Dishonesty, Lies, False Accusations, and ********** Malpractice

I recently had an unpleasant experience when I bought a bulk amount of BlueChem pool floaters from Builders Warehouse online. The floaters are faulty and turned my pool green almost overnight. Builders initially refused to assist at all and it was originally impossible to make contact with BlueChem as they do not appear to actually exist. The website listed on the floaters does not exist and there are no contact details anywhere on the internet. I eventually discovered that the company behind this **** “BlueChem” company is Fluidra, but there is definitely something off about them as everything about them is very suspiciously shady. With no one doing anything about the problem, I posted a complaint here on HelloPeter.

Suddenly half a dozen people associated with Builders were contacting me and acting as though they were finally going to assist. I was very relieved and sure that it would be resolved shortly. That was 03 February – almost a month ago – and they have only made things so much worse since then. After being questioned and made to jump through multiple hoops, it was eventually determined that the floaters would be refunded. Someone named Jean called me from Builders Margate, which it turned out, was where the floaters had been dispatched from, and assured me repeatedly that he’d take care of having them collected for return and refund me for all seven of the remaining floaters. I tried to assist him by offering to take replacements instead, because that would only cost the business the cost price and not the retail price as a refund would, and he gratefully accepted. I also suggested this because it would minimize the transport costs to deliver the replacement floaters when collecting the returns, instead of having to make two trips – one to collect the returns and one to deliver the replacements. I did not owe them any kind of consideration or thoughtfulness but I am not the type of person to try and take advantage of people, and as a business owner myself, I understand the need to minimize overheads wherever possible. Jean asked me to choose which brand of floater I wanted for the replacements, and I told him to choose whichever one was closest in price to the returning BlueChem ones so that it wouldn’t cost him more – my exact parting words were “I’m not trying to get anything more expensive than what I bought and I don’t want you to be out of pocket”. He said he would take a look at what they had in stock and then call me back to let me know.

When he called back it was clear he didn’t know how the store operates. He suddenly couldn’t do the replacement as arranged because “I don’t know how to make the system do that”. So, it would now have to be a refund. This was fine by me, although it did mean it would take longer for me to actually get new floaters because I’d have to wait for the refund process to be complete and then reorder floaters and wait for delivery. I wasn’t too concerned about the extra time at that stage because I believed it would be resolved within a couple of days. But things just got progressively worse as Builders made it more difficult every step of the way. I told Jean to just go ahead with the refund then and that I would email my banking details through to him. But then there was a problem with that. He then changed tack yet again and told me that he would only do the refund into my Builders Warehouse card, which would be impossible as I do not have a Builders Warehouse card. If he’d actually taken a proper look at my Builders online profile, he would’ve known that, so it was further proof that things were not being addressed efficiently. He then said he would credit my profile. I refused this as I was becoming very upset with Builders over being messed about and no longer wished to support them by buying the replacements from them. Their other floaters were very overpriced at the time and other stores had really great specials that would enable me to buy the same amount as were being returned – which buying from Builders would not achieve. Since he refused the replacement offer to ensure that I ended up with the same number of floaters, I wished to rather buy from elsewhere so that *I* would not end up being the one out of pocket because of their faulty products. Jean then said that he’d credit my account and I could go instore and withdraw the credited amount. I explained to him that this was not a viable option for two reasons. One, I live out on a farm and the transport to the store would cost more than the refund amount. Two, I have a compromised immune system and go through periods when it can be literally life-threatening for me to be in crowds of people where I could pick up a bug that lands me in hospital. These two reasons are also why I do most of my purchases online. Jean then said not to worry, with firm promises and assurances that he’d do the refund into my bank account and his exact words were “It won’t be a problem at all”. That turned out to be a lie.

These calls were on Thursday 06 February and I was told that collection would be arranged soon. The following week I received notification that the collection would be done on Wednesday 12 February. On that day, there was no electricity at my property and the cell tower was down, rendering me unable to make or receive phonecalls. I made sure to check my emails every hour to see if there was any communication from Builders, but there wasn’t until late afternoon. At that time I received a very snarkily worded email from someone named Vincent, basically reprimanding me for not answering my phone or the email they’d sent that morning to my other email address. When I looked at the email they’d forwarded from that morning, it was clear why it didn’t get to me – Vincent had spelt the email address wrong, despite it being on my Builders profile. I don’t know how they expected me to reply to an email I never received because, once again, they’d failed to pay attention to details. I also explained to him that I have no control over Eskom or the cell towers and I’d done my due diligence by checking my emails hourly. I was then told the collection of the returns would be rescheduled. I heard nothing further from them that week, although I then started getting emails from someone named Mogamat, who seemed to be from Builders customer service. However, his emails made it abundantly clear that there is a severe breakdown in internal communications because he had very outdated information and was asking things that had already been answered multiple times. I requested that they all communicate directly with each other so that I didn’t have more of my time wasted.

