Terrible Service Mr Price Home!

On Friday the 14th of February 2025 I visited the Moffet Retail Park store in Gqeberha, wanting to make a purchase. I stood by the till area and while paying for my item I noticed two sage cast iron pots with red stickers on the tag. I immediately asked the ladies behind the tills what the situation is with those pots because anyone who frequents Mr Price would know that their red stickers means the item is reduced. However, these particular pots had several red stickers on, which indicates it had been reduced in price a few times already.

Now here is my thing - a reduced cast iron pot would not sit on the shelf for months. It would be purchased almost immediately after the first reduction in price, but these pots had several stickers on which means it was sitting in their stockroom out of the customers eye because the staff wanted it.

When asking about the pots, one lady immediately responded with an attitude "those pots are paid for and there is a slip inside the pot", mind you, I never asked if the pots were paid for or not.

After paying for my item I went back to the floor to check if they have more stock. I found the exact same pot on the shelf, priced at a R999.99 I asked the ladies why the one on the shelf doesn't have a reduced sticker on, and the answer I received was that the one on the shelf has a different barcode since it's from a different supplier. I then asked, so how much are the ones that are standing behind the tills and with a big smile is was told that it is R150. At this point, the Store Manager (Shaun) joined the party and obviously the natural thing for me to do is to ask where else can I get these pots, and he responds by saying that they checked the system the day before and no one has these pots anymore. I asked myself the question why would no one else have - because customers had the opportunity to buy it, however in Moffet Retail Park, they keep the reduced items at the back until it is so ridiculously cheap.

I then asked for the barcode of the pots, and this spiteful lady with the red hair rather gave me the stock code instead of the barcode...only to upset me even further. I called one of the other Mr Price Home stores immediately after I left and asked them to check where else can I get this pot...and they told that the Moffet Retail Park branch had 1 left. I called Shaun and asked him why is his system showing that he has 1 left, and he told me that his balances are incorrect and he has to perform and internal stock correction process.

On Sunday 16 Feb, I followed up again on this pot, and still the system showed that Moffet Retail Park has 1 in stock.

On Monday 17 Feb, I contacted the store's Area Manager (Terchius) who profusely apologized for the experience but couldn't keep up with his own little tales. This man tells me that he was in store on Thursday 13 Feb when the store performed stock take. He was also looking for this pot since it was such a bargain but could not find it, and that he addressed this matter with Shaun because it is not right for staff to keep stock at the back until had depreciated so much that it is now being sold dirt cheap.

I asked Terchius when does the store's balances updated after it performed stock take, and he told me the very next morning the system is updated. So I went to the store on the 14th (after their stock take) and according to them they had none left. According to the system they had 1. If a product is not physically in the store at the time of stock take, it should be written off as a loss, but at Moffet Retail Park the system continues to reflect this balance of 1, three days after stock take. Please make it make sense because I am not stupid.

I want two of these cast iron pots for R150. The stock code is 102 111 999

I also refuse to take any calls from Shaun or Terchius because they don't know what it means to be honest.