House & Home, Blue Route Mall, Tokai

I am writing this complaint on behalf of my son who doesn't currently have access to his e-mails. I have been assisting him with this dilemma with House & Home, at the back end though and have personally experienced the same appalling attitude from the very same branch manager. I have previously bought my washing machine from H&H too and was given drama by Shaun, the manager but did not allow to be pushed around to this stage.

My son bought a fridge and washing machine on Black Friday in 2019. Not only was the delivery late but both items had scratches to it, the plastic protective layer on the fridge was peeled and the rubber of the freezer couldn't seal properly. The fridge had an intermittent grinding noise too which was very concerning. I monitored it for a few days and went into the store to report this fault. I spoke to Shaun, the store manager, who told me he would log a call for the fault. I asked him for written confirmation and he said they don't furnish customers with same but I would receive an e-mailed confirmation instead. He assured me the report would reach KIC and a technician would come out soonest to resolve the problem. Needless to say none of this materialized. I went back into the store to pay my 1st instalment and to follow up on the fault logged with Shaun. He acted all confused and asked for my details again to do a check on the system and this time furnished me with a reference no. I was very surprised as this didn't transpire the first time. Another month went by and no call from the store or technician. I went into the store to pay my 2nd instalment and did yet another follow up with Shaun who again promised the matter would have his utmost attention. I still gave him my new address as we had subsequently moved house. March 2020, just before we entered lockdown I received a call from a technician who arranged to come assess the fault on the Saturday morning at 9am. The technician never pitched and neither answered his phone when I tried to call him several times. We then entered into Lockdown and the problem remained unresolved. As the lockdown lifted and stores reopened I went into the store to see Shaun again. I was very upset and frustrated at this stage as we couldn't use the freezer part of the fridge at all as it was freezing up completely due to the door not being able to close properly. I requested that they freeze my account until such time they addressed and resolved the problem as they didn't honour their commitment to me as a customer. He once again made empty promises and assured me the matter would have his utmost urgent attention. Another few months went past with no call from H&H or a KIC technician. At this stage I had such mixed emotions about this entire problem and withheld payments until they would attend to this matter. Eventually the only call I received was from Rainbow Finance, querying about payment. I informed the lady about my bad ordeal with H&H, etc. I informed her we were sitting with a fridge that wasn't/still isn't working properly. She said she would go back to the store. One a Sunday afternoon I received a call from Shaun querying on payment instead of giving me good news on the repairs of my fridge as by then the problem has deteriorated profusely! He arranged to call me back on the Tuesday, which he never did and I received a call from a technician instead. At this stage I was fuming and told the technician I want a replacement fridge instead of having the existing one repaired. I told him too of the lengthy dilemma thus far. I went into the store the follow day and questioned Shaun why he never called me but he conveniently ignored me and didn't answer me. Another few months went by and calls from Rainbow finance only. No calls from H&H or a KIC technician. March 2021 I went into the store and decided to talk to the sales advisor, Theresa instead, who initially assisted me. She was disgusted when she learnt about my NIGHTMARE journey with the store, Shaun in particular and when to question him about the delay. He wouldn't answer her too and she informed me to go speak to his manager, Luzano, instead.

On speaking to Luzano, he too wasn't very helpful and wanted to dictate processes to me first and insisted a technician come out first before they could decide to replace the existing fridge. He agreed for payment to commence once the problem was resolved. I received another call from Rainbow Finance, Shandre and I informed her of the arrangement. She was totally delighted and even further negotiated that should they not have the same unit to replace, if I would then settle for a different fridge, maybe a bit more with a slightly higher monthly instalment and I agreed.

10th May 2021 - a technician by the name of Donovan called and I said I would have to call him later that day with a suitable time and day as I was at work when he called. Later that afternoon I left him a voicemail on his cell phone confirming the 12th May 2021 as a suitable day. On the 12th I called him and he advised me he was scheduled to come to me later on said afternoon. Donovan arrived at 15:30pm and upon examining the fridge advised this was no longer a KIC problem but a H&H problem instead due to the lengthy delay of time that had lapsed already. He advised I contact the store again and I decided to take off on the 14th May 2021 and go into the store. On arrival I informed Theresa of the outcome and she went to the front desk, to Michaela, to assist her with this matter. Michaela asked for my reference number and after making a call advised that credit was granted for a replacement fridge. Theresa and I went to Shaun to ask him to override the arrears due to the inconvenience I suffered for so long and he refused to do so, claiming I must pay first. I asked him for a printout of my account to date and he refused to provide me with same, claiming the store doesn't accommodate customers in this sense. Theresa told me to go speak to Luzano, who had the very same approach as Shaun. He shouted at me in front of his staff members and told me to pay my account first, further also refusing to provide me with a statement of account. I asked him for the number of the regional manager and was told by him to find it on one of the brochures. I left the store feeling not only frustrated and desponded, but humiliated as well because both managers tried to embarrass me in front of the other staff members.

I reached out to my mom at this stage and asked her to assist me with this matter as I felt hopeless and distraught. She went to see Luzano on the 19th May 2021 who was very polite and friendly until he learnt our connection and then became very unhelpful. He was reluctant to provide her with my account details but couldn't give the proper reason why not, until she corrected him about the FAIS Compliancy and regulations. She further elaborated that my rights as a consumer was infringed upon and I was/is protected my the Consumer's Protection Act and acted within my rights but they abused their powers as managers and disregarded my rights since I'm not very clued up in terms of same. She too asked from the regional manager's details and was given the incorrect details. She had to make various phone calls to obtain Adrian Willard's number. Both my mom and I tried unsuccessfully to reach Adrian Willard on his cell phone - ***. We tried several times, to no avail.

Yesterday I received a letter to say I must pay the arrears in FULL by Monday the 8th June 2021 or the goods will be collected, which will obviously tarnish and blacklist my name due to a store that practice NO customer satisfaction and etiket! Today when my mother called from a private number he answered and was very rude to her on the other side and wouldn't give her a chance to speak, asking her so why did you call me? He was not in the least interested in hearing about the NIGHTMARE of an ordeal the customer had with the store but he was more worried about payments. What APPALLING, *********, unprofessional and *********** behaviour from House & Home managers...WOW!!! They should not be in the positions that they are because they have NO people skills at all. Not only has the customer been emotionally and mentally abused by the store managers but has largely suffered major inconvenienced as well with a faulty fridge/freezer that they can't use for the almost past 2 years.

I have decided to file my complaint on Hello Peter and reach out to yourselves to get this matter resolved. I'm sure there are plenty other consumers who has suffered this very same scrutiny by these *********** managers but have not come forward and spoke out as they don't know their rights. I will not be stripped of mine.

I urge for your most urgent assistance in this regard please.

Many thanks in advance.

Keanu & Leisl