The following Monday, 17 February, now already two full weeks after I posted on HelloPeter the first time, I received a local weather warning that we were expected to have extremely heavy rain and flooding on Wednesday 19 February. There is a river that runs under my driveway and when it floods, my property becomes entirely inaccessible. To prevent further delays or failures, I immediately sent an email through to everyone involved to warn them and request that the collection be done on Tuesday 18 February, before the river flooded, as there is no way of knowing how long it would take for the floods to subside. I received no response at all from anyone.

On Wednesday 19 February, during the flooding, I received a phonecall from someone named Nico to say that they were dispatching the truck for the collection. I told him that it would be impossible as the river was already hugely flooded and no one would be able to get in or out, as I’d warned in my email two days prior that had received no response. It was clear that my email had not even been read. Nico had a terrible attitude and tried to blame not reading my email on “it’s hard to check emails when you have a business to run”. This is an absolutely ridiculous response as reading and responding to emails forms part of running said business. That is saying that one cannot attend to one’s customers because one has a business to run. How absurd. Nico was very antagonistic and condescending and I truly hope I never have to speak to him again as he is entirely unpleasant. He also asked me when the weather would change and the river would subside. I really don’t know how he expected me to answer that as I also do not control Mother Nature and only have access to the same weather forecasts as everyone else on the planet. I told him I’d send an email when it looked like the river was subsiding.

On Friday 21 February, I emailed to say that it seemed the river would subside over the weekend and be crossable by Monday, if no further heavy rains rolled in. Vincent responded to say this information was noted. On Monday 24 February, 3 full weeks after this began, I received a call to say that the truck was being dispatched for the collection. Later that day I received a call from the driver, who was already en route, to ask for the address. This irritated me immensely because my address is on my profile, AND on the invoice that I’d had to send over to prove purchase, AND had been provided telephonically twice more during this ordeal. FOUR avenues for them to have my address and the driver phones for it while driving here. Yet another clear sign of gross mismanagement, lack of organization, internal communication breakdown, and poor service. I provided my address yet again and expected that to be it. Sadly, the ********** experience only got worse.

I later received another call from the driver to demand that I direct him to the property because he was lost. I would gladly have done so, however, “I am in Glenmore” is not sufficient information to provide directions. Glenmore spans several square kilometers and he provided absolutely no information on where he actually was, what landmarks were around him, or even what direction he was facing. How is someone to supposed to provide directions to someone in an unknown location?! I explained to him that I could not help him if he wouldn’t give me more details and repeated the address to him numerous times. Shortly thereafter, I received a call from someone named Shakier, who promptly accused me of refusing directions to the driver. This is when I finally lost it. I will NOT be **** about and I am disgusted by the continued attempts to blame their mistakes and problems on me. I told him that it was impossible for me to provide directions to a driver who only gave the info “I am in Glenmore” and could or would not offer any details like landmarks or direction or anything to let me know where he actually was. Additionally, my address had been available to them all along so they could’ve, and should’ve, checked the route prior to being dispatched to ensure they knew where they were going. Furthermore, I have had several deliveries from Builders since moving in here and the previous occupants did too, so it is ludicrous that they suddenly couldn’t seem to find their way here. Although on a farm, it is not a complicated route or difficult to find at all. No one else has ever had trouble getting here. I told Shakier in no uncertain terms that it angered me immensely to be **** about and **** to and that I would not tolerate false accusations. I warned him to get this sorted out immediately or I’d take it further. Interesting how it was mere minutes after that that the driver phoned to say he was at my gate.

The collection of the faulty pool floaters was completed, I emailed over my bank details as previously arranged with Jean, and awaited my refund. I heard nothing for three days and then late on Thursday 27 February, I received an SMS and an email notifying me that my refund had been credited to my Builders profile!!! Exactly what Jean had repeatedly promised and assured me would NOT happen! He guaranteed me that my refund would be transferred to my bank account and NOT done as a Builders credit, and that is the only resolution I will accept as it is what was promised to me. I immediately emailed everyone involved to insist that my refund be returned to my bank account as promised by Jean, however, I am now being ignored yet again. From the beginning, I tried my utmost to make things simpler and more cost effective for Builders, out of the sheer goodness of my heart and no obligation, but they have made the situation worse at every turn and treated me like absolute dirt. It is a known fact that the three tests of a business are – product quality, service quality, and how problems are handled. Builders Warehouse has failed all three of these tests. I will NOT accept anything other than a full refund to my bank account as a resolution to this ********** experience.