Boycott STUTTAFORDS

Item: Stuttafords International Fashion
Rating: 1
Author: Claude C

Complaint against the clothing retailer, Stuttaford in respect of an incident that took place in their branch in Sandton City. On Friday, the 22 April, in the afternoon, I purchased, in good faith, a pair of denim jeans (brand’s name: Tommy Hilfiger), from the Stuttaford branch in Sandton City. When I got home, my wife had also purchased a pair of denim jeans for me, (brand’s name: Tom Tailor), similar to the one I had purchased in Stuttaford. It also happened to be a lot cheaper than the one that I had just purchased from Stuttaford. As I preferred the pair that my wife had bought, I decided, the very next day, to return the one that I got from Stuttaford on Saturday afternoon, back to the Sandton City branch, where I had purchased it. I was directed to the Customer Service counter, where I showed them the denim jeans with the necessary dockets and slips, (which I had not yet even taken out of the packet, from the time I had purchased it the previous afternoon), and I also explained to them why I wanted to return it. To my shock and astonishment, I was told that I would not be able to return it for a refund, as Stuttaford has a policy whereby they do not give any refunds at all. They showed me a sign on the counter, that said that they do not give refunds (in fact the sign says that they do give refunds …. in the form of a gift voucher! Surely this is a contradiction in terms?). It was the first time that I saw such a sign and at no time this was ever mentioned to me, when I made the purchase! They said that they will be happy to give me a gift voucher for the same amount, but they cannot give me a refund on my purchase (they actually refer to giving a gift voucher as a 'refund' which is a way of conning the public!). I said that I do not need a gift voucher as I seldom purchase from their store and that I would rather get a credit on the debit card that I had used to purchase the denim jeans. They kept insisting that they do not give any refunds. I asked them to call the store manager on duty but the department manager arrived (from the Menswear department) and told me that he would help me as the store manager was not in the store. He told me exactly the same thing, in a very abrupt and direct manner, in that he will not be able to give me a refund under any cir***stances! (by the way, he also added that Stuttaford was a big company and they set the rules for refunds and there is nothing anyone can do about it!!??). I asked him to give me the contact details of his superior which he absolutely refused to do. He also refused to give the details of anyone more senior or any regional/divisional manager! He said that it is not their policy to give to clients the contact details of anyone in management and that if I was not happy with what he told me, I needed to contact the Customer Care division on Monday and take it up with them. I gave him my business card and asked him to get the store manager to contact me, which he said that he will do. Sadly, by the late afternoon on that day, the store manager had not phoned me. I had no option but to phone the store manager myself and eventually got hold of him late that afternoon. The store manager (by the name of Garth Ingram) also insisted that I would not be given a refund even although he understood my cir***stances, their policy was ‘strictly no refunds are given to any one’!!! I also asked him to give me the details of his superior but he also refused point blank. He also said that if I was not happy, I could call the Customer Care division on Monday and speak to the person there. On Monday (25 April), as I had no other alternative, I contacted the Customer Care division and spoke to a lady by the name of Mic****e Roux and told her my story. She also repeated the same story that I heard from the other two, in that they do not give any refund. I said to her that it is an unfair practice and that it infringes on my rights as a consumer, to which she rep**** that this practice is in no way unfair and they had done their research and as such, I do not have the right to a refund and that they have every right to impose that type of term and condition. She also refused to allow me to take this up any further and she actually said that she was ‘the last line of communication for my complaint and that I would not be allowed to take it up any further’!! She proceeded to say that if I was not happy with that, there was nothing else I can do about it! I even asked for the Managing Director’s details but she would not give me any further information. Sadly, it seems that the higher management at Stuttaford have created some sort of a wall around them so that no one can come close to them, in order to challenge their unfair policy! This in itself is an unfair practice. Surely, a departmental store does not own the absolute right to refuse to give refunds at all and under no cir***stances? I certainly understand that there must be terms and conditions to any refund policy, as most stores do have; however, surely there cannot be a blanket policy where no one gets a refund at all, under any cir***stances? This policy surely infringes on my rights, as a consumer, to expect fair, just and reasonable terms and conditions? Surely if a store sells merchandise to consumers they need to expect that there would be a need to refund certain consumers, under the right cir***stances? Surely they cannot impose such an unfair policy on consumers? Surely if they want to impose such unfair, unjust, unreasonable and out of the ordinary terms and conditions, they need to be telling you about it, as and when you walk into their store, and when you are making the purchase at the tills? At no time any of this was told to me, even when I was trying different sizes of denim jeans to find out which fitted me, which must have taken the best of 20 minutes; at no time did anyone approached me to tell me about that unfair terms and condition, nor to show me the signs that mentioned it!!? Surely there must also be some kind of leeway, in terms of a communication path with line management? … instead of not being allowed to contact any management person, higher that management in stores? WE NEED TO START MAKING A STRONG STAND IN THIS COUNTRY, AGAINT COMPANIES/ORGANISATIONS, SUCH AS STUTTAFORDS, THAT HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO INTENTION OF TREATING THEIR CUSTOMERS WITH THE RESPECT THAT THEY DESERVE BY NOT APPLYING JUST, FAIR AND REASONABLE TERMS AND CONDITIONS. WE NEED TO BOYCOTT THESE COMPANIES AND ORGANISATIONS THAT TAKE THEIR CUSTOMERS FOR GRANTED. WE NEED TO CHOOSE TO SPEND OUR HARD-EARNED MONEY WHERE WE, AS CONSUMERS, ARE TREATED WITH THE RESPECT THAT WE DESERVE AND TREATED FAIRLY, JUSTLY AND REASONABLY.

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