Obsolete Policy + Appalling Service

To whom this may concern

My boyfriend received a gift recently of a pair of your slip slops, Havianas.

They are the wrong size.

He has never worn them. Yesterday we went all the way to the V&A Waterfront to simply and (quickly) change the pair for the correct size for him. The tag is still on and they are clearly brand new and never been used/worn.

When we arrived at the store, we were simply told that under no circumstances are we allowed to change them without the receipt. Now as you can imagine, we do not have a receipt seeing as though they were a gift! There was a couple in the store going through the exact same problem. They were in fact told by the staff, to ask the person who gave the gift for their bank statement and “that it is company policy that they do not return/exchange slops without a receipt.” The absurdity of this is actually LAUGHABLE.

How in this day and age is this possible that we still need to operate with pieces of paper receipts?! The shoes that are being exchanged are Havianas! It is not as though either of us were asking for money back, or even for a gift receipt, we just wanted to exchange them for the correct size! We cannot go to the person who gave the gift and ask for their receipt and face the embarrassment and awkwardness of clearly seeing how much was spent on their gift.

The staff in the store’s attitude was indifferent and uncaring and quite frankly rude and they repeatedly told us to call Head Office and take it up with them and it’s not their problem.

I called Head Office this morning and was told to speak to a lady by the name of Yvette. (Jones, I now believe). She was ruder to me than the staff at the Waterfront Store and refused to let me speak to anyone else in the department, claiming that they were in their “Monday Meeting”. She stated that it was company policy that they do not refund/exchange without a receipt. She did not have an ounce of care or concern at our dilemma.

I am NOT taking this lying down! Yvette was one of the rudest people I have come across and she is supposed to work in “Customer Service.” She was brash and insolent towards me, the consumer.

What are we supposed to do with a pair of slip slops that are the wrong size? This rate of service is completely unacceptable! The policy is completely unacceptable!

I will be taking this further should this not be addressed and rectified immediately.

I await your response.