Bad Customer Service

I had an unpleasant experience with 2 staff members from PNA Mall at Carnival by the name of Thembi and her friend/colleague with short hair and big eyes dated 27-02-2025.

My initial order was for 6 books due to no stock at Mall at Carnival branch Tholwana who offered/showcased great customer service skills helped me to order the 3 books from other PNA branches, but there was uncer*****y as the IME ref and the description of the text book I presented to the agent didn't match the information on their system. I initially ordered a Grade 10 Hand and workbook but the system pulled up the Grade 10 Answer series book.

Tholwana suggested that I make payment for the 3 books and that I should return to the school the retrieve the correct information, 2 days later I received the correct information from the school and I confirmed those details with the stores via telecom.

on 26-02-2025 I visited the store after receiving SMS notification that I should collect the text books, I was assisted by Thembi and "her friend/colleague".

My issue is with how this order was handled from the first day of collection, I was not made aware of the change in description/IME ref of the text book I was collecting, even though part of the responsibility rested upon me to also verify and confirm the content of this order which did not happen.

After realizing that the Physics text book is not a Grade 10 text book neither does it match the IME Ref I confirmed with the agent over the phone. The following day dated : 27th February 2025 I made an attempt to address the mistake with Thembi and "her friend/Colleague" .

My attempts went from bad to worst and this was due to Lack of empathy, Not using the right channels, Poorly trained and uninformed representatives, Lack of resolution and being directly rude and passing bad remarks by Thembi and her "friend/colleague". Direct words uttered by both of them were "Abo Zweli bayahlupha" simply implying that "Generally a person named Zweli is problematic/troublesome" towards a paying customer.

All these remarks were made in front of other walking in customers and there were also PNA staff members present at the time who also witnessed this unruly behavior but did or said nothing to the 2 culprits, which in my opinion is undermining the goodwill or motivation in the whole organization. I left the store on 26-02-2025 with contained rage and anger because I have never been so undermined, belittled and frustrated.

With the school not permitting my son to attend classes due to not having a text book I had to take time out from my work commitments and personally went to the school the next day to get a copy of the Physics textbook.

I returned to the store on 03-03-2025 with the incorrectly purchased text book and a copy of the correct text book from the school matching the IME REF and Description I confirmed via the phone with Thembi and I presented my case to Thembi aimed at proving to her that she ordered and supp**** a incorrect text book, I also mentioned to her that I wasn't crazy when I said that the information I had supp**** over the phone was indeed correct and rudely responded "It`s my choice to decide whether I am crazy or not and her responsibility" and with her reply I could sense that she was not having it and she went on to shift the entire blame to myself and Tholwana.

Tholwana and the branch manager were called to give clarity and try to intervene there was no resolutions nor was the textbook exchanged, It is evident that the issue is and was with their system and the lack of knowledge from the agent who took over my order.

Fearing that my son will continue loosing out on schooling I had to make a 2nd purchase which currently leaves me with a text book I did not order.