Almost arrested at Crazy Store!

I had a very traumatising and unfortunate experience at The Crazy Store, Vaal Mall (Vanderbijlpark) on Wednesday, 15 December 2021. At the current mindset I'm in, I will NEVER in my life put my feet in one of their shops ever again, or advise anyone else to do so.

What started out as an innocent gift exchange, resulted in me almost being arrested!

So the story goes: My aunt bought items for my 10year old son for Christmas at a Crazy Store in Johannesburg a week prior. She dropped off the gifts on Saturday, 11 December 2021 and gave me the receipt in case he didn't like them so that I could return them. The amount of the items came to R450. 2 of the items weren't age appropriate, 1 item was a duplicate of a toy he already owns and the last item was something my son would literally toss in the cupboard. So I wanted to exchange them for something else of the same value.

When I got there on the morning of the 15th, the cashier on shift told me that they don't do exchanges and he would have to give me the cash, with which I then could purchase other items, or alternatively shop elsewhere. But I would have to come back a bit later, as they didn't have enough cash in the tills yet since it was just after opening time. I said I'd come back after doing other shopping in the mall. When I returned approximately 2 hours later, that's when all hell broke loose...

A lady stormed into the store (I presume she was an area manager). Unfortunately I couldn't get her name as she wasn't wearing a nametag. She bossed me into their storeroom where I was told I will be held until the police arrive. I had no idea what was going on and the woman was very rude and assertive with me. My friend that had given me a lift had no idea what was going on and was waiting for me outside. Two police officers eventually arrived, along with another male Crazy Store employee/manager, also with no name tag.

From there, I was accused of ***** as they had apparent footage of me, exchanging/returning items the previous day and previous week at branches in Krugersdorp and Cradlestone. When I asked them to show me the photos and said footage, I was denied and later on the male manager said he deleted it. But I was spoken to and treated as if I was a ********, mostly by The Crazy Store staff. The police officers said that without concrete evidence they can't arrest me, and after about an hour and a half of interrogation they said I was free to leave.

I didn't get any form of apology. The rest of the staff all thought I was a ******** and treated me as if I had a disease. My friend waiting for me was also interrogated for no apparent reason. All this in the view of other shoppers and staff.

I was told I can swop the items for other items of the same value and not receive a receipt so that I can't commit the same "crime" at the next branch!

This is absurd! I was also late to a vet's appointment which I had to reschedule for the following day (on the public holiday) as I was kept in their storeroom for 1 & 1/2 hours for NOTHING! Petrol wasted, time wasted, public humiliation and false accusations!