Stuttafords pathetic return policy

On the 29th of December 2015, I purchased 7 t shirts at 3 pm at Stuttafords Gateway Mall- Durban to the combined value of R 1700 and on the following day 30th Dec. at 10am returned 4 of the shirts, unused as my wife also made purchases elsewhere so I did not require so many shirts. Stuttafords said their policy had changed and they no longer credit the money to your card but offer a 3yr gift card instead. I indicated that I purchased the items way less than 24 hours which still had the tags on and preferred the balance credited to me. I was not aware that behind the till slip they had their rules for exchange etc. they offered me the gift card to the worth of R 910 which I was not happy with but spent the gift card the same time as I did not want to go back to this store ever again after many years of being a loyal customer. Elsewhere retailers, credit your account so this was new to me. I think it is a devious mechanism to hold the consumer ransom to spend the balance within their store. I approached the store manager, Blessing but I guess it is not his fault as the decisions are made by the board. Stuttafords policy is very disappointing and I will never shop there again