1% service, 99% Sly

I am shocked, I would be very careful in engaging in any form of agreements with this well known South-African jeweler. I went to browns Menlyn shop and found an engagement ring that suited my budget, I then put down a deposit of R10 000 with the Idee of settling the rest at the end of that month. I was not asked to fill in a layby form and I only received a buisness card from the consultant. When I was unable to pay the full outstanding amount the consultant contracted me and asked me to come in and fill out the layby application, this was a month after paying the R10 000 deposit. Unfortunately a situation occurred that forced me to ask for my deposit back from this company. Everything looked fine until yesterday when I only received R2500 from them, when I equipped about this ,they said that they charged me a R7500 (which is 15% of the total value of the ring) cancelation fee. Nothing was explained to me before hand and I strongly feel that I have been pushed into doing something that only benefits Browns and leaves me I a financial situation for no good reason. I still have the unopened layby agreement as I trusted the integrity of this company, but unfortunately they have left a bad taste in my mouth and I will be suing this company for the damages caused by them.