Pathetic After Sales Service - Exploitation of Consumers

On 28 October, I ordered an Apple Gen 2 pencil from PC Link as a birthday gift for my child. After multiple phone calls to determine the cause for the delay, the order was only delivered on 5 November. Upon opening, I discovered that PC Link has sent me an Apple Gen 1 pencil. I immediately phoned them to notify them, and, after the sales person first tried to convince me that the pencil I received was indeed a Gen 2 pencil (as if I’m too stupid to distinguish the difference), they eventually agreed that they had made a mistake in filling the order. They sent a courier the next day (6 November) to pick up the wrong pencil. An agreement was made that they would refund me for the wrong pencil they had sent me.

Today more than three weeks passed since the courier had picked up the wrong pencil, and still NO refund has been deposited into my account. I sent emails and phoned PC Link multiple times (I lost count how many times) to enquire when the refund would be made. Last Thursday, 14 November and almost two weeks since the item has been returned to them, I was notified that the refund is being processed, but it would take another 2-3 days to finalise. On Monday, 2 December, I enquired again when the refund would be made. They copied me in on an email where they have apparently given the instruction to PayFast to refund the money into my credit card account. The contents of the email states that it would take another 7-10 WORKING DAYS!!! before the funds will reflect on my account.

Apparently, if you place an order through PayFast, using your credit card, the funds are immediately available to PC Link (then it does not take 7-10 working days), as they don’t start processing orders unless they are absolutely sure they’ve received the funds. However, if the direction of fund flow is reversed, clients can count on waiting at least 3-4 WEEKS!!! before they’ll be refunded.

I think this is a disgrace to treat consumers in such a fashion. Consumers’ money is good to ‘grab’ because, as consumers, we know that our orders won’t be filled unless the supplier (PC Link in this case) is absolutely sure they get their money, but if it comes to refunding you your hard-earned money for mistakes THEY have made filling orders, they are extremely shy and drag their feet as long as possible before they refund you. I hope this matter will receive urgent attention from the highest authorities in charge, as this must truly comes down to gross exploitation of the consumer and is obviously in conflict with the system of fairness and justice as proposed by the South African Consumers Protection Act.