Third Chanel of complaint- no resolve

I would like to highlight my recent experience at your Cresta Mall MrPSport, that took place this past Sunday. I had taken my wife, 2 daughters and 4 month old baby son to your store to make a purchase. My 6 year old daughter needed ballet gear and my 9 year old daughter was looking for fitness gear to wear for netball practice.

My daughters and wife were in the change room trying on the gear mentioned above. I was waiting outside with my 4 month old son in my arms. There was a metal cage standing outside the change room with some clothing piled on the cage. I leaned on the cage while holding my son. Unexpectedly and out of the blue my 4 month old son threw up some of his baby formula he had drunk about 30 minutes earlier - all over me. Unfortunately some of this baby bile also spilled onto one of the shirts lying on the metal cage. My 6 year old daughter witnessed this. I cleaned myself up and the metal cage where he had messed with his burp cloth. One of the Mr Price Sport staff came by and my daughter asked if she can tell her what happened and apologise for any mess - I told her that was the right thing to do and she told the staff member (Kgomotso Mosima) what had happened. Kgomotso looked appalled and checked the metal cage which I had tried to clean up. She picked up the top that had some of my son's throwup on and then began to tell us that this top was now damaged and what was she supposed to do with it as she would not be able to sell it. By now my wife and older daughter had joined me at my side. I apologised and informed her that is why we told her what happened. Kgomotso then began to address us to the fact that we had not informed her of anything and imp**** that we were being dishonest as it was my daughter that had informed her and not my wife or me. I asked what the difference was in terms of who from my family informed her and that I was trying to teach my kids how to go about doing the right thing and so allowed my daughter to inform her as my daughter wanted to show some responsibility and character.

Kgomotso failed to understand why my daughter had informed her and not my wife or myself and suggested that we would have acted to the contrary. Funny thing that, as when my daughter did inform Kgomotso my wife and I were standing right there by my daughter’s side and did not once try to shrug of any responsibility.

Kgomotso then suggested that we might pay for the top that got wet from my son’s mishap, her attitude quickly spiralled into accusatory and she had already judged us and sentenced us to pay for any damages that she determined. My wife and I were got off guard by her aggressive demeanour towards us. My wife then stated that Kgomotso’s reaction was perhaps contrary to the consumer protection act where one could not be forced to purchase anything against your will. Kgomotso continued to have a showdown with my wife on what and was not part and parcel of the consumer proytection act. I realised by now this whole incident and conversation was going nowhere very quickly. Kgomotso’s attitude was aggressive, unhelpful and far from understanding or supporting. Kgomotso handed me the top that was the centre of all this commotion and I went to the tills and paid for it as Kgomotso had indicated we should do.

By now my 6 year old daughter was in tears as she blamed herself for the cause of all this raucous and unpleasantness. My wife and I were by now both rather annoyed and frustrated. We put back all the ballet gear and fitness gear that we were going to purchase before all this happened and began to leave the store with our solo purchase of a R99.00 top that we paid for as per Kgomotso’s suggestion. On our way out we encountered the assistant manager Witness Manasoe. I informed her of the incident and then Kgomotso joined in on the conversation and again accused us of dishonesty due to the fact that my daughter had informed her of the incident and not my wife or I. I again began to explain that my daughter wanted to take the responsibility on and do the right thing which we as parents commend her for and support as part of her development and learnings – why Kgomotso cannot understand this is beyond me!

So in closing, what was up until then a pleasant father’s day ended off being a very unpleasant and frustrating experience. The ballet gear for my 6 year old daughter and the fitness gear for my 9 year old daughter which we wanted to purchase amounted to approximately R800.00, instead we left the store with a total purchase of R99.00 for an item we have no use for. When my wife went back to the store 15 minutes later to get the names of the staff involved Witness Manasoe informed her that they were willing to refund the R99.00 top - we were in the store for about 20 minutes trying to resolve things with Kgomotso and then we still attempted to explain things to Witness Manasoe before we left, at no time did anyone come after us or try to assist us with anything!

As I later explained to my daughters who were rather upset by it all, I am taking the time and effort to right a wrong. This is an opportunity for Mr Price to acknowledge their short comings and engage staff members involved in proper customer engagement and training. In searching for an email address to send this email to I came across many more complaints out there against the MrP brands – looks like there are many more customer experiences out there that can be learnt from. I am not looking for heads to roll and jobs to be on the line – I appreciate that we all have families to support and loved ones that count on us. I am asking that you engage your staff and train them to the standards and service levels that will ensure the continued future success of your organisation as a proudly South African flagship.

The ball is in your court, use it or don’t.

Regards

Mr Z Fuchs

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Cheers!