Atrocious treatment by the Pick 'n Pay Mokopane branch staff

I bought a 5l Country Fresh Neapolitan ice-cream from the Mokopane branch of Pick ‘n Pay on Sunday morning, 16 July 2023, at 11:03. I placed in in the freezer as soon as I got home, a few minutes later, planning to have some of it later that day. It was only on Tuesday evening, 2 days later, that I got a chance to open it. To my greatest disappointment and disgust, I found that the ice-cream had melted some time in the past, before I bought it, and it was then refrozen after the syrup had settled to the side on which it was placed at that time.

The first time I got to take it back to P ‘n P was today, 22 July 2023. When I arrived at the shop entrance, the person on duty there, directed me to the kiosk to get it exchanged. The lady at the kiosk took my slip and the ice-cream, which I opened and showed the condition to her, and went to the offices off the floor, I assumed to report to the manager. After a short while she returned with the ice-cream and my slip and asked if I would like a refund. I rep**** that I want to exchange it and she said I can go ahead. When I got to the ice-cream fridge, I took the first 5l Country Fresh Neapolitan I could find and opened it, to make sure it is to my satisfaction. This one was in the same condition as the one I bought a week ago. I placed it on the floor to the side and opened another one, which was also in the same condition. I opened another 6 of them all in the same condition and went to call the lady who helped me at the kiosk.

We returned to the fridge where all these containers of ice-cream were standing on the floor, and I showed her how all of them looked. A few seconds later a whole delegation of P ‘n P staff arrived on the scene and started interrogating me in a very threatening manner, glaring at me and asking me who gave me the right to open all the ice-cream. They threatened me with the police and asked me who is going to pay for all these containers that I had opened. A man, which I presumed to be the branch manager, arrived at this time, and also started questioning me. I explained to him about the spoiled ice-cream I had bought the previous weekend and how I came to have opened all these containers.

He instructed on of the personnel there to remove all the 5l containers from the fridge and to another he said they must refund me. In a very “by the way” manner, he said to me: “Sorry for the inconvenience”.

I find this kind of behaviour utterly unacceptable. By their flippant and arrogant manner, they made it clear that they feel I am the culprit in this case, as if I had melted all the ice-cream in their fridge. It was also obvious that they expected the spoiled product to be bought by customers who must then not complain about the poor quality.

A few weeks ago, I bought a 2l ice-cream from the same branch, but then made use of the Mr D delivery service. When I opened the ice-cream, it was obvious that it had also melted at some point before it reached me and was then refrozen afterwards. I assumed at that time that it had happened during the delivery time, which took longer than originally indicated by them.

I reported this to the Pick 'n Pay Customer Care on Saturday afternoon and on Sunday afternoon, Mr Salmaan Kamaldien of Pick n Pay rep**** as follows:

Hello Louis, Thank you for reaching out to Pick n Pay Customer Care team. I do apologize for the inconvenience caused. Kindly note that we have escalated the query to the Regional and Customer Service Manager, they should be in touch with you soon. For your records, please see reference number -***. By proceeding with this request to resolving your complaint, you acknowledge that we will need to share your contact details with the relevant store. They will be in touch with you as soon as possible to further assist.

It is now 4 days later and I have yet to receive a response from the Management of the Mokopane branch of Pick 'n Pay, but I will not hold my breath while waiting.