Misappropriation of Funds - Customer Complaint - Extremely Poor Customer Service

I want to express my extreme disappointment in OK Furniture's customer service and client care. We have been made to run from pillar to post for almost a month with little feedback concerning our matter.

6 months ago, I opened a layby account with OK Furniture with the intention of purchasing couches. I paid for the couches over a period of 6 months.

When it came to delivery of the couches, we were told by the store that the account now read zero and that our money was misappropriated by one of OK Furniture's salespeople. This was on the 12th March 2024. From the very beginning we requested that all we wanted was either our couches delivered to us, or our money back. We explicitly requested that we are not involved in any internal processes where we are inconvenienced. Our request fell on deaf ears.

We were then told on Friday, 15th March that the matter will be sorted by Tuesday, 19th March, 2024. Again, we expressed our extreme disappoint at the way we were being treated. A client who has paid his account in full should not have to be inconvenienced in this way. We agreed to wait for the Tuesday.

On Tuesday, 19th March I was asked to come into the branch to write an internal statement about funds that were given to the saleperson but were not input into my account. YET ANOTHER INCONVENIENCE. The branch in question then promised to give an update on Thursday, 21st March. By the morning of Monday, 25th March, no one had gotten back to us with a response or update.

The last straw was on Friday, 22nd March, when I physically went into the store to try get an update myself. I was made to wait for over 30 minutes and told whoever could assist me was busy. Yet another inconvenience. I even left my phone number so that someone could contact me. Nobody bothered to do so.

In between all of this, from Wednesday, 20th March, up until Friday 22nd March, both my wife and I had written messages of complaint on both the company's website and Facebook pages. My wife only received a "Have you been assisted yet" response on Thursday 28th March. I have not received a response to my Facebook messages to this day. Not even an acknowledgement.

On Wednesday 27th March I was told I will get my money back. Then after lunch I get a call to tell me I should come collect E15 300, which is not the money owed to me. The receipts I have in my possession and statements by both myself and the OK Furniture salesperson, who misappropriated my funds, confirm this. This borders on ******** activity.

Then on Thursday, 28th March, we were asked to come to the branch to collect what was due to us. I was appalled when I was told that I will not get the full amount. Because it is a refund from a layby account, there is a percentage that the store will keep. This is ludicrous. It was no fault of mine that the account was mismanaged by an OK Furniture employee. Nobody even explained about this percentage to us until we were at the store and were told we will not be getting a certain percentage of our money. We did not find the guilty salesperson on the street. He was in the OK Furniture store, wearing OK Furniture uniform. Why were we being made to pay for the company's issues? Why were we being charged a percentage instead of getting our full amount back? It is just another example of how the company dors not care about their customers.

WE HAVE BEEN CONSISTENTLY UNDERMINED, **** TO, DISRESPECTED AND ****** FROM by various levels of the OK Furniture hierarchy. We have all the evidence of this. We have done nothing wrong but entrust them and their employees with our money and they rep**** that with utter disrespect. We only received an apology from the local office, while head office remains silent. There is also the issue of the balance of E300 that rheir office said we can not get because it was not receipted. Even though the employee confessed to that amount in an official statement, when I asked about that amount, I was told those funds were not refunded by the confessed. I ask again: how does that become the customer's problem??

OK Furniture failed to acknowledge our complaints for almost a month, failed to put their customer first, failed to show legitimate remorse, failed to compensate the customer for all the inconvenience caused, and continously failed to reimburse us the full amount due. We were not even asked if we still want the couches.

For almost a month, we have been patient and thinking the company will come right and eventually prioritize their customers. We have been extremely disrespected and undermined. It is not about the money. It's the principle. It is how they handled the situation. Totally disrespectful and inconsiderate. I repeat: YOU CANNOT AND SHOULD NOT TREAT YOUR CUSTOMERS IN THIS MANNER.

We are extremely unhappy with the way this has been handled. We should not have been made to wait for either what we paid for or our money back, whilst the company sorts out their internal processes and disciplinary matters. We have receipts and the account shows we paid. OK Furniture does not take their clients seriously.

The lack of feedback and the utter disrespect we have endured concerning this matter is leaving us with the conclusion that this is how OK Furniture operates, and it is their organizational culture. Is this how they treat all their customers???