explanation came only after public scrutiny, directly from GFS Express.

A company spokesperson revealed the core issue: several large batches of Temu parcels arrived simultaneously due to international flight backlogs, completely overwhelming their nascent South African operation during its first major holiday season.

“Our preparations were insufficient in the early stages,” the spokesperson admitted. While they had recruited extra drivers and increased客服 staff, the deluge was too much, too fast. “We sincerely apologise for this.”

A Lesson in Trust and Transparency

This episode is more than a tale of late packages. For South African consumers, it’s a lesson in the hidden complexities of the global e-commerce boom. The allure of low prices and endless variety depends on a fragile, often opaque logistical chain. When a new link in that chain fails, the customer is left in the dark, eroding the very trust these platforms rely on.

For now, GFS Express says it is clearing the backlog and pledges better service. Temu shoppers, meanwhile, are likely to eye their future tracking emails with a bit more caution. In the world of online shopping, the last mile to your door is often the most difficult, and this festive season, for many, it was a mile too far.