Nomination SA

Unresolved warranty issue

Unresolved Warranty Issue I am extremely disappointed with the level of customer service I have received regarding a pair of gold earrings I purchased from the store at the end of October last year. The earrings were originally valued at R799, and I purchased them for R570 during a promotional period. Unfortunately, after only seven months of use, the earrings began to tarnish. In May, I took them back to the store, where they were inspected. I was informed that because the brand had since been discontinued, the earrings would be kept by the store while they contacted customer support regarding a possible solution. I was told that I would be contacted once they had an update. Since then, I have experienced an extremely frustrating and disappointing lack of communication. I have been assisted by Lindi, but on almost every occasion, I have had to follow up myself—either by calling or physically driving to the store. I have repeatedly been told that someone would get back to me, yet I rarely received a follow-up without having to chase the matter myself. What should have been a relatively straightforward warranty issue has now dragged on for four months. Initially, instead of simply offering a replacement of equivalent value, the earrings were sent away for repairs. I was told that this process would take approximately 6–8 weeks. When the earrings eventually returned, I was then told that nothing could be done because one of the earrings had a different backing and that this was supposedly the reason the earrings had tarnished. I explained that this did not make sense, as the second earring still had its original backing and had also tarnished. I raised this concern with Lindi, who said she would speak to management and get back to me. It then took approximately two weeks for me to receive a call—and only after I had gone back to the store for the fourth time to follow up. I was subsequently offered what I consider to be an unreasonable solution: I could choose another item valued at R799, but would have to pay R399 for it. This would mean that the store keeps the earrings I originally paid R570 for, while I pay another R399 for a replacement. In total, I would effectively have paid R969 to replace a pair of earrings that developed a problem while still relatively new and, from my understanding, should have been covered by the warranty. I questioned how this could possibly be considered a fair warranty resolution. If the product has developed a defect, why should the customer have to pay even more money to replace it? I was told that Lindi would call me within an hour so that I could discuss the proposed solution with my husband. Instead, four days passed without a call. When I eventually received a call, I was simply told that they were still working on a solution. At this point, I am extremely frustrated. It is now August, and I have been trying to resolve this matter since May. Four months is an unacceptable amount of time to wait for a resolution, particularly when the majority of the follow-ups have been initiated by me. I have also spent unnecessary money on petrol repeatedly travelling to the store simply because I am not being contacted or kept informed about the progress of my complaint. I have tried to remain patient and have deliberately avoided leaving a negative review because I wanted to give the store an opportunity to resolve the matter professionally. However, the continued lack of communication, urgency and accountability has left me extremely disappointed. This situation has gone far beyond the original issue with the earrings. It is now about customer service, communication and how customers are treated when they have a legitimate product complaint. I strongly believe the staff would benefit from additional customer-service training, particularly regarding communication, following up with customers and taking ownership of unresolved complaints. I am simply asking for a fair and reasonable resolution to an issue that should have been resolved months ago. Four months of chasing, travelling back and forth, receiving little to no communication, and still not having a resolution is simply unacceptable. I hope management takes this complaint seriously and uses it as an opportunity to improve the customer experience for others.