Formal Complaint Regarding Order Cancellation

I am writing to formally express my extreme disappointment, frustration, and anger regarding my recent shopping experience with Makro. I placed an online order for an Apple 13" MacBook Air with M2 Chip on 1 March 2025 for which I paid in full with my hard-earned money, which the company was more than happy to debit from my account immediately. Mind you, the order on the website had said to expect the product on the 3rd of March. However, after several days of waiting and receiving no update, I was finally informed that the product was, in fact, out of stock. To add insult to injury, instead of offering a suitable alternative or a clear timeline for restocking, Makro simply processed a refund without my consent.

I found this to be completely unacceptable as I did not request a refund. I wanted the product that was advertised and which I paid for. The fact that they held my money for several days before informing me of the unavailability is a blatant disregard for customer service. To then unilaterally issue a refund without any attempt to rectify the situation further demonstrates a lack of respect for your customers. As a 4th year LLB student, your Company’s disregard and carelessness to its customers has caused me undue inconvenience as I had plans to start working on some assignments and tasks which are all due this Month. Had I been informed sooner, I could have explored alternative options or travelled to a shopping centre and buy a laptop in cash so as to receive it sooner, rather than being left without the product I had carefully selected and paid for in good faith.

To make matters worse, upon checking your website, I was shocked to find the exact same product available in a different color but is now listed at a significantly higher price and is now labeled as an “online product”. This raises serious concerns about Makro’s business practices—was my order truly canceled due to lack of stock, or was it simply an attempt to sell the same product at a higher price to increase profit margins? This is misleading, unfair, and highly unprofessional. Regardless of whether the online product is outsourced by another 3rd party company and not Makro itself, having already taken my money the correct thing to have done would have been to ask me whether I wouldn't mind paying the difference and now buying the online product or making some other arrangement to ensure customer satisfaction. Instead, I'm left far worse than I started having to wait up to 14 days for my refund to be returned so that I can make other arrangements. It's not fair, I am honestly and truly disappointed and will ensure in future to take my business elsewhere.