Director of Timberland SA turns Birthday Gift into regretful experience

<p>I bought one of Timberland's Winter Jackets at R5000 on Sunday 25 June as a gift for my partner. Being a gift, I removed the price tags. Unfortunately the 'large' jacket was not the right size, so I gave him the receipt to exchange it for a Medium - which he did the following morning (26 June). The store at Mall of Africa, where I purchased it, did not have a medium in stock, and the shop assistants referred my partner to the Sandton store. The shop assistants at Sandton told him the jacket (thus far not worn) must go to the head office in Houghton for an 'assesment' before the exchange could be made, as 'the price tags had been removed'. I took it upon myself to follow up the matter, as I could not understand why the jacket now had to be handed back and couriered somewhere else for an assesment if it hadnt been worn and bought just the previous day. After being assured a call on Monday and Tuesday by Zama (customer services manager at Timberland SA) I called again on Wednesday 28 June after receiving no feedback. Bashir Effy (Director at Timberland SA) informed me that they just received the jacket, and that he would give me feedback within 5 minutes. Oliver Lohrmeier (Operations Manager at Timberland SA) contacted me to inform me that the jacket will not be able to be exchanged for a medium as '1)the tags had been removed and 2)the jacket had clearly been worn due it smelling of smoke and had stains on it'.</p> <p>The tags on the jacket were removed prior to gifting it - something Oliver Lohrmeier agrees most people would do when buying someone a gift. Neither me nor my partner smoke. Other than trying on the jacket and finding it too big and that a medium size would fit better, the jacket had not been worn in the less than a day before it was returned. At neither Mall of Africa nor the Sandton Timberland store were concerns of 'the jacket smelling of smoke or it having stains on' raised by the shop assistants. Yet, after being in Timberland's possession for almost three days to be couriered between their Sandton branch and Houghton head office suddenly the jacket had stains on and smelled of smoke.</p> <p>Thanks to Director Bashir Effy and his team at Timberland SA, they have changed this gift of a good quality product into a terribly unpleasant experience. </p>