Complacent staff members

I am utterly dissapointed by how the space handles their customers. On 21 September 2021 I went to purchase a top at the space in Brooklyn mall. Initially I was meant to get something custom made but decided to see what they may have for me and my husband. I got to the store and immediately fell in love with a top by one of the designers but unfortunately only size 36 and 38 were available at the Brooklyn store. Anxious, I asked the sales assistant to check in other stores but she told me there are no bigger sizes available in other stores. I also asked her to call the designer and find out when new sizes will be available but to no avail. She assured me the top is fine and I decided to take the top anyway since there was a matching top for my husband.

Today (28 September) I decided to pop in the Menlyn branch to see if there could be anything else I can take just incase Im not comfortable with the top. I get there and to my surprise I find the top in the size I wanted. I started expressing my excitement with the sale assistant about how I was told there was no size and Im taking it. Then as Im relaying the story, she tells me size 40 is too small and I shouldnt take it and she was very much against it, even showing me alternative items I should take. She kept insisting against the exchange. I even had to get to telling her that it will fit me perfectly later on as I just had weight loss surgery. This lady had the nerve to tell me that even if I lose weight, I'll never be a size 40? In this day and age, I couldnt believe I was body shamed and to even have to explain myself for an item I truly liked! She continued trying to show me other items but I declined and said I was going home to fetch the item for return. As I was surviving the insult about my weight, she goes to the back to discuss with her colleagues and comes back and tells me I cannot exchange the item because its a set aside. Obviously lies!

She just didnt want to lose the sale because of an exchange. I even told her that she is lying but she kept quiet. I also asked her why a set aside would be on the floor and she says she forgot! I am truly and utterly dissapointed with how I was handled. The worst part is I already have my husbands matching top so I dont have much of a choice since if I take another item it would mean looking for other items for my husband as well (which they didnt have) and I explained that to her but no empathy at all.

In such a competitive marketplace with online buying, how can salespeople be so careless with customers? Is a once off sale really worth losing a lifetime customer? Sales people at the space need to do better! Complacency breeds failure! One tells me 38 is perfect the other says 40 is too small and Ill never lose weight, is it about the customer or about the sale? Could you please kindly resolve this issue for me.