Poor Customer Service at iStore at Pavilion Shopping Centre in Durban.

I was at the Pavilion Mall in Durban, to enquire about the costs of a MacBook laptop. Before going to the iStore, I had done my own research on the costs of a MacBook and had a few questions for them with regards to acquiring a MacBook in installments, which I saw was an option on the iStore website. When I arrived in the iStore, an employee behind the counter saw me and called over, asking if I needed help. While I was speaking, she cut me off and said she couldn’t listen to me, calling another employee to help me, who was busy with other customers. At this point, I already began to feel uncomfortable with the attitude that was being directed to me - I felt unimportant and unappreciated as a customer. She then started a conversation with a male employee and then left the desk with him as I waited.

The employee who was called then approached me. As I explained what I needed clarity on, the employee kept making faces, as if she had no idea what I was talking about. When I explained that the website shows a 33 month instalment plan, she looked at me incredulously and attempted to correct me, saying “you mean 36 month”. Exasperated, I agreed with her and continued to explain that my budget, which was based on the 33 month instalment that I saw on the iStore website, was R601 per month. She made another mocking facial expression that I did not appreciate, and I had to further explain that this is what I saw on the iStore website. She eventually went to fetch a laptop and looked at Telkom contract prices (this was not what I was looking for). When I asked the actual question that I came for — “can I get a MacBook in instalments that is not linked to a network” — she asked her supervisor and they immediately told me “no”, without elaborating. Although the employee (whose name I am deliberately leaving out because I do not want to cost her her job) was briefly helpful in explaining how the FNB instalment plan works, the entire exchange was littered with condescension on the part of both the employee and her supervisor — something that hindered my ability to fully articulate what I wanted and explore what my options were.

Although there was no overt ****** in this exchange I, as a Black, South African woman, know how it feels when one is profiled and made to feel unwelcome in a store. I feel that the condescending nature of this interaction was rooted in racial profiling and unfounded doubt in me as a paying customer. I have been a loyal Apple customer since 2014, and the iStore at Pavilion Shopping Centre in Durban needs to do better.