Disappointed

Hi there,

I would like to bring to your attention my poor experience with Pick and Pay in Malvern, Queensburgh. Saturday morning, the 15th of March 2025, I purchased two packets of oxtail, expiring 19 March 2025. Only to discover when I wanted to cook it the afternoon, that the meat was rotten. (yet once again). We have on numerous occasions bought rotten meat and we always just throw it away, as by then we don't have receipts, or it is just generally not worth our while to get into the car and waste petrol to take it back. I tried to contact the store and the phone just rings for a very long time and then cuts off. I kept on trying, until someone picked up. Asked to speak to the store Manager, they would put me through to somewhere, and the phone just keeps on ringing and cuts off after a long time. Eventually, the lady took down my number and said she will get the store manager to phone me back. To no avail. I then had to get back into my car to drive back and go into the store. At the store, I asked for a store Manager. An assistant said he would call him for me. To no avail. They paged and nobody came. Eventually they said they will call someone from the butchery. A Vijay came to the front. I explained my frustration to Vijay of the fact that this was not the 1st time, and that generally the meat section is exceptionally smelly. Vijay became very defensive and I had to ask him if I could finish speaking. I explained to him that it was not the 1st time and that this time I made the effort to actually come in and tell them that there is something wrong in their butchery. This morning, I actually thought that I could smell the butchery to be clean and not as smelly. We usually have to close our noses when you walk past this section as it is extremely unhygenically smelly. This was not on, you can't keep putting rotten meat on the shelves. What really upset me, is that Vijay was defensive and offered no human understanding to my frustration. When I told him that there was nothing really he could say, as rotten meat is rotten. He didn't offer to continue with our conversation, he just proceeded to take me to get a refund. His attitude was not what I had expected. Being in a service industry myself, I would have expected him to be very apologetic. As a long standing Pick and Pay customer, I find this type of service and behaviour unacceptable. I would also like to bring to your attention your bottle store section. It somehow is always understaffed, with a queue going down the isle. I am not sure if this is acceptable in your eyes, but really do believe, that during your peak days, Saturdays being one of them, that you should consider putting 2 people on the tills. Vijay had told me that he could not give me the Manager's number, nor did he offer any alternatives. I requested the complaints process, which he didn't offer other than saying I must look at my slip. And he walked away. No guys man - please focus on dealing with irate clients and how to be of assistance. Put yourself in your customer's shoes. How would you after being out for shopping and coming home to relax, to make supper, only to find that your meat is once again rotten, to get back into your car in the pouring rain, only to be attended by Vijay, who is not really interested. You are part of our community and we always love coming to Pick and Pay, but how many times must one be disappointed and keep going back?