Russells has an appalling customer service

What an incredibly frustrating and exhausting experience with Russells in Gugulethu, specifically with the store manager.

I purchased a TV over a week ago, and the manager tested it in-store by simply taking it out of the box, plugging it in, and confirming it worked. He didn’t power it off properly—just unplugged it—which I didn’t think much of at the time. I paid for their delivery service, and the TV was delivered to my home.

However, upon arrival, the TV was no longer working. I immediately contacted the store that same day, and they promised to send someone to check it the next day. Despite their promise, I had to follow up with them, and even worse, I had to personally pick up the manager because he didn’t have transport. When he finally came, he confirmed the TV wasn’t working and said he’d arrange for LG technicians to come out. The technicians arrived and informed me that the store should have done an immediate swap as I reported the issue within an hour of receiving the TV.

Fast forward to this week: the manager, Terrance, told me he had found a replacement TV at another branch, and it would arrive either the same day (09/10/24) or the next day. But when I followed up, he suddenly said he couldn’t find the TV, even though an employee had already confirmed that it was at Promenade Mall. I even called the mall to verify! When I confronted him about this, his excuse changed to a lack of delivery personnel. How can a store as big as Russells not have delivery staff? How do you deliver anything from the warehouse?

It’s clear that this entire issue has been mishandled from day one. No one took the initiative to follow up with me—I had to chase them for updates every single day. The level of neglect and unprofessionalism from the manager is shocking, and I still have a broken TV more than a week later because he refuses to take responsibility.

If this is the standard of customer service from the manager, then someone else needs to step in. I’m beyond disappointed with how this situation has been handled, and I’m prepared to share all the evidence, including screenshots of our conversations and interactions, if necessary.

Very disappointed with the entire ordeal.