Never order online at Makro!!!

I ordered gym equipment for our school hostel on 8 December and our finance department made the payment that same day. We did not want delivery but store collection was not an option, for who knows what reason. Got a confirmation email from a consultant at Makro that they have received our Proof of payment on 9 December. 15 December, out of the blue got an email saying that our order was canceled due to no payment received. I forwarded the PoP again and explained that we do not want to cancel the order. Still got emails saying they did not receive our payment. Order canceled. From 3 January I have been phoning costumer care and emailing every adress I get asking for this matter to be resolved but everytime I get the same lame answer that my 'query will be escalated to the finance office' and that someone will phone me back in 48hours regarding the matter, that has not happend in 7 days. I have asked to be put through directly to speak to Makro's finance department, but that apparently is not possible. Today I got an answer that we will be refunded, but that is not what we want, school starts on 12 Jan and our learners will now have to be inconvenienced by what I thought would be a safe and professional company. If we get refunded then the item prices would probably have gone up and we will not be able to repeat the order. If we do not receive the refund then I would have to pay out of my own pocket to refund the school. Their online client service is non-existing and ***********. It feels like you are talking to a computer/robot all the time with generated answers. We as a school will not make online purchases again, because clearly Makro does not have the capability of dealing with clients.