Non-existing customer service

Over the course of the past eighteen months I've purchased a 2.5kg bag of Lindt Couverture Ecuador 70% on five occasions at the Tyger Valley Lindt store. On the first occasion I was issued with a loyalty card (image attached) and because the purchase was above R300, my card was stamped - as well as on the next four times that I've purchased the same product. The card referred to "Terms & Conditions" and explicitly stated that chocolate classes were excluded from the offering. Never was it pointed out to me that the Couverture bags were also excluded from the loyalty program. Since I've earned loyalty stamps on my spending on this exact same product, I did not even consider for a moment that it would be excluded at redemption time (20% discount on your next purchase after the fifth stamp). Yesterday, on 27 Feb 2020, I went to the Tyger Valley Lindt store again to purchase another Couverture bag and claim my 20% discount since I've accumulated five stamps for spending R300 or more - each time because of a Lindt Couverture bag of 2.5kg.

You can imagine my total surprise and subsequent disgust when the sales representative told me that I can't redeem my loyalty discount on the product that I've been earning loyalty points on.

I admit that I should have checked the Terms and Conditions in more detail but I feel that the treatment that I've received from Lindt's side was INCONSISTENT. If this product was excluded from the loyalty program, the sales representative should not have included the cost of that product towards stamps for the loyalty card. As a customer I believe that it is not unreasonable to expect that, if I can EARN loyalty points on a specific product, I also should be able to REDEEM those points towards the same product.

No amount of explaining could convince the sales assistant or shop manager otherwise, so I did not make the purchase yesterday and retained my loyalty card.

I first tried to resolve the issue with Lindt itself by emailing them. It's now 10 business days and two follow-up emails later and STILL NOTHING!!