Refund policy

I bought an item on Friday, but when I opened it today(Sunday), it smelled horrible and had an odd taste even though the expiry date was December 2024, so I went to return it with the receipt. When I arrived at the PnP closest to me (Eersterivier), they told me that they are not a blue store and do not stock this item and therefore they couldn't return the item. I expressed my frustration as I had no idea what the difference was between the PnPs. I then drove to the next blue store in my area PnP Sanbury, and I was treated with so much disrespect by the store manger GARY HENDRICKS. I explained to him that the return policy does not mention anything of only doing returns when the store actually stocks the product. I also asked him to show me where this is stated in the return policy that is shown throughout the store and he couldn't. Yet it is now the responsibility of the consumer to drive back to the store, regardless how far out it may be, or go around looking for which store has stock. I ended up going to 3 different PnP stores, and I want to thank Eersterivier and Waterstone for trying their best to help and explain to me. However, when I customer gets told to phone head office themselves and managers have a "not my problem" attitude like Mr Gary Hendricks, that is when reviews like these will be posted. Pick n Pay needs to make their refund policy and all its Terms and Conditions known to customers. I was driving around for an hour before I got my refund at the store where I first bought the item. Ridiculous policy.