Bad customer experience at Dischem Blaauw Village

Dischem Blaauw Village in Pretoria North. This store opened last year Dec and I have never had an issue with my experience there, staff have really been helpful, friendly and professional until my encounter today.

I had a R500 voucher that had a Wi code that I used to buy x2 Huggies extra care nappies (size 1). I was confused by the pricing as there were 2 prices (normal and better rewards) I was not sure what better rewards are and thought I would need to sign up etc and so I went to the till knowing I would have to top up on my voucher because normal price is R270 or so. Everything was normal at the till, was requested for the Dischem card and I gave it to the cashier (Mmamolatelo) and I advised I’ll be paying with a voucher and proceeded with handing her my phone. She processed everything and gave me a receipt, I was then surprised by the total amount (R367.18) and waited to be given some sort of gift voucher for the remaining amount and she was silent, I then asked her what I should do when I want to spend the remaining amount, she advised that I would use the same voucher number but sounded unsure, she then asked a colleague and the colleague said I should’ve used the entire R500. I was then confused because this was news to me and the cashier didn’t advise me, the colleague proceeds to tell me I will have to forfeit the remaining amount and I was not happy. She then fetched the manager, I didn’t get her name but her name badge said Admin Manager. The manager was then advised on what had transpired by the employees, she did not have the decency to greet me, she then proceeded to say, I would need to forfeit and i refused. I looked directly at her and asked that’s your solution? (I was baffled that as a Manager this is the advise she is giving), she didn’t even question the cashier if she advised me as the customer to explain that I would need to use the entire amount. She just jumped to the fact that I would need to forfeit the amount and I told her that no one told me I needed to use the entire amount all in one go and I’m not satisfied with the solution she’s giving. She then kept quiet, I proceeded to say call your area manager or regional manager and they will come up with a better solution. After calling, she then comes back and advised the cashier that she would need to take the remaining amount (cash) from her till and she would have to pay it back (I was astounded by this very act as it is ********* in my view however I do not know their policies and procedures). She proceeds to get the keys somewhere and open the cashiers till (again I’m surprised as cashiers should have their own keys for their till drawer but again, I don’t know their policies). She then says my audit manager said I should tell you it’s not “normal” for them to give a customer cash however they were at fault. Something she failed to point out the very first time she interacted with me which tells me she did not know either.

I am highly disappointed with the way this was handled, there was no apology whatsoever from the manager or cashier. In my view, the manager should’ve known better and apologised to me and tried to de-escalate the situation but she did not. I’m the one that even came with a solution of calling her area manager because she only had 1 and as the customer, I was going to get the short end of the stick for their negligence. The manager demonstrated lack of leadership skills in this situation and she was left bare faced when I challenged what she was telling me - why should I as the customer accept that I would forfeit the remaining amount. This was not about the money to me but the principle, which is clear that this manager holds none.

There are serious gaps there that need to be addressed ie policies and procedures, leadership and customer experience.