My refund was turned into clubcard points

I recently had a very frustrating experience with the Clicks Group online store through their app. On Wednesday I placed an order and paid R275 by EFT. The next day I received an email telling me that the products I bought were actually not available. This raises a serious question: why does the app allow customers to buy and pay for items that are not even in stock?

What made the situation worse is that instead of refunding my money back to my bank account, the amount was credited to my ClubCard as points. I do not even use that card. It feels like customers are pushed into spending money in the store just to recover their own funds.

To make it more frustrating, I then received emails reminding me to use the ClubCard credit before it expires, otherwise the money will be forfeited. This is not acceptable. Customers should not be forced to buy things they do not want just to avoid losing their own money.

A proper refund to the original payment method should always be the first option when an order cannot be fulfilled. Allowing purchases of out-of-stock products and then converting refunds into store credit creates a very poor customer experience